Best Value Duty

Theme 3: Governance

Self-Assessment Heatmap
G001 See CI012 G003 G004 G005 G006
G007 G008 G009 G0010 G0011  

Best Value Duty - Description of a Local Authority Whose Service Delivery Delivers Best Value:

In a well-run Council officers and Members will have a clear understanding of the democratic mandate as it operates in the organisation. 

There will be clear and robust governance and scrutiny arrangements in place that are fit for purpose, appropriate to the governance arrangements adopted locally (executive / committee system), and in accordance with statutory or sector guidance such as MHCLG’s and DLUHC’s guidance on overview and scrutiny and the Centre for Governance and Scrutiny’s governance risk and resilience framework. These arrangements should be understood by Members and officers alike, reviewed regularly and accurately described in the Annual Governance Statement. 

Decision-making processes, within clear schemes of delegation, should be transparent, regularly reviewed, clearly followed and understood, enabling decision-makers to be held to account effectively. There should also be evidence of the decisions following good public law decision making principles (reasonableness, rationality, proportionality, legality, fairness etc). 

Codes of conduct and HR processes should be to sector standard and ensure effective support for whistle-blowers. 

  • The Council has a detailed, clear and easily accessible whistleblowing Policy for staff, of which there is wide awareness and confidence that it will work. The Policy is to sector standard and provides an internal and external point of contact for whistleblowers to report their concerns. 
  • The Council adopted the recommended LGA model for RBC’s Member Code of Conduct to align with what is recognised and recommended as good practice at national level. This supports the appropriate governance arrangements required. 
  • The Council provides newly elected Members with a detailed induction pack that includes wide-ranging relevant information on working as a Councillor, to ensure they have, or can access, the appropriate expertise and knowledge to perform their role. The Council funds various other training and learning opportunities for Members to help them become more experienced and confident in their role, enabling effective local governance in Runnymede. 
  • The Committee structure of the Council ensures that service delivery and the work of officers is scrutinised through service committees, as they have oversight of performance against the agreed service area plans. This helps to ensure that scrutiny of performance and direction is proactively applied throughout each municipal year.
  • The self-assessment revealed that there are gaps in the Council’s procedures and policies that ensure that all Officers and Members comply with the Nolan Principles. The Council must update the staff Code of Conduct to include the principles, the Code must be referenced in the employment contract and the staff induction programme should be reviewed to include modules or documentation to read regarding the Nolan Principles. 
  • The Council must close the feedback loop for residents and communicate how the organisation has learnt and improved services as a result of complaints. A new system to capture, process and report complaints consistently across the organisation has recently been implemented. This will improve systematic analysis and evaluation of the issues identified and actions taken. 
  • The Council identified that while external advice is sought to support decision making on large and novel matters, external expertise is not typically sought for a review at a later point after implementation or delivery of change, to check that benefits are realised. When relevant, appropriate, and where budget permits, the Council needs to add the use of external advisors for validation of benefits realised as an option to consider in the close out stage of the project methodology.   
  • The Council plans to benchmark Member training standards with other organisations and local authorities to ensure that Runnymede’s Councillors are sufficiently knowledgeable and skilled against others in the country. Doing this fosters a culture of learning and support within the Council and with partners which will increase Member competence and skills, and support the continuous improvement of political leadership across the country. 
  • The Council will improve how they evidence the complaints the Council has received and what improvements have been put in place to resolve the issue identified by residents by uploading these onto the website. This will provide residents with greater confidence that where valid complaints are made, accountability is demonstrated, and they lead to positive change within the Council.
  • As part of the Overview and Scrutiny work programme, the Council will consider establishing a programme bringing forward an annual summary of service performance against the SAPs, now that the business planning tool has captured this data better. This will result in consistent reporting to service committees where delivery and progress can be suitably scrutinised. 
  • The Council found that there is a current inconsistency in reporting performance of service KPIs. So, a review of KPI data should be undertaken in department management meetings on a quarterly basis as soon as data is available and validated. This will help identify areas for improvement early by engaging officers in reviewing team performance trends in service areas.
  • The Council will continue to promote additional learning opportunities, training, conferences and useful materials that will help Members continuously improve the skills they need to provide effective local leadership in Runnymede.
  • The Council will continue to review the Member Code of Conduct annually to ensure that any changes in legislation or good practice are incorporated into the Code. The Council will review and amend the Member Code of Conduct and the Constitution to include a policy that clarifies which training is mandatory for Members to undergo to sit on a committee, and what happens if the pre-requisite requirements are not met. This will ensure Members are properly equipped to provide effective leadership. 
  • The Council will consider formalising the Councillor mentor scheme so that newly elected Members can benefit from being paired with an experienced Member as a mentor for a minimum time period.
  • Regular risk discussions should be adopted in service area management meetings. Discussion of risks must be a standard agenda item for management team meetings, with any changes or updates captured in the risk management system.
  • The Council identified that periodic attendance of the Assistant Chief Executive (S.151) for risk management items at Service area management team meetings would strengthen the link between service management teams’ oversight of risk and the corporate risk register. This will improve staff understanding of the processes in place, the requirements of officers, the adoption of the framework, and provide oversight for senior management to ensure that risk is a standing item for consideration within all management teams.

Next Steps Identified in Action Plan:

Through self-assessment, we identified nine key actions to implement to improve service delivery, laid out in page 9-13 of the action plan.