Corporate Peer Challenge: Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council

Sandwell is a Borough that faces significant challenges. It is an area of high and widespread deprivation with increasing demands for council services. The Council has faced some difficult issues including significant change to the leadership team, continued austerity and protracted standards cases. The Council acknowledges that Children's social care services have been inadequate for far too long, with insufficient improvement. Despite this context there is an optimism that 2018 provides an opportunity for the Council to make progress and move forward, improve its reputation and build on its strengths and successes.

One of those strengths is a clear pride in the organisation and across the Borough. Officers, councillors, partners and other stakeholders we engaged with during the peer challenge process all want the best for Sandwell and its six towns. Staff are committed and feel invested in. There is passion and positivity, and a commitment to improve the outcomes for those who live in, work in, and visit the Borough. The Council needs to harness this further as it plans, develops and delivers its services, interventions and investments to enable its future vision for the place.

The Council has established a strong vision for the future of the Borough. This is articulated through the recently developed ‘Vision 2030’. There are impressive levels of awareness across the organisation and amongst external partners of the Vision which sets out ten strategic outcomes for the borough. There is now a need to ensure ‘Vision 2030’ drives and determines the Council’s future role and purpose – as well as prioritisation, resource allocation and performance management - to improve outcomes for Sandwell’s towns and communities. The Council now needs to progress the thinking, planning and practice at pace with partners in order to capitalise on the awareness, enthusiasm and high expectations it has generated through the stakeholder engagement undertaken to shape the Vision and ambitions.

Strong financial management has enabled the Council to protect universal frontline services while balancing the budget year on year. Robust medium term budget planning and proactive in-year management are features of the approach which has put the Council in a stable financial position. There is an excellent track record of delivering savings and efficiencies, and plans to meet the savings requirements over the short term appear well advanced. There is an innate confidence in the approach taken to date. That approach has been largely predicated on the restructure and re-alignment of services, back-office efficiencies and vacancy management. The Council will need to consider a longer term strategy that is more sustainable and developed in the context of ‘Vision 2030’, new service delivery arrangements, and the continued uncertainty of the future policy and financial context.

The Council is providing effective place leadership within the Borough. It is well regarded by a range of partners it works with. Through its ‘Locals’ arrangements the Council provides highly visible leadership at the local level. There is a clear commitment to deliver the ambitions of ‘Vision 2030’ through a tailored set of interventions, projects and initiatives in each of the six towns. The development of the Town Plans to do this is at an early stage, so there is a real opportunity to give clarity and a consistent understanding about the purpose and status of them. The Council needs to make progress on that and in doing so effectively engage partners. There is scope to further develop the Council’s leadership role and influence beyond the boundaries of the Borough. Senior councillors and officers are active in the wider sub-region and conurbation, and that is benefitting the Borough. There is scope for more visible participation, and a clearer and more consistent understanding and articulation of the Council’s key ‘asks’ and ‘offer’ across all of the leadership team (political and managerial) to ensure every opportunity is taken to promote Sandwell and maximise the benefits for its towns.

A series of ethics and standards issues have featured heavily in the media. These have undoubtedly impacted on the external reputation and perception of the Council and negatively impacted on the morale of some staff. There is a need for the organisation to be seen to move on from these and be renowned more for the positive outcomes it delivers, enables and influences. The Council is committed to doing this and has not let the issues dominate the organisation. It has continued to get on with providing services to the people of Sandwell. It has strengthened some elements of corporate governance, and is planning a fundamental review of governance across the organisation. The Council needs to communicate this better to give reassurance to staff and stakeholders.

The Corporate Management Team and Cabinet are a relatively new leadership team. It is still evolving as regards its working relationships. This presents an opportunity for a fresh momentum and to draw a line under past events, and take the new agenda forward. The Council should be confident about investing time and energy on leadership development in addition to the focus it gives to strategic planning and problem solving. The Council is positioned to take things forward but needs to develop the plans that will deliver and implement the intentions it has set out.

There are a range of suggestions and observations within the main section of the report that will inform improvement. In addition, many of the conversations onsite provided ideas and examples of practice from other organisations. The following are the peer team’s key recommendations to the Council:

