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STRONGER INTERVENTIONNECESSARY AT ANGLESEY
COUNCILProspects of a sustainable recovery by August 2011 are
poor,
says Auditor General
PRESS RELEASEEmbargoed until midday Wednesday 16 March 2011
Welsh Ministers intervention in 2009 has not succeeded in
producing a sustainable recoveryfrom the Isle of Anglesey County
Councils long history of weak governance, and strongerintervention
is necessary. This is the conclusion of the Auditor Generals
CorporateGovernance Re-inspection report, which is published today,
and which concludes that theCouncils prospects of achieving a full
and sustainable recovery by August 2011 are poor andprospects of
doing so by May 2012 ahead of local council elections are
uncertain.
The Minister for Social Justice and Local Government requested
the Auditor General to re-inspect the Council in February 2011. He
asked for an urgent assessment of the situation atthe Council and
the progress it has made to date in addressing the findings of the
AuditorGenerals 2009 Corporate Governance Inspection report.
The inspection found that, although there has been progress
since 2009, conflict is onceagain having a corrosive effect that
seriously jeopardises service delivery. Instability anduncertainty
have affected staff morale and the prospects for greater
collaborative work withneighbouring Gwynedd Council. Instability is
also distracting staff and councillors fromdelivering the ambitious
programme of improvement that the Council has set for itself in
itsCorporate Plan.
Following the Ministerial intervention in 2009, a number of
positive changes and learningopportunities have arisen for staff
and councillors. The Recovery Board appointed by theMinister, has
brought a diverse range of expertise and experience to the Council,
and hasprovided valuable insight as well as monitoring the Councils
progress and regularly reportingthis to the Minister.
The Council has taken significant steps to improve consistency
in its approach to corporateissues, but the inspection found that
these changes have not yet been embedded. There hasalso been
progress in ensuring a consistent approach across the Council in
businessplanning, project and programme management and performance
management but theCouncil acknowledges that more work is needed to
make sure that the changes areimplemented in full, and that they
bring about the intended improvements.
But, despite the progress the Council has made, events in the
early part of 2011 suggest thatthe efforts of the Recovery Board
and the Interim Managing Director have ultimately
provedunsuccessful in resolving the Councils underlying weaknesses
of corporate governance . The
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re-inspection found that the pursuit of power for its own sake
or for the advantages that it canbring to individuals or the wards
they represent has once again emerged. The report suggeststhat the
Councils lack of diversity contributes to this culture and also
deters new blood fromstanding for election.
The overall conclusion of the re-inspection is that, in order to
improve the Councils prospects
of recovery, Ministers should continue to intervene in the
running of the Council and shouldstrengthen the terms of their
intervention.
The Auditor General makes a number of recommendations for
Ministers to consider including:
Welsh Ministers should direct that the executive functions of
the Council be exercisedby commissioners appointed by them.
Welsh Ministers should retain the power to appoint an Interim
Managing Director, butgive greater clarity in the terms of
reference for the post and in defining theaccountability of the
post holder.
If any of the Councils otherstatutory officer posts become
vacant during the period ofIntervention, then the function of
appointing should be exercised by theCommissioners.
Welsh Ministers should direct the Council to develop a strategy
that promotesdemocratic renewal, and that they should also request
that the Local GovernmentBoundary Commission for Wales review its
existing proposals relating to the numbersof councillors and the
introduction of multi-member wards so that these addressadequately
the need for democratic renewal. Any such changes should
beimplemented prior to the next local election. It may therefore be
necessary for theMinister to use powers under section 87 of the
Local Government Act 2000 to delaythe elections until 2013.
The Auditor General also suggests that Welsh Ministers should
consider directing the Councilto conduct a referendum that seeks
the views of the Anglesey electorate on a change to theCouncils
model of governance to that of Directly Elected Mayor and
Cabinet.
Auditor General for Wales, Huw Vaughan Thomas, said today:It is
disappointing that Ministerial intervention has not succeeded in
producing sustainablerecovery for Isle of Anglesey Council. I
acknowledge that, in some respects, the Council hasresponded
positively to the intervention, but much work remains to implement
plans andembed the modernisation of the Councils corporate
arrangements. For this to happen thereneeds to be political
stability within the Council and I do not believe the Councils
currentdemocratic arrangements support the changes that are
needed.In making specific recommendations for further Ministerial
directions, I hope that a strongerintervention combined with
democratic renewal will help to resolve these issues and allow
theCouncil to move forward in a positive direction as well as
securing sustainable recovery forthe future.
Notes to Editors:
The Auditor General has carried out a special inspection using
his powers under
Section 21 of the Local Government (Wales) Measure 2009.
The Local Government Boundary Commission for Wales reviewed
Electoral
arrangements in Anglesey and made proposals for change in the
autumn of 2010.
The review proposed a reduction in the number of councillors and
the introduction of
multi-member wards. The reinspection found that there should be
further review to
consider the scope for more multi-member wards and a further
reduction in the
number of councillors;
The Wales Audit Office is independent of government and is
responsible for theannual audit of some 20 billion of annual public
expenditure. Its mission is to promote
improvement, so that people in Wales benefit from accountable,
well-managed public
services that offer the best possible value for money. It is
also committed to identify
