Annual Improvement Report Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council January 2011 Annual Improvement Report by the Auditor General for Wales This report is written by the Wales Audit Office on behalf of the Auditor General for Wales. (An explanation of what the Auditor General does is at Appendix 1). It is a new report that he is required to publish about how well Welsh councils are improving their services. With help from other inspectors like Estyn (for education) and the Care and Social Services Inspectorate for Wales, we have brought together a picture of what the council is trying to achieve; how it is going about it; and what it needs to do to improve its approach to improving services. This Annual Improvement Report sets out that picture and each year we will produce a report to let you know what progress Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council (the Council) has made. We have not covered all the services the Council provides. We have focused on a small number of things, especially those things that the Council has said are its priorities for improvement. We want to find out what you think of the services the Council is providing in your area and will be giving you an opportunity to comment in the future. In the meantime we would like to know whether this report gives you the information you need, and whether it is easy to understand. You can let us know your views by emailing us at [email protected] or writing to us at 24, Cathedral Road, Cardiff CF11 9LJ. The Wales Audit Office study team that assisted in preparing this report comprised Alastair McQuaid and Nick Selwyn under the direction of Jane Holownia. This report has been prepared by the Wales Audit Office on behalf of the Auditor General for Wales as required by the Local Government (Wales) Measure 2009. The Auditor General for Wales assesses the compliance of Welsh improvement authorities (county councils, county borough councils, national park authorities and fire and rescue authorities) with the improvement requirements of Part 1 of the Local Government (Wales) Measure 2009. The Auditor General for Wales and his staff together comprise the Wales Audit Office. For further information about the Wales Audit Office please write to the Auditor General at 24 Cathedral Road, Cardiff, CF11 9LJ. Telephone 029 2032 0500, email: [email protected], or see website www.wao.gov.uk. © Auditor General for Wales, 2011 You may re-use this publication (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium. You must re-use it accurately and not in a misleading context. The material must be acknowledged as Auditor General for Wales copyright and you must give the title of this publication. Where we have identified any third party copyright material you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned before re-use. Contents What kind of area is Blaenau Gwent? 04 Is Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council well managed? 05 Does Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council know what it needs to do to improve? 08 Is Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council serving people well? 11 Is Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council supporting people in need? 12 Is Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council helping people to develop? 19 Is Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council helping create a safe, prosperous and pleasant place to live? 21 What should Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council do? 26 Appendices Appendix 1 - About the Auditor General for Wales and this report 28 Appendix 2 - Useful information about Blaenau Gwent and Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council 30 Appendix 3 - The Auditor General’s Corporate Assessment 31 Appendix 4 - Appointed Auditor’s Annual Audit Letter to the Members of Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council 32 Appendix 5 - Blaenau Gwent County Borough improvement objectives 35 Appendix 6 - References 36 03 Annual Improvement Report - Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council What kind of area is Blaenau Gwent? 1 Blaenau Gwent covers an area of 109 km2 and is 4 The demise of traditional steel and coal industries the smallest local authority area in Wales, has left the county borough with the highest accounting for 0.5 per cent of the total area of unemployment levels in Wales at 35.2 per cent. Wales. Blaenau Gwent borders the unitary The number of job seekers allowance claimants authority areas of Monmouthshire and Torfaen to has doubled in the last five years. Average weekly the east, Caerphilly to the west and Powys to the earnings in Blaenau Gwent in 2009 were £439, the north. Its main towns are Abertillery, Brynmawr, fourth lowest in Wales. Nearly a third of pupils in Ebbw Vale and Tredegar. Blaenau Gwent aged between 5 and 15 years old are entitled to free school meals, the highest 2 Based on the latest mid-year estimate (2009), the proportion in Wales1. population of Blaenau Gwent is 68,630 living in approximately 30,619 households. In terms of population size it is the second smallest Welsh local authority. Just over 18 per cent of the population is aged 16 or under. A similar but increasing proportion is aged 56 and over. Projections show that the population of Blaenau Gwent, which has declined in recent years, will increase by just over four per cent to 71,399 by 2033. 3 The area presents many significant challenges to public services. Complex community needs create geographic area high levels of demand for services. Levels of social 2 and economic deprivation and poor health are 109 km amongst the worst in Wales. Female life ///////////// expectancy in Blaenau Gwent is 78.8 years, the lowest in Wales. The Welsh average is 81.4 years. Male life expectancy is 75.3 years, which is lower population than the Welsh average of 77.0 years and is the 68,630 second lowest in Wales. ///////////// 18% aged <16 18% aged >56 ///////////// 1 For further information about the area please see Appendix 2. 04 Annual Improvement Report - Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council Is Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council well managed? 5 In October of last year, the Wales Audit Office 9 Since we produced the Corporate Assessment produced a Corporate Assessment Report report, the Council has engaged external commenting on how Blaenau Gwent County consultants to help it improve how it plans its Borough Council (the Council) is organised and finances and also how the Council plans to use its managed. Our findings are set out in Appendix 3. assets. It has continued to improve how it gathers If you want to read the whole Corporate information from citizens on what is important to Assessment Report you can find it on the Council’s them, and has made some significant and website or on the Wales Audit Office website at politically-sensitive decisions that will help it to www.wao.gov.uk. make improvements in the future in relation to some key Council priorities. These include 6 The overall conclusion of that report was that: transferring housing stock, rationalising schools, ‘the Council can point to some necessary closing care homes, selectively switching off street improvements but is yet to develop the coherent lights and fortnightly residual waste collection. strategic approach needed to address the major challenges ahead’. 10 The pressure is growing on all public services to make the very best use of all their resources. The 7 In other words, whilst some services are auditor appointed by the Auditor General has given improving, the Council needs to be more his opinion on the Council’s accounts. His Annual systematic in choosing where it will focus efforts to Audit Letter, which provides information regarding make improvements where they matter most and the accounts, use of resources and the Council’s assess how it will cope with increasing demands Improvement Plan is included in this report in for services and reducing funding in the future. Appendix 4. 8 We highlighted the Council’s success in attracting 11 The money the Council spends comes mostly from funding to the area to support regeneration and central government which provides revenue and that it had been working hard to improve how it capital funding. Revenue funding pays for the manages its staff and involves citizens in planning services the Council provides and the staff the its services. We found that although some services Council employs. Capital funding is used to pay for manage their performance well, the Council infrastructure such as buildings, roads and large recognises that there are other parts of the Council equipment purchases. In addition to the money the where improvement is held back by traditional Council receives from central government, the approaches that need to change. The Council has Council raises funds through council tax and from strengthened how it makes and reviews decisions fees and charges. It may also generate some and holds people accountable for them but needs income from selling off surplus land and buildings to make sure that it does this more consistently. it owns. 05 Annual Improvement Report - Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council 12 The Council has to set a revenue budget to and £80 million per year. In-year capital manage within available funds at the beginning of expenditure for 2009-10 was £39.3 million. The each financial year. It then monitors actual Council has made use of other sources of funding expenditure against this. The Council has a good too, including using borrowing to support initiatives track record of managing within the budgets it sets. that require initial investment to realise savings Because it serves a relatively small population, later and also transferring its housing stock to the the total amount the Council spends on delivering private sector to gain access to the levels of services is low compared with other Welsh investment necessary to improve housing quality.