1. Ensure Vision 2030 drives prioritisation, resource allocation, performance management and place leadership to improve outcomes for Sandwell. This provides an opportunity to review and consider the role, purpose and function of the Council, the contribution of partners, and its relationship with residents. Vision 2030 should provide a basis on which to influence others and make decisions about investments and interventions. It should not be seen simply as a new framework against which to map existing service delivery and activity.
2. Engage with partners to co-produce the short, medium and long term priorities, deliverables and outcomes that will realise Vision 2030. The Vision is deliberately long term, and will need to be supplemented with shorter term activity, deliverables and outcomes that can demonstrate the progress towards the 2030 ambition. The Vision is rightly focussed on the Borough (place and people) and the Council will need to work collaboratively with relevant partners and communities to determine these.
3. Develop a consistent understanding of the ‘offer’ and ‘asks’ that the Council leadership can communicate to others. This will help maximise your potential and influence. These ‘asks’ should relate back to the Vision 2030 ambitions and should help inform stakeholder engagement and participation in partnerships and sub-regional bodies. It is about making every contact count, and developing the understanding of others who can advocate and promote Sandwell on your behalf.
4. Consider how the current financial planning approach needs to evolve in the longer term. The strategy to date has delivered for the Council. But the facets of it will soon run their course and new approaches are likely to be needed in the context of continued austerity, new delivery arrangements and Vision 2030. This might include the development of new and improved income/revenue streams.
5. Invest in political and managerial leadership team development. Use some of the space you have created to work together as a collective leadership team (both officers and councillors) to focus on development. This should be viewed as an essential part of good organisational leadership. It is an opportunity to model the organisational values and behaviours, and demonstrate that the team is here to stay. This may also signify stability to the organisation following the high turnover at the senior management level.
6. Complete and implement the planned fundamental review of governance. This is a key recommendation. The review should focus on ensuring the processes and protocols in place reflect best practice, and promote and support a culture of challenge, transparency, and achieving the highest standards in public life. It should involve councillors, and also seek external support and input, so that the process benefits from independent challenge and advice. The review will help demonstrate the Council is moving on from the difficult standards issues, and provide further assurance to staff, partners and external stakeholders that it takes governance and ethics seriously. The LGA can provide some assistance with the review.
7. Implement the new and evolving Member Development Programme. The new programme and approach looks comprehensive. It now needs promoting effectively with an emphasis on ensuring participation and take-up. Take advantage of sector-led peer support, and consider rolling out Member Assurance Statements to all councillors. Again the LGA is positioned to help.
8. Further develop the thinking on Town Plans, including their scope, purpose and function, and how the development and delivery of them will be managed and communicated. There is a need to progress this at pace to ensure clarity and consistency of understanding about the Plans, how delivery against them will be measured, and who is ultimately accountable for them.
9. Ensure the ICT infrastructure and provision meets the current and future needs of the organisation. Currently ICT is seen by staff as a potential barrier to further service improvement and efficiencies. The Council has an intention to improve and develop ICT across the organisation and to become ‘digital by default’. It will be important these developments are progressed and aligned with Vision 2030 and the future purpose and role of the Council.
   
   Recommendations to maximise opportunities to deliver growth and development:
10. Consider and develop a strategic regeneration and skills plan for the Borough. Having an underlying narrative about the long term inclusive growth of the Borough will help all of the leadership team, and partners, to understand the pitch and know the key ‘asks’ and ‘offer’. Without one there is a risk the current approach to economic growth and regeneration is opportunity-led and piecemeal. With a sub-regional development agenda likely to develop and deliver at pace, Sandwell needs to ensure its place in, and contribution to, that growth is assured.
11. Refresh the corporate landlord strategy to maximise the potential of the Borough’s considerable assets. With considerable property assets across the Borough, but which are fragmented in location, a review of how that estate can best be used to deliver modernised services, to support growth in housing and commercial terms, and to secure efficiencies in financial terms could identify a number of opportunities.
12. Continue to explore other delivery and investment models – e.g. housing, site assembly and acquisition. To maintain and increase the pace of delivery in housing and commercial sectors, it would be beneficial to secure larger sites. Working with one, or more partners, to develop a targeted site acquisition plan, which could then be developed in a joint venture format or other gain share arrangement.

The peer team

Peer challenges are delivered by experienced elected member and officer peers. The make-up of the peer team reflected your requirements and the focus of the peer challenge. Peers were selected on the basis of their relevant experience and expertise and agreed with you. The peers who delivered the peer challenge at Sandwell were:

• Margaret Carney – Chief Executive, Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council
• Cllr Helen Holland (Labour) – Cabinet Member, Bristol City Council
• Janie Berry – Director of Governance & Monitoring Officer, Derby City Council
• John East - Strategic Director for Growth and Homes, London Borough of Barking and Dagenham
• Mike Harris - Service Director (Growth), Southampton City Council
• Paul Clarke – National Programme Manager (Peer Challenge), Local Government Association (Peer Challenge Manager)

Scope and focus

The peer team considered the following five questions which form the core components looked at by all Corporate Peer Challenges. These are the areas we believe are critical to councils’ performance and improvement:

1. Understanding of the local place and priority setting: Does the council understand its local context and place and use that to inform a clear vision and set of priorities?
2. Leadership of Place: Does the council provide effective leadership of place through its elected members, officers and constructive relationships and partnerships with external stakeholders?
3. Organisational leadership and governance: Is there effective political and managerial leadership supported by good governance and decision-making arrangements that respond to key challenges and enable change and transformation to be implemented?
4. Financial planning and viability: Does the council have a financial plan in place to ensure long term viability and is there evidence that it is being implemented successfully?
5. Capacity to deliver: Is organisational capacity aligned with priorities and does the council influence, enable and leverage external capacity to focus on agreed outcomes?

