Pembrokeshire County Council has become the first local authority in Wales to publish a Corporate Peer Challenge Report.

The report – compiled by the Local Government Association (LGA) - will inform measures for the Council’s improvement in the future.

In the past decade around two-thirds of councils in England have undertaken a Corporate Peer Challenge.

A small team of peer officers and councillors, compiled by the LGA, spent a week with the Council in mid-February.

The process involved engaging with elected members, employees and a wide range of people connected with the Authority to get views and perspectives.

The report highlights a number of areas of good practice while also identifying areas for improvement.

For instance, the peer team was impressed with the Council’s delivery in relation to social care integration which the Authority’s partners view as being ‘leading-edge’ within Wales.

Partners also pointed to an improved set of relationships with the County Council.

The peer team found that the Cabinet’s Programme for Administration provided increased clarity around priorities and noted delivery of the vision.

Examples included removing the tolls on the Cleddau bridge; plans to enhance digital infrastructure and related broadband connectivity across the county and building new council housing.

The team complimented the Council on how it has addressed the budget gap to date and the bold decisions taken - including raising Council Tax – and noted the progress its transformation programme, especially the technology element and the much-enhanced ability for staff to work in more agile ways.

The report includes twelve recommendations including building on the locality planning model used for health and social care; tackling relationship issues and strengthening corporate processes including decision-making, transformation, organisational development and communication.

In a joint statement Council Leader, David Simpson, and Chief Executive, Ian Westley, said: “We are both very grateful to the peer team for facilitating and sharing the review and making recommendations that they believe can improve how the Council is run.

“We are as one in recommending to all senior leaders - members and officers - that the report and its recommendations should be accepted by the Council as a whole.

“The team noted the real commitment, extensive goodwill and huge pride our employees have in serving their communities.

“The current crisis has underlined the dedication of employees and elected members to Pembrokeshire and its communities. This dedication, working alongside the resources of our public, private and third sector partners, cannot be underestimated.”

The statement added: “The peer challenge and the resulting report has held up a mirror to the Council and highlighted the need for it to tackle some difficult issues. We know that Pembrokeshire County Council can, and will, address the report’s recommendations.”

Councillor Neil Prior, Cabinet Member for Transformation and IT, said: “I welcome the constructive challenge that the report brings and the Council will develop a detailed action plan to address the report’s recommendations.

“Of course, at the moment we must devote our efforts to tackling Covid-19 and keeping all our communities safe but that doesn’t stop us from being absolutely committed to our improvement journey.”