Pembrokeshire County Council has become the first local authority in
Wales to publish a Corporate Peer Challenge Report.

The report – compiled by the Local Government Association (LGA) –
will inform measures for the Council’s improvement in the future.
In the past decade around two-thirds of councils in England have
undertaken a Corporate Peer Challenge.

A small team of peer officers and councillors, compiled by the LGA,
spent a week with the Council in mid-February.

The process involved engaging with elected members, employees
and a wide range of people connected with the Authority to get views
and perspectives.

The report highlights a number of areas of good practice while also
identifying areas for improvement.

For instance, the peer team was impressed with the Council’s delivery
in relation to social care integration which the Authority’s partners
view as being ‘leading-edge’ within Wales.

Partners also pointed to an improved set of relationships with the
County Council.

The peer team found that the Cabinet’s Programme for Administration
provided increased clarity around priorities and noted delivery of the
vision.

Examples included removing the tolls on the Cleddau bridge; plans to
enhance digital infrastructure and related broadband connectivity
across the county and building new council housing.

The team complimented the Council on how it has addressed the
budget gap to date and the bold decisions taken – including raising
Council Tax – and noted the progress its transformation programme,
especially the technology element and the much-enhanced ability for
staff to work in more agile ways.

The report includes twelve recommendations including building on the
locality planning model used for health and social care; tackling
relationship issues and strengthening corporate processes including
decision-making, transformation, organisational development and
communication.

In a joint statement Council Leader, David Simpson, and Chief
Executive, Ian Westley, said: “We are both very grateful to the peer
team for facilitating and sharing the review and making
recommendations that they believe can improve how the Council is
run.
“We are as one in recommending to all senior leaders – members and
officers – that the report and its recommendations should be accepted
by the Council as a whole.

“The team noted the real commitment, extensive goodwill and huge
pride our employees have in serving their communities.
“The current crisis has underlined the dedication of employees and
elected members to Pembrokeshire and its communities. This
dedication, working alongside the resources of our public, private and
third sector partners, cannot be underestimated.”
The statement added: “The peer challenge and the resulting report
has held up a mirror to the Council and highlighted the need for it to
tackle some difficult issues. We know that Pembrokeshire County
Council can, and will, address the report’s recommendations.”
Councillor Neil Prior, Cabinet Member for Transformation and IT,
said: “I welcome the constructive challenge that the report brings and
the Council will develop a detailed action plan to address the report’s
recommendations.
“Of course, at the moment we must devote our efforts to tackling
Covid-19 and keeping all our communities safe but that doesn't stop
us from being absolutely committed to our improvement journey.”
A copy of the report is available at:
https://www.pembrokeshire.gov.uk/improvement-planning/how-do-we-
know-whether-or-not-we-are-improving