In addition to these questions, the peer team was asked to provide their views on whether the organisation is maximising opportunities through its external relations to deliver growth and development opportunities within the borough.

The peer challenge process

It is important to stress that this was not an inspection. Peer challenges are improvement focussed and tailored to meet individual councils’ needs. They are designed to complement and add value to a council’s own performance and improvement. The process is not designed to provide an in-depth or technical assessment of plans and proposals, or a forensic investigation of specific issues. The peer team used their experience and knowledge of local government to reflect on the information presented to them by people they met, things they saw and material that they read.



The peer team prepared for the peer challenge by reviewing a range of documents and information in order to ensure they were familiar with the Council and the challenges it is facing. The team then spent 4 days onsite at Sandwell, during which they:

• Spoke to more than 130 people including a range of council staff together with councillors and external partners and stakeholders.
• Gathered information and views from more than 40 meetings, visits to key sites in the area and additional research and reading.
• Collectively spent more than 250 hours to determine their findings – the equivalent of one person spending more than 6 weeks in Sandwell.

This report provides a summary of the peer team’s findings. It builds on the feedback presentation provided by the peer team at the end of their on-site visit (15th-18th January 2018). In presenting feedback to you, they have done so as fellow local government officers and members, not professional consultants or inspectors. By its nature, the peer challenge is a snapshot in time. We appreciate that some of the feedback may be about things you are already addressing and progressing.

Understanding of the local place and priority setting: Does the council understand its local context and place and use that to inform a clear vision and set of priorities?

The Council has developed an ambitious vision for the future, articulated through ‘Vision 2030’. The Vision, launched towards the end of 2017, has been shaped and informed by consultation and engagement with residents and partners (including businesses and voluntary sector organisations). The Council also commissioned independent research and analysis about the key opportunities for Sandwell, as well as drawing on existing data about need across the Borough. There is a good evidence base and rationale for the Vision and Ambitions. The aspiration to make Sandwell a thriving, optimistic and resilient community, and the focus on improving the health and prosperity of residents make sense given the context and challenges identified through engagement, data and research.

‘Vision 2030’ sets out ten ambitions that articulate improved outcomes for both people and place. It is a vision based on the Borough, not just the Council. This makes for an extremely ambitious agenda and one the Council readily acknowledges cannot be delivered alone. The level of ambition is increased further by the intention to develop a Town Plan as a local and tailored manifestation of the overall Vision for each of the six towns (Oldbury, Rowley Regis, Smethwick, Tipton, West Bromwich and Wednesbury). The Council is confident that it can deliver, and that external partners are on board.

There are impressive levels of awareness of ‘Vision 2030’ across partners, staff and councillors. The Council has continued to engage with people through a series of launch events, including sessions to generate ideas and suggestions about how to realise the ambitions and outcomes (e.g. over 2,000 ideas about how to achieve the ambitions generated by staff). An event involving statutory agencies, businesses and voluntary sector organisations has helped further develop links and understanding across partners. All of this has helped get the message out there. It also means momentum has been built which needs to be maintained, and heightened expectations that now need to be met. The Council itself has acknowledged it now needs to put the ‘words and hopes into reality and deliver the vision and embark on meaningful collaboration’. We agree with that assessment.

There is now a fundamentally important, and timely, opportunity to ensure ‘Vision 2030’ drives the prioritisation, service planning, resource allocation, and performance management needed to turn it into a reality on the ground and tangibly improve outcomes for Sandwell towns and communities. The Council’s business planning process is an opportunity to do some of this. The development of the Town Plans is also a crucial element. Work is about to start on these. In progressing this there will be a need for collaboration and co-production, and further discussion about respective roles and contributions, as well as agreement on the short, medium and long term priorities, deliverables and outcomes. This is important in light of some perceptions of the Council as a paternalistic organisation focussed predominantly on delivering universal services and protecting jobs.

Outcome measures will need to be thought through carefully. They will need to demonstrate impact for local people and places, not just be a collation of the performance indicators used to measure service delivery. Without all of this there is a risk that ‘Vision 2030’ will simply become a new framework for current universal service activity and existing performance measures to be mapped against. The intention has to be something that drives a new role and purpose for the Council, and helps hold it, and others, to account for the delivery of improved outcomes.

Leadership of Place: Does the council provide effective leadership of place through its elected members, officers and constructive relationships and partnerships with external stakeholders?

