Section 3: A Design for Governance and Excellence
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Contents
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| The extension of the powers of the Assembly to enable
it to shape its own system of PSR would be a natural
accompaniment to any general extension of it's powers.
If that is to happen, it should take place as an overall
"Design for Governance and Excellence" in which greater
powers for the Assembly in relation to PSR are matched
by entrenchment of the fundamental principles of effective
regulation. This is important because there is a perception
in some quarters that the PSR system as it is emerging
in Wales may be less robust and challenging than it needs
to be. As a result, there is a concern that the contribution
of PSR to the improvement of public services may be less
than it could be. |
| This is not necessarily the case, at all. Whilst the
external challenge of "naming and shaming" is not an approach
which the Assembly has favoured, the challenge of self
improvement to public service bodies is developing strongly.
There are considerable benefits in placing responsibility
for improvement fairly and squarely on public service
bodies themselves because ultimately they have to deliver
the change and improvement which is needed. An important
test of the approach will arise if, and when, it should
emerge that some public service bodies are unwilling to
recognise the need for change and improvement, or are
unable to deliver it. |
| It is the paradox of public service regulation that
it is at its most effective as an integral part of the
overall system when the other parts of that system - local
and national governmental bodies, delivery bodies, and
the public - recognise and respect the independence and
robustness of challenge which regulators need to bring
to the task. To be optimally effective as part of the
overall system of performance management of public services,
public service regulators should be bound to