Good Practice

Over the past year, we’ve all seen an incredible amount of change and uncertainty. Leaders from across all parts of public services have…
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Future Audit Arrangements for Community and Town Councils in Wales
In January 2020, we consulted on the proposed changes to the audit arrangements for community and town councils. The proposals were made to address systemic issues across the sector.
We received 136 responses from councils, clerks, individual members, internal auditors and members of the public. We have reviewed the responses and carefully considered the issues and observations made by respondents.
The Auditor General has published details of the audit process to be followed for the audit of the 2020-21 accounts and in future years. Community and town councils will be subject to audit arrangements based on a three-year cycle. In two out of the three years, the audit arrangements will be broadly the same as those in place, up to and including 2019-20. In one year out of the three year cycle, auditors will undertake a more detailed audit looking at individual transactions.
This approach balances the risk to the audit of community and town councils, the overall risk to the public purse, and the cost of the audit.
This webinar will provide more detail to councils on how the new arrangements will work in practice.
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Cyber resilience in Wales
The modern world is increasingly reliant upon digital technology. The amount of data stored by public bodies is growing, and increasingly, computerised systems are performing vital functions in public services.
However, one of the downsides to this increased digitisation is the growing cyber threat from unscrupulous organisations and individuals seeking to exploit the digital world for their own monetary or political gain.
In order to defend themselves against such attacks, public bodies have to increase their cyber security but also their cyber resilience.
Cyber resilience is the ‘overall ability of systems and organisations to withstand cyber events and, where harm is caused, recover from them’ (as defined by the National Cyber Security Centre).
The COVID-19 pandemic has further emphasised the importance of cyber resilience. Reliance on the internet has surged during 2020, with huge numbers of public and private employees working remotely, and with the general public increasing their use of the internet to connect with friends and relatives.
Audit Wales is carrying out a national study on cyber resilience in the Welsh public sector. We have surveyed around 70 Welsh organisations about their approaches to cyber resilience.
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Mental health and wellbeing during COVID-19
The Coronavirus pandemic has inevitably had an effect on many people’s mental wellbeing to varying degrees.
From key health and social care workers on the frontline treating COVID hands on, to those shielding, living alone, or those volunteering in the community – everyone has been impacted by the virus.
In particular we focused on:
- Community based services working together to provide mental health support
- Supporting staff health and wellbeing
- How technology can be harnessed to overcome loneliness and social isolation
- What it’s like to lead organisations through a pandemic
- Different approaches to providing mental health support
As well as this we also heard from We are Platfform, who shared key messages from their ‘Lessons from Lockdown’ and provided a picture of mental health and wellbeing in Wales.
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Why using data effectively enables better decision making: WebinarThe Well-being of the Future Generations Act wants us to think and act differently, and this means using different data and thinking about…
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Building Resilient CommunitiesIn partnership with the Wales Co-operative Centre, we looked at the rise in the number of communities that have taken ownership of their…
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Working in partnership: Holding up the mirrorThis seminar, jointly delivered with Academi Wales, focused on ‘holding up the mirror’ so that the design and delivery of a service is…
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Inspiring public services to achieve independence and well-being through digital ambitionIn partnership with Y Lab, Digital Communities Wales and WLGA, delegates discovered how the use of digital in public services help to…
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Grants management mini-guidesThe guides advise you of what you should consider at each stage of the grants ‘lifecycle’ and outline the benefits for you.
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Adverse Childhood Experiences: Small Steps, Big ChangeFollowing on from our previous webinar, we considered what an ACE/trauma-informed approach is all about and how delegates could apply this…
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How you manage risks around organisation change, service transformation and innovationThe culture and behaviours associated with ‘taking well-managed risks’ are relevant at both an individual level as well as at the…
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Moving from outputs to outcomesThis was the first in a series of webinars looking at different aspects of how public services can use an outcome focussed approach to…
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Sustainable procurementOver the next decade, Welsh public services will spend over £60 billion in procuring a range of goods, services and works. What do public…
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Building financial resilience in public servicesOrganisations need to put greater emphasis on flexibility, adaptability and a long-term perspective in their financial management. This…
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How different methods of engagement can help involve the citizen in public service deliveryAs we have so many diverse communities in Wales, it is important that we adapt the way we communicate and engage with groups accordingly.
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Early closure of local government accountsThis seminar formed part of our ongoing programme focusing on the early closure of accounts and what it means for local government bodies.
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https://twitter.com/i/moments/1027904779299770368Public services need to identify steps that can be taken to give every child in Wales the best start in life and break inter-generational…
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The role of scrutiny in relation to the WFG ActIn partnership with WLGA, Welsh Government, Welsh NHS Confed and the Office of the Future Generations Commissioner we considered Governance…
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Using alternative delivery models to deliver public servicesDelivered in partnership with Community Housing Cymru, Welsh Local Government Association, Wales Council for Voluntary Action, Welsh NHS…
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Integrating information technology through open standardsOpen Standards make it easier for systems to work together and exchange data. They can help public services to integrate, collaborate and…
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Governance: Supporting improvement across complex public service deliveryIn partnership with the Welsh Government and ICAEW, we are holding a series of webinars to support public services in improving their…
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Improving digital leadership and ownershipThis seminar demonstrated the important role of digital in the delivery of effective public services that are fit for the 21st Century.
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Benefits realisation webinarPublic Services spend millions of pounds on projects that never get finished. Often, the reason has nothing to do with the quality of the…
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Designing effective services for frequent usersFrequent users of public services are those who regularly contact a specific or a range of public services. They make up a significant…
We do this by holding free shared learning events, webinars and podcasts.
They enable delegates to share and learn from each other:
- on the day
- remotely through social media
- through continued discussions post-event, and
- by accessing our event outputs and guides.
Our programme of shared learning events focusses on topics that are common across public services. These topics align with many of our studies and contribute towards our organisation’s strategic objectives.
They also underpin the ways of working and goals of the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 [opens in new window], Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 [opens in new window] and the Environment (Wales) Act 2016 [opens in new window].
We recognise that organisations are at different stages of design and delivery of public services. This is an important focus for our events.
We believe in adapting not adopting – there’s no need to reinvent the wheel but equally, one size won’t fit all.