There is a clear focus and desire to improve outcomes for people across Sandwell. The officers, councillors, partners and stakeholders we engaged with all want the best for Sandwell and its six towns. We were impressed by the passion and positivity they showed and the genuine commitment to improve the outcomes for those who live in, work in, and visit the Borough. This is a real strength in Sandwell, and one the Council is keen to capitalise on and harness further through the good relationships and strong partnerships it has developed to date (e.g. with the voluntary and community sector and other public service organisations), and growing track record of co-production and collaboration (e.g. the recent bid for Place Based Social Action Fund).

The Council appreciates that in the context of shrinking resources across the public sector, and increased deprivation and demand for services, there is a need to do more in partnership with others. It is endeavouring to provide strong and effective place leadership role within the Borough and has engaged partners to ensure they are aware of, and bought into, the ‘Vision 2030’. The Council has invested in the four statutory partnerships it supports, all of which benefit from the participation of senior Council officers and Cabinet members. It has recently sought to bring the Partnership Chairs together to focus on shared areas of work and outcomes, recognising the importance of safeguarding and safety, including the prevention of violence and exploitation. The intention behind this is good. It now needs backing up with a delivery plan and implementation.

Through its ‘Sandwell Locals’ and ‘Community Operating Group’ arrangements in each of the six towns the Council provides highly visible place leadership at the local level. There is a clear commitment to deliver the ambitions of ‘Vision 2030’ through a tailored set of interventions, projects and initiatives in each of the six towns articulated in a Town Plan. The development of the Plans is at an early stage, and consequently it is not yet clear what they will (and won’t) include. There is a lack of consistent understanding across councillors and officers about the exact purpose and status of the Plans. This will need resolving and clarifying as soon as possible. Again, the intention is good, but the plan to deliver not yet fully formed. The Council knows it needs to make progress on that and in doing so to involve partners.

There is scope to further develop the visibility and consistency of the Council’s leadership role and influence beyond the boundaries of the Borough. Senior councillors and officers do play an active role in the wider conurbation, including participation in the Association of Black Country Authorities (ABCA), Black Country Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) and West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA). The contribution of the Chief Executive in the formative stages of the WMCA and the current role of the Leader as the portfolio lead for cohesion and integration and Public Service Reform were acknowledged by many people we spoke to. It is evident that participation in these sub-regional bodies is benefitting the Borough.

There is scope, however, for a clearer and more consistent understanding and communication of the Borough’s key ‘asks’ and ‘offer’ by all of the Council’s leadership team (political and managerial) to ensure every opportunity is taken to promote the Borough and maximise the benefits for Sandwell and its towns. ‘Vision 2030’ should shape those ‘asks’ and ‘offers’. The Council has experienced significant change in the composition of its Corporate Management Team over the past couple of years, and the Cabinet is also relatively new in terms of its current line-up. There is an opportunity to ensure all of the joint leadership team are empowered (with knowledge and authority) to participate in the relevant partnerships and bodies and are seen to do so on behalf of the Council. That is not currently the perception of all partners.

We think the opportunity of a recently established leadership team and statement of intent shown by ‘Vision 2030’, along with the stable financial position (which we comment on later), provides a platform to further balance the focus on maintaining universal frontline services and capitalising on the opportunities to influence on behalf of the Borough. The Council has rightly identified many of those opportunities to bring further investment, advantages and benefits to the Borough – including the Commonwealth Games and Metro extension. There may be value in explicitly linking those opportunities to the delivery of ‘Vision 2030’ ambitions and outcomes.

Organisational leadership and governance: Is there effective political and managerial leadership supported by good governance and decision-making arrangements that respond to key challenges and enable change and transformation to be implemented?

A series of ethics and standards issues featured heavily in the media in the weeks and months preceding the peer challenge. It is not appropriate to comment on individual cases as they are being progressed through the Council’s Audit and Standards processes and procedures. Neither was it in our remit to review, assess or forensically investigate them. What was evident to us, however, is that some are historical and protracted cases which the Council looks to have responded robustly to.

The external attention on standards issues has undoubtedly impacted on the reputation and perception of the Council. Councillors and officers we spoke to are keen for the organisation to be seen to move on from these issues. There is a desire for the Council to be renowned more for the many positive outcomes and activity it enables through its services and partnerships. The Council is committed to doing this. It has not let the issues dominate or restrict the organisation. It has continued to get on with the job of delivering services to the people of Sandwell, as well as invest in the development of a future vision and ambitions.

The Council has taken measures to strengthen its corporate governance through a range of refinements to the Constitution and practice. These have included revisions to financial regulations and contract procedure rules, changes to the levels of delegation to individual councillors, a focus on more collective Cabinet decision-making, the introduction of a Governance Board, changes to Neighbourhood Grants approval process, introduction of Cabinet Member Assurance Statements, and more pre-decision challenge by Overview and Scrutiny. The membership of the Ethical Standards and Member Development Committee has recently been strengthened in terms of more independent members. An updated Code of Corporate Governance was approved by Full Council in January 2018.

