In June, Audit Wales published a report into how Bridgend Council commissions services (pdf).
Commissioning is when a council designs – and sets out how to deliver – a particular service. Audit Wales undertook a sample of several services – mainly in social services, as well as a waste & recycling contract.
The report – due to be discussed by BCBC’s Governance & Audit Committee later this week – concluded that BCBC:
- Doesn’t require information on what a new service is supposed to deliver and why – though in practice this was done unofficially within the samples auditors looked at.
- Doesn’t require commissioned services to prove they’re providing value for money – though, again, this was done unofficially/voluntarily.
- Doesn’t require those setting up or providing a commissioned service to seek the views of the people who will use them – though this may be done unofficially.
- Doesn’t always consider multiple options and the benefits/risks of each option – this only happened in one of the samples (presumably the waste contract).
- Doesn’t fully consider the long-term when commissioning services. So BCBC might design a service that provides value in the short-term but costs more money than it should over a longer term. This also means BCBC doesn’t always understand how much a service costs over the entire length of a contract in all commissioned services.
- Only lets the Cabinet decide on commissioned services valued at £5 million+. This means the council’s wellbeing goals aren’t considered for commissioned services valued below this threshold. While the council requires commissioned services to think about what other organisations they can partner with or work with jointly, some opportunities may have been missed because of this.
- Doesn’t share lessons learned between departments. This means departments with little experience in commissioning services don’t learn from the mistakes or good practices of departments with more experience.
This report may mean that confidence in BCBC’s ability to manage major projects and deliver new services takes another hit. One of the main projects happening behind the scenes at BCBC at the moment is preparations to bring waste and recycling under full council control.
Historic examples include delays and cost overruns related to the refurbishment of Maesteg Town Hall and years-long delays in commissioning and delivering remedial work to homes affected by the Arbed scandal in Caerau.
Additionally, throughout the spring and summer of 2025 there have been issues around the new in-house grasscutting service, while there have been recent reports that BCBC had been defrauded out of more than £3,000 as part of a shipping container purchase.
In response to the report, BCBC has set out the actions it intends to take to Audit Wales (pdf). Most of this will be led by the Chief Executive’s office and includes:
- Publishing good practice guidelines that can be shared across all council departments.
- Corporate Directors will need to report every 6 months to ensure they are all on the same page when it comes to commissioning.
- Commissioning arrangements will be reviewed annually.
