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The Auditor General is the statutory external auditor of most of the Welsh public sector.
Our key strength is our wide range of skills and knowledge that has arisen from our position as the the statutory external auditor
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This section sets out how you may request information from us and provides some direct links to information of wider public interest.
Governance and oversight at Audit Wales
Our accounts are audited by an independent firm appointed by the Welsh Parliament.
Our Executive Leadership Team is responsible for directing the organisation
The Auditor General is responsible for auditing most of the public money spent in Wales.
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Audit Services has a reach of over 800 public bodies across Wales covering financial and performance audit
Our programme of shared learning events focusses on topics that are common across public services
Having a strategic, dynamic and high quality audit programme is a key focus of our strategy
The NFI matches data across organisations and systems to help public bodies identify fraud and overpayments.
We work with others from across the Welsh public sector and beyond
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Our review looked at whether the performance information provided to senior leaders helps them to understand the perspective of service users and the outcomes of councils’ activities so that they can manage their performance effectively
Our review focused on the main reports councils use to help senior leaders monitor and manage their performance.
Councils put a lot of effort into producing these reports, which are often in the public domain. We did this review at all 22 councils in Wales. Councils deliver services to the public using public money. It is vital councils understand the impact of their activities and policies to know if they are using public money wisely and achieving what they set out to achieve.
Our findings were similar across most councils: that few councils were putting service user perspective information at the core of their reporting and reports tended to focus on outputs rather than outcomes. We have generally made the same recommendations, or variations of them to most councils:
Whilst this review was not about councils’ performance management arrangements as such, our findings raise fundamental questions about the effectiveness of those arrangements. It is difficult to see how some councils are managing performance effectively if they do not report information on outcomes and the perspective of service users.
I hoped to find a more positive picture than we did as the importance of understanding outcomes and the perspective of service users has been emphasised for years. These are arguably the most important aspects of a council’s performance management arrangements. This review casts doubt on whether councils have proper arrangements to secure economy, efficiency, and effectiveness in the use of their resources. I expect to find an improved position when we follow up on our recommendations.