A more fundamental and widespread review of governance is planned by the Monitoring Officer. This is something the Council needs to make more of. It is an opportunity to provide assurance to staff, partners and other external stakeholders that the Council continues to improve and develop the corporate governance, ethical standards and capacity of the organisation. The public expect the highest standards from local politicians and authorities, and the review can help provide a visible resetting of norms and the commitment of councillors to the highest standards of conduct, in accordance with the Nolan principles. The review should focus on ensuring the processes and protocols in place reflect best practice, and support and enable a culture of challenge and transparency. It needs to take stock of changes made to date, and focus on areas such as Overview and Scrutiny which the Council has identified as an area for further development. There is an opportunity to seek external support and input so the review benefits from added challenge and advice, and is perceived to be independent, credible and transparent.

The Sandwell Children’s Trust is due to go live in April 2018. Established following the statutory direction of the Secretary of State after a prolonged history of ‘inadequate’ Ofsted ratings, it was not the Council’s preferred model. However, the Council has recognised it has been unable to improve the services adequately. It has accepted the Trust model and made headway with the preparations for it – including the appointment of a Chair and Chief Executive, and the creation of a Children’s Strategic Partnership to support the Trust to work with the Safeguarding Board and other partners. We had no reason to question the progress made. The Trust is nonetheless a new and untested model of service delivery for Sandwell, so it is important the Council keeps the relationship and arrangements under close and regular review. This includes the financing, governance and capacity of it. We heard little about the potential impact of the Trust on Council statutory responsibilities, services and finances going forward. We encourage the Council to ensure these issues are considered and addressed accordingly as preparations continue.

Town Plans are also arguably a new model of delivery for the Council. We have mentioned already that the development of the Plans is at an early stage. The principle and rationale behind them makes sense to most people. However, we were unclear about how they will fit with the organisation’s overall operating model and governance arrangements. There is no detailed thinking yet articulated about the status the Plans in terms of the decision-making and approval process, performance monitoring of the implementation, and who ultimately is held to account for the delivery of them – particularly if they are to be multi-agency plans. The thinking on this needs to evolve further.

The Council appreciates the importance of a well informed and involved workforce. It has a range of established mechanisms for internal communications and staff engagement. These include a Chief Executive’s Blog, Executive Management team briefing and Express Briefings. There is a desire to develop and improve internal communications further following feedback from staff (‘Get Involved’ sessions). In doing this we think there is a need to focus on the content as well as mechanisms. For example, internal (and external) communications could play more of a role in communicating recent changes to governance and give confidence to the organisation that the Council takes alleged standards issues seriously. Staff feel the leadership could be more vocal on these matters. In the absence of this the media and social media coverage has more prominence in terms of how staff and stakeholders are kept informed.

New Cabinet and Elected Member Development programmes have been developed with the support of the Local Government Association (LGA). The proposed approach is comprehensive, includes engagement with councillors, and will feature personal development planning and a range of activities including training workshops and the offer of peer mentoring. The programme is overseen by the Ethical Standards and Member Development Committee and the Cabinet Member for Core Services. Both will have an important role in ensuring the programme is rolled out, promoted effectively and gains traction in terms of take-up and participation. Regular review and evaluation of the programme and its impact will be important too. The Council should also consider rolling out the Assurance Statements currently signed by Cabinet members to all councillors.

From the people we spoke to there is recognition and respect for the Leader and Chief Executive who are seen to want the best for the organisation and its staff. The Cabinet and Corporate Management Team – as the Council’s leadership team - has created space to work together to plan strategically and problem solve. Building on this we think the team should be confident about investing time and energy for team development. This is not a luxury. It is what we would expect to see in all councils. It is an essential part of good organisational leadership – especially where the team is a relatively new one. It is an opportunity to model the organisational values and behaviours, and demonstrate that the team is here to stay. This will help demonstrate stability to the organisation following a period of high turnover at the senior management level.

Linked to this is consideration of the number of roles Cabinet members have. Members appear to be involved in a high number of committees and outside bodies in addition to (or by virtue of) their Cabinet role. We did not cite this as a major issue, but there is an opportunity to review this as part of the constitution and governance review. The observation is made predominantly in the context of demand on individuals’ time and capacity. The practice in other councils suggests Cabinet members tend to have fewer additional roles. There is an opportunity to ensure an explicit split and distinction between executive and non-executive roles. There are one or two instances which may give the impression of a blurring of roles – such as Cabinet members sitting on Select Committees and how this relates to the Overview and Scrutiny function.

Financial planning and viability: Does the council have a financial plan in place to ensure long term viability and is there evidence that it is being implemented successfully?

The Council has benefitted from strong financial management to date. This has helped deliver notable savings (£23million in 2015/16, £24million in 2016/17 according to the Medium Term Financial Strategy), while enabling the protection of universal frontline services. Services are able to retain any budget surpluses that arise as a result of the savings achieved through service restructures and re-design. As such, many services have delivered their 2017/18 savings early and have generated surpluses they are able to retain for reinvestment in services.



