Wales Audit Office sets out best practice strategy
Three year plan to improve spending in public sector
The Wales Audit Office has released its three year strategy aimed at
spreading best practice across the public sector.
It will work alongside partner bodies across the UK to ensure robust
comparisons can be made.
The watchdog said there were generally high standards in public sector bodies
in Wales, but also a ‘number of persistent issues’ that prevented further
improvement.
It said traditional configuration of services, lack of capacity, gaps in
capability and fragmentation of planning and delivery resulted in the poor
financial health in parts of the NHS, inequality in access to services,
ineffective partnership working and uneconomic procurement.
Jeremy Colman, auditor general for Wales, said: ‘Since devolution,
expenditure in the Welsh public sector has almost doubled to a current level of
some £14bn each year.
‘The pace and scale of current changes are considerable and, with it, the
expectations among the public and politicians in terms of standards, equalities
and improvement.’