Written - All Wales Local Government Performance Data 2006-07

At 9.30am today, 8 October 2007, the Local Government Data Unit – Wales will publish comprehensive and verified data on local authority performance in 2006-07. The Unit will also publish a Statistical Bulletin, which will provide a clear and accessible analysis of the data and will enable citizens to consider their authority’s performance and, where necessary, hold them to account.  

This is the second year that the Data Unit has published annual local authority performance data and an accompanying Bulletin.  I welcome this publication, which builds upon last year and draws year-on-year comparisons where trend data has become available.

The services that local authorities provide are essential for maintaining and enhancing the quality of life for all citizens and communities in Wales.  We rightly expect them to be delivered to a high standard, and to improve where possible.  I am very pleased that today’s bulletin demonstrates that local government is, on the whole, meeting this expectation.  Clear leadership, sustained commitment, and innovation by local authorities and their employees has resulted in the delivery of high quality services to citizens.  For example, the bulletin shows that local authorities are continuing to send less rubbish to landfill sites and are recycling more. They are improving the energy efficiency of their own buildings and of the council houses they provide.  They are reducing the proportion of children who leave school without a qualification and are helping more vulnerable adults to live independent lives in their own homes and communities.

However, the Bulletin also identifies those areas in which local authorities have performed less well and where they need to do much more to close an unacceptable range of performance across Wales. For instance, I am concerned that secondary school attendance has remained no more than static for several years and fell slightly during 2006-7.  The rate of delayed transfers of care also faltered, and while I recognise the considerable improvements in this area recently, that momentum needs to be maintained, and the significant gap between the best and the weaker performers reduced.

Performance data always reflect a very wide range of influences on service quality.  Only some of these are under a local authority’s control, and variations in performance are inevitable. Local authorities face an array of different challenges depending on their locality, and have to prioritise their efforts and resources accordingly.  However, the range of performance from the best to the worst in some service areas is still too high.  Local government has already done much to grasp the opportunities and challenges presented to it by working in partnership to narrow these gaps.  We will continue to work with them, encouraging local authorities to share information and to learn from each other to drive up standards and better deliver to their citizens.


Note: The report on Local Authority Performance 2006-7 will be published at 9.30am today by the Local Government Data Unit – Wales and will be available, along with the full set of data on which it is based, from their website www.dataunitwales.gov.uk.  The Data Unit is responsible for collecting and disseminating statistical information about all aspects of Welsh local government and the services it provides.  It is wholly independent of the Welsh Assembly Government.