Staff are well engaged and involved in helping the Council respond to the budget challenges. The ‘Facing the Future’ (FtF) programme is enabling and encouraging staff-led proposals for service efficiencies and improvement (e.g. paperless payslips, procurement cards, and a review of empty property) through engagement and use of Quality Circles. Cabinet members are also well-engaged through Cabinet Summits throughout the year that have considered a range of options.

As in many other councils, balancing the budget is getting more challenging. There is, for instance, a projected overspend of nearly £5million in 2017/18 which the Council intends to meet from its earmarked balances. The budget pressures stem predominantly from overspends in Children’s Services caused by a significant increase in the number of looked after children. It is important the causes of the demand are fully understood and form part of the 2018/19 budget planning to ensure funding of the new Children’s Trust is sufficient and based on robust estimates. Currently the Council is proposing an £8million increase in the budget for 2018/19. It appreciates other potential future budget pressures may need further consideration. A report to full Council in January 2018 rightly identifies that some of the current forecasts and assumptions informing its’ three year outlook will need to be reviewed in due course.

The approach to budget savings has essentially been predicated on the re-structure/re-alignment of services, reduction of management capacity and back office efficiencies, and vacancy management (supported by re-deployment initiatives such as the ‘Jobs Promise’). This strategy has worked for the Council to date. The plans to meet the budget challenge over the next couple of years appear to be well advanced. This position has understandably led to an innate confidence from the political and managerial leadership about the Council’s ability to continue to balance the budget.

However, we questioned whether the strategy is sustainable in the longer term. The stated objectives of the medium term financial strategy (ensure the council remains financially stable, protect front-line services, and deliver a policy-led multi-year budget) remain valid and relevant. The current approaches to deliver those objectives, by their nature, will run their course at some point. The Council will need to consider a strategy predicated on different approaches that together provide a more sustainable approach to balancing the budget. This needs to be in the context of ‘Vision 2030’, new service delivery arrangements (such as the Children’s Trust and Town Plans), continued austerity, growing demand for services, and the uncertain future policy and financial context (e.g. post Brexit).

The Council has recognised that to an extent. It has identified the potential to develop a more commercial approach and mind-set as a means by which to generate income and revenue as to support financial self-sufficiency. There are already some examples of the Council generating new and improved revenue streams (e.g. growing the Council Tax base through housebuilding). It intends to map the current commercial activities occurring across the organisation. The Council itself acknowledges that thinking is at an early stage. There is lots of learning from the sector and elsewhere that can helpfully inform and develop thinking further. In the first instance the Council might consider a Cabinet Summit to consider what a more commercial approach might mean for Sandwell and how it fits the ethos of the Council. The LGA can signpost to examples of practice and learning from across the sector and beyond.

Capacity to deliver: Is organisational capacity aligned with priorities and does the council influence, enable and leverage external capacity to focus on agreed outcomes?

The expression ‘people are our greatest asset’ has arguably become over used and clichéd, but it is a sentiment that is well-evidenced at Sandwell. The Council has a committed and engaged workforce who feel invested in. An Employee Engagement Survey is undertaken annually, the results of which suggest a good relationship between organisation and employee (an employee engagement index score of 64% compares favourably to the public sector benchmark of 61%). There are good levels of awareness and involvement in the ‘Facing the Future’ (FtF) programme. ‘FtF Champions’ from a range of departments play a key role in encouraging staff to generate ideas (e.g. through a board game which featured in the Innovation Zone at the LGA Conference in 2017). The encouragement of employee ideas and suggestions has also been a key feature of the ‘Vision 2030’. As a result there are good levels of awareness that run deep into the organisation. Employees have played a key role in shaping the organisation values of ‘Trust, Unity, Progress’ which summarise the key positive behaviours expected and are now being embedded in the staff appraisal process.

There is an impressive array of workforce development initiatives at Sandwell to support the recruitment of new talent and develop existing capacity across the organisation. A Graduate Programme, Internship programme, Work Experience Programme (which offers 350 placements per year) and an Apprenticeship Scheme are all positive examples of the Council developing new talent. A talent management framework is in development so that pathways are clearer – e.g. from internship programme to the graduate scheme. There is also a clear commitment and investment in the development of existing staff – for example, the ‘Talent Connect’ management and leadership programme provides a comprehensive development offer to support managers and leaders to fulfil their roles.

