Figures released today reveal that 64% of councils’ comparable performance indicators have improved over the course of the last year. This builds on steady improvements with around two-thirds of performance indicators showing improvement each year over the past decade.

Commenting on the figures, published by the Local Government Data Unit – Wales, Councillor Hugh Evans OBE (Denbighshire), WLGA Spokesperson for Improvement said:

“Councils continue to deliver improvements across many services ranging from education, to libraries, to waste and planning. This year-on-year improvement across Wales is impressive, particularly given budgetary pressures and increasing demands on services.” 

“Councils should be commended, but in particular, recognition should be given to the committed and hard-working staff who deliver these vital everyday services to our communities.”

“It will be a challenge to sustain this continued improvement into the future, particularly as councils are having to take tough decisions on service availability and prioritisation. Councils will need to re-focus their efforts to ensure their services stand-still let alone continue to improve given the financial pressures and increasing demands.” 

The performance figures also show that the gap in performance between the best and worst performing authorities also narrowed across 52% of indicators during 2016-17, which shows that it is not just a case of the best getting better but that standards of performance of all authorities is steadily improving across the board.

Cllr Evans added:

“A number of Welsh councils have also won national recognition in UK-wide awards this year and the recent National Survey for Wales shows that the public generally rate council services highly, with 48% of people agreeing their council provides not just good but ‘high quality’ services and many councils services, such as schools and recycling services, being particularly well regarded.”

The National Survey for Wales for 2016-17 shows that:

• 95% of those who’d visited a public library were satisfied with their experience,
• 90% of parents satisfied with their child’s primary school and 85% satisfied with their child’s secondary school
• 82% of people are satisfied with their councils’ recycling services and
• 70% of people rated social care and support services service as either excellent or good;

A number of Welsh councils have received UK-wide recognition across a number of prestigious national awards, including the City and County of Swansea and the Vale of Glamorgan who were each shortlisted for ‘Council of the Year’ Awards at the at the Association of Public Service Excellence Awards and Municipal Journal Awards respectively.

Notes for Editors

Local Authority Performance Bulletin 2016-17 is available at:  http://www.dataunitwales.gov.uk/local-authority-performance-2016-17  - http://www.unedddatacymru.gov.uk/local-authority-performance-2016-17

My Local Council: http://www.mylocalcouncil.info/
National Survey for Wales: http://gov.wales/statistics-and-research/national-survey/?tab=current&lang=en

Welsh local authority award winners and shortlisted authorities were:

Association of Public Service Excellence Awards – September 2017

• Overall Council of the Year in Service Delivery; Shortlisted: City and County of Swansea
• Best Service Team of the Year: Waste Management and Recycling Service; Winner: City and County of Swansea
• Best Service Team of the Year: Highways, Winter Maintenance and Street Lighting Service; Winner: City and County of Swansea
• Best Innovation or Demand Management Initiative; Shortlisted: Powys County Council
• Best Efficiency and Transformation Initiative; Shortlisted: Conwy County Borough Council
• Best Health and Well-being Initiative (incl. Social Care) Shortlisted: Powys County Council
• Best Workforce Initiative; Shortlisted: City and County of Swansea
• Best Service Team of the Year: Environmental Health, Trading Standards and Regulatory Service; Shortlisted: Shared Regulatory Services (Bridgend, Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan)
• Best Service Team of the Year: Construction and Building Service; Shortlisted: City and County of Swansea

Local Government Chronicle - June 2017

• Team of the Year; Winner -  Vale of Glamorgan (The Leadership Café)
• Campaign of the Year; Shortlisted – Caerphilly County Borough Council, Is yours a sin bin?

Municipal Journal – March 2017

• Local Authority of the Year; Shortlisted - Vale of Glamorgan Council
• Workforce Transformation; Shortlisted - City and County of Swansea
• Excellence in Community Engagement; Shortlisted - Vale of Glamorgan Council