Peer review praises sea change in organisational culture at borough council but urges strengthening of ‘golden triangle’

Swindon Borough Council's monitoring officer should have a seat on the corporate management team in order to meet best practice guidance, a corporate peer review team has urged.

Other recommendations from the peer review team included a call to prioritise permanent director recruitment and a request that the council review its cabinet portfolios.

It also recommended that the council focus on maintaining "momentum" on its children's services improvement journey, noting that "significant risks remain".

The peer review team were embedded with the council for three days in September and their 27-page report detailing the findings is now set to be considered by the council's cabinet on Wednesday (13 November).

The review comes a year after the council underwent major changes, with the Conservative administration of 20 years being replaced with a Labour majority, and with the hire of a new chief executive.

It also comes at a time of financial uncertainty, given the council is currently facing a cost pressure of circa £9m forecast for 2024/25.

Commenting on the council's approach to its finances, the peer review team said: "Some officers and members still seem to have an over-optimism bias and assume that the issue will be solved because this is the nature of the budget cycle, but without targeted action, the current financial crisis could indeed be existential for the council."

The report meanwhile praised the political and senior officer leadership for "clearly driving tangible cultural change, resulting in a council that has a real sense of positivity and where members and officers work well together, providing effective organisational leadership, which was reflected through our engagement with staff and partners".

Regarding governance and culture, the report highlighted "strong and effective" member-and-office relationships and a culture of transparency.

"This positive member/officer relationship is reflective of an organisational culture which is described as having undergone a 'sea change' over the past 12 months", it added.

However, it raised concern that the corporate management team excludes the monitoring officer.

It described the monitoring officer's absence as "a risk going forward, as it's not in line with Best Practice and Guidance relating to the all-important 'Golden Triangle' of Statutory officers".

The team recommended the council consider implementing a "stronger golden triangle" relationship between the three statutory officers.

The report also highlighted problems with the council's audit committee, noting that there are no independent members on the committee. It called on the council to appoint independent members.

Turning to overview and scrutiny, the report described "significant" changes over the last two years, highlighting work that initially saw the consolidation of five individual overview and scrutiny committees into one main committee.

The initial restructure also included three policy development committees whose primary focus is to develop policy in support of the council's newly agreed missions.

A review from the Centre for Governance and Scrutiny (CfGS) then proposed additional improvements including the implementation of a further Overview and Scrutiny committee whose focus is on Children's, Adults, Health and Education matters and a widening of the remit of the policy committees to incorporate scrutiny of policy areas they have considered, the report said.

To support those arrangements, a Scrutiny Protocol was developed together with closer working links and meetings of the chairs of those committees.

"Whilst the new arrangements are an improvement and it is recognised they are in the early stages of implementation, the peer team heard the process can be adversarial on occasion and prioritising a more collaborative, outcome focused approach would be welcomed as the function continues to embed and evolve," the report said.

The review team proposed further changes to include changing the cabinet portfolios to include portfolios with a specific focus on economic growth (in addition to the inherent leadership provided by the Leader in this area), corporate governance and children's services.

Elsewhere, the report recommended the council take urgent steps to address its financial position.

The team said the transformation programme "is not sufficiently developed to provide the level of savings needed at the pace required", according to the report.

The team described the programme as lacking focus, clarity and deliverables.

Commenting on the report, Cllr Jim Robbins, Leader of Swindon Borough Council, said: “This administration is focussed on making sure the Council continues to build on the progress made over the past 16 months.

“It is heartening that the Local Government Association, our residents and workforce, recognise the steps that we are taking as an organisation to be better and improve what we do and how we do it.”

“I’m a grateful to everyone who took part in the LGA review and responded to our resident and colleague surveys. This feedback is invaluable as we work together to build on the progress so far.”

Adam Carey