There are other initiatives the Council has introduced that demonstrate its commitment to its workforce. Employee terms and conditions have been protected. The Job Promise (made in 2015) guarantees that all employees who want to remain working with the Council can do. This is a bold pledge. The Council believes it offers staff job security in a period of uncertainty – and encourages them to embrace and instigate service and practice improvements without fears of redundancy. That rationale and principle makes sense. However, by its nature the Job Promise will run its course at some point. The Planned Leaver Scheme (which enables staff to agree a leaving date up to three years in advance and allowing managers to ensure essential skills and experience are transferred and retained within the workforce) in theory mitigates that to an extent. Both initiatives are good (and appear to be working). The longer term sustainability of them will need to be kept under review to ensure an appropriate balance of re-deployment and the recruitment of new expertise, fresh external perspectives, and specific experience and expertise required to deliver the future ambitions and priorities of the Council.

The commitment to, and investment in, the workforce is validated and endorsed by the Council’s Investors in People (IIP) accreditation. This has improved to a ‘Silver’ rating following a recent assessment. The Council has also won a number of awards for its HR practices over the past three years (including PPMA Excellence in HR Award for Talent Management 2015, APSE Best Workforce Initiative Award 2017). The Council is rightly proud of these achievements which demonstrates its commitment to continuous improvement. It also shows a willingness to seek external challenge and validation, and an appetite to seek learning from across the sector. Commissioning this peer challenge, gateway reviews of the FtF programme, and seeking sector-led support to its Member Development Programme are other examples.

One area for improvement frequently cited by officers and councillors was ICT. The workforce experience of ICT is poor, and some officers see it as a barrier to further improvement and efficiencies, and contrary to the Council’s desire to be an agile and flexible organisation. The Council appreciates this. It is progressing a number of projects to improve ICT and how it supports the needs of the business. The introduction of thin client technology, more use of Office 365 and upgrading Wi-Fi provision are all on the agenda. The Council also appreciates the potential of technology to digitalise services, making transactions and customer contact more efficient, streamlined and responsive. While there are some examples of enabling channel shift, such as the MySandwell portal, the Council knows there is potential to do much more and is seeking to learn from others. In the meantime, it should not neglect getting the basics right, such as maintaining up to date website content.

Beyond the ‘digital by default’ ethos, we saw or heard little about a narrative on the future organisation and how it might need to evolve and develop. Put simply, the narrative for the future place articulated through Vision 2030 is clear. But what the Council as an organisation might look like in 2030 is not as developed or articulated. As we have said already, there is need to ensure ‘Vision 2030’ drives and determines the Council’s role and purpose. This includes consideration of how the Council harnesses and builds external capacity to help enable the ten ambitions.

There are examples of joint working, partnerships and relationships that deliver outcomes. The Council has a long history of supporting the Voluntary and Community Sector and has worked with it to re-design advice services and develop the Better Health programme. The Council recognises that active and visible community groups play a crucial role in building resilience in communities. The development of Vision 2030 and the Town Plans provides an opportunity to consider how current relationships and respective expectations between Council and communities need to evolve in the future.

Is the organisation maximising opportunities through its external relations to deliver growth and development opportunities within the borough?

The Council is committed to the economic development of the area. Through its direct support and interventions it has a clearly enabled delivery in terms of physical regeneration across the Borough. There are numerous examples of delivery on the ground – including West Bromwich town centre regeneration and the replacement of leisure centres. The Council has also made notable progress in the delivery of new homes, including its’ own new build programme which to date has seen nearly 100 homes built for council tenants, and another 300 to be completed by 2019/20. It appreciates it has a role in helping realise the wider ambitions and targets set out in the WMCA Strategic Economic Plan, and is committed to doing this.

Through its relationships and work with other partners and funding institutions the Council has helped enable a range of other regeneration and rejuvenation. Work with the NHS Trust and Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) has helped to secure the new Midland Metropolitan Hospital within Smethwick (due in 2019) which has the potential to lead the wider physical transformation of the town. There is a track record of achieving significant levels of Heritage Lottery Funding (HLF) for major projects that have helped to revitalise and improve Sandwell’s parks (e.g. Haden Hill, Rowley Regis and Dartmouth). The restoration of the Georgian Mansion in Lightwoods Park appears to be a good example of a local landmark being preserved while providing the local community with a valued asset and facilities.

Relationships with local businesses are also clearly valued by the Council. It is committed to providing practical support that encourage business growth and development – e.g. assistance to accessing funding, development of the Think Sandwell website, and the Sandwell Business Solutions Centre run in partnership with the University of Wolverhampton and Sandwell College. The Council also launched the Business Ambassadors initiative (in 2016) which enables successful local businesses to promote Sandwell as a business destination, and share their advice, guidance and knowledge to others in the Borough.

The Council has an established track record of working collaboratively across Black Country on a Core Strategy and strategic transportation issues. It feels it is benefitting its membership of the Association of Black Country Authorities (ABCA) and Black Country Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP). Involvement in these gives the Council greater confidence and influence in the debate and decisions about the growth of the wider conurbation and sub-region. The Council can point to some tangible benefits from its participation in the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) – such as a land remediation fund earmarked for the Black Country which gives the Council confidence to work up proposals for both residential and employment investment opportunities. Sandwell is also involved in a range of WMCA projects as part of the Thrive West Midlands commission, which have the potential to improve individual prosperity and resilience.

The Council knows there is more it can do and has identified key future growth opportunities for the Borough. The Commonwealth Games is one such opportunity, and the Council has been proactive in putting forward its case for the Aquatics Centre to be in Sandwell. This has the potential to provide a first class leisure facility and provide employment opportunities, and provides possible legacy benefits too. The Council also appreciates that improved strategic transportation is key to unlocking employment and growth opportunities. It has identified a need to capitalise on the Wednesbury-Brierley Hill Metro extension and is planning a pipeline of sites for re-development along the route that have the potential to deliver more employment and residential opportunities. Additional organisational capacity and specific expertise may be needed to maximise the opportunities and the Council will need to consider how this is sourced.

While there is a good grasp of the key challenges and future opportunities, the Council is not fully and consistently articulating its vision of inclusive growth in terms of regeneration and skills development in the Borough. It appreciates that many of the issues of inclusive growth cannot be resolved at the borough level alone. Having an underlying narrative, consistently communicated, about the long term growth of the Borough will help all of the leadership team, and partners, to understand the pitch and know the key ‘asks’ and ‘offer’. Without one there is a risk the current approach to economic growth and regeneration is opportunity-led and piecemeal.

We understand there is an intention to develop a suite of regeneration master plans that will be linked to each of the six Town Plans. There is an opportunity to ensure this linkage enables an inclusive growth approach, so that the spatial development of the town/locality is explicitly linked with the delivery of the other outcomes articulated in the Town Plans. We did not hear much about this. That is perhaps understandable given the early stages of development. It will nonetheless be important to do this if the opportunities for maximising growth and development are to be maximised.

While the Council has obviously helped bring about economic growth and development in the Borough, it has taken a largely tried, tested and traditional approach. There is scope to consider and develop other delivery and investment models. For example, one challenge is identifying sites large enough for substantial development, and which might have the scale required to address some of the challenges in remediation. It may be possible to develop long term strategic partnerships that can combine land assets, as a result of current ownership or targeted acquisition plans and subsequently use a joint venture approach to deliver housing or commercial developments. It would appear there is a need for housing developments to ensure a mixed tenure coming forward (social housing, affordable, market rent and sale). Establishing relationships with investors and/or developers could better enable Council resources to be targeted at the sites and tenures that need most help, whilst bringing forward developments as quickly as possible. Using the strength of the Council’s financial covenant to reduce borrowing costs for partners can encourage investors to commit to schemes that might otherwise be marginal. Together with the WMCA and Black Country LEP, an analysis of utility capacity to support housing and economic growth would be beneficial to mitigate site development limitations.

The Council has considerable property assets. The opportunity to both manage existing assets more efficiently from a financial perspective, but to also co-locate services to deliver more coherent shared services should be examined further. Working across the Council and with other organisations within the borough could facilitate freeing up of some sites for further development. The Council knows this and has identified making better use of property assets as an area for improvement and intends to refresh and further develop the corporate landlord strategy. A new approach to using council offices could unlock resources to support the investment in forward looking ICT delivery, as previously mentioned. As with other examples we have cited, this is another area where the intention of the Council is good, but now needs following through with delivery plans and implementation.

Immediate next steps

We appreciate the senior managerial and political leadership will want to reflect on these findings and suggestions in order to determine how the organisation wishes to take things forward.

As part of the peer challenge process, there is an offer of further activity to support this. The LGA is well placed to provide additional support, advice and guidance on a number of the areas for development and improvement and we would be happy to discuss this. Helen Murray, Principal Adviser is the main contact between your authority and the Local Government Association (LGA). Her contact details are: Tel. 07884 312235 and Email [email protected]

In the meantime we are keen to continue the relationship we have formed with the Council throughout the peer challenge. We will endeavour to provide signposting to examples of practice and further information and guidance about the issues we have raised in this report to help inform ongoing consideration.

Follow up visit

The LGA Corporate Peer Challenge process includes a follow up visit within the next two years. The purpose of the visit is to help the Council assess the impact of the peer challenge and demonstrate the progress it has made against the areas of improvement and development identified by the peer team. It is a lighter-touch version of the original visit and does not necessarily involve all members of the original peer team.

The Council has already signed up for a follow up visit, the timing of which needs to be determined. This is positive and proactive. Our suggestion is that the follow-up visit happens in the next 6-12 months, and that the Council communicates this internally and externally as a means of providing further reassurance and transparency, and demonstrates it is regularly seeking external review and challenge of its’ leadership, governance, capacity and financial management.

Next Corporate Peer Challenge

The current LGA sector-led improvement support offer includes an expectation that all councils will have a Corporate Peer Challenge or Finance Peer Review every 4 to 5 years. It is therefore anticipated that the Council will commission their next Peer Challenge before January 2023.