Corporate peer challenge 2022

Tuesday 1 February 2023 - Corporate Peer Challenge final recommendations

At the end of November, Spelthorne Borough Council invited a team of senior officers and councillors to undertake a comprehensive Local Government Association Corporate Peer Challenge. The team conducted more than 40 meetings involving over 125 people, including a range of Council employees and councillors as well as external stakeholders and partners.

We have now received the

, including its 12 recommendations. The report will be discussed in Full Council on Thursday 23 February and an action plan is being developed to address the recommendations.

The Peer Team concluded that "Spelthorne Borough Council has achieved many unique things of which they can be rightly proud, ranging from the high profile and strategic to the very local and small scale. Their Covid response was brilliant and a focus on supporting vulnerable people in their community is evident.

"The Council has a generally friendly and caring staff culture where cross-service working is very good. Partners and officers would benefit from a clear political direction and visibility from the Council for which it needs a cohesive, functioning Councillor cohort. There is an opportunity for councillors to have a clearer strategic vision for the future rather than spending so much time internally focused on the here and now."

Leader of the Council, Cllr John Boughtflower, said: "I would like to extend my thanks to the peer review team and we very much welcome this feedback from local government colleagues on what we are doing well, what could be done differently and ideas for the future.

In Spelthorne, we place a lot of value on the work we do with our residents to understand what matters most to them and seek solutions together. During their time the team were able to visit a range of locations across the Borough, including a walking tour of Staines-upon-Thames, Fordbridge Community Centre, the White House and the West Wing where they had the opportunity to hear from our residents directly. During the process the team also spoke with a cross-section of our community from key stakeholders, strategic partners, and businesses and I am grateful for their participation and engagement."

The following are the peer team's 12 key recommendations to the Council:

1. 1All Members need to identify what they have in common in terms of shared priorities and objectives for your Borough and your residents and use them to progress the delivery of your shared ambitions for Spelthorne.
2. Then share your agreed political ambitions for the Borough to create a longer-term vision embodied in a broadly agreed Corporate Plan.
3. Take the opportunity you now have to reset the officer / Member working relationship and agree how it will work differently going forward for the benefit of your residents.
4. The discrete but complementary roles of officers and Members need to be better understood by all to improve working relationships.
5. Take the time today to plan for tomorrow. Do not put off the 'non-urgent strategic' work you need to do.
6. Members need to respect officers' roles and give them the time and space to focus on delivering the important priorities you have agreed.
7. Recognise the risk of continued poor behaviour by some Members and the likely impact on the organisation and your reputation as a Council and a place. Take steps to address it.
8. Continue your efforts to address the issue of outstanding audits of the financial accounts.
9. Review the working of the committee system by looking at best practice elsewhere to consider how to create a system that is fit for purpose.
10. Engage in financial training for Members to promote a better understanding of financial implications, project viability and creating robust business cases.
11. Improve the balance between communication and meaningful engagement whereby people feel listened to and heard. Use this in the context of evidence and need, to drive priorities and take people with you.
12. Consider how the LGA can continue to assist with the above recommendations on this reset journey.

Corporate 'Finance' Peer Review 2020

Read about our Corporate 'Finance' Peer Review 2020