Whitehall whingeing led to downfall of Best Value in Wales

22 Nov 01
Prejudice in central government circles against the ability of councils to deliver service improvement helped derail Best Value in Wales, according to one of the principality's most prominent local government figures.

23 November 2001

Russell Goodway, leader of Cardiff County Council, said mistrust among civil servants and government advisers of town halls meant the original concept of Best Value was lost.

This mistrust had been passed on to ministers, he said. As a result, Wales is overhauling Best Value, and the National Assembly and councillors will launch a drastically different approach next year.

'There was, and there is still, I think, a feeling that local government will always do badly,' said Goodway. 'I think that government officials were talking down local government. I have heard it myself. I think it's been translated into the directions given to the auditors and the Best Value Inspectorate.'

In April, the revised Best Value regime, the Wales Programme for Improvement, will be launched. This will lessen the role of the auditor and the Best Value Inspectorate, seen by councils as too heavy-handed, and replace it with a system of self-examination by the 22 Welsh unitaries.

All councils will publish a 'corporate diagnosis' and an annual health check, and will select areas for self-scrutiny.

Goodway, a former auditor, said Welsh councils were not trying to get rid of Best Value but 'recapture what it was meant to be'. Discussions between the Assembly, councils and the Audit Commission continue as to what role the commission will have from April onwards.

Andrew Wood, lead manager for the Audit Commission in Wales, said the commission backed the new approach. He added: 'I do feel, however, that Best Value has been handicapped by a failure to sufficiently engage elected members, by unwillingness in some authorities to accept external challenge and by a failure to treat Best Value as a mainstream part of the day job.'

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