Council sets out plans to improve how it commissions public services

Nicholas Thomas, Local Democracy Reporter

Auditors have welcomed Caerphilly Council’s proposals to improve how it commissions public services, after previous inspections found weaknesses.

The local authority was told to be more consistent in its approach to commissioning – the process by which it designs or buys services it intends to deliver.

Audit Wales also recommended the council should ensure compliance with its commissioning arrangements, and should review them regularly.

This would help the council secure value for money when providing services to the borough’s residents, the auditors said.

The findings followed an inspection of several council departments between September 2024 and January 2025, and were presented in a report in April.

On Tuesday November 4, a council scrutiny committee meeting heard Audit Wales was “satisfied” with the council’s response to those recommendations.

Its senior auditor, Catrin McCarthy, acknowledged the council had been “refining” its commissioning arrangements at the time of the inspection.

Alongside the areas where improvements were needed, she said the council had also displayed several strengths.

These included requiring service areas to set out clear definitions and expectations of what they were commissioning, and considering a range of options before making a decision.

Cllr Nigel George, Caerphilly’s cabinet member for corporate services, said the local authority had worked with other councils to learn best practice.

It had also run its own four-week “discovery” to assess its commissioning arrangements, and made a series of internal recommendations for improvements.

Elizabeth Lucas, the council’s director of transformation, digital and procurement services, said improvements to commissioning arrangements would now fall under the Mobilising Team Caerphilly project – which is designed to minimise financial waste and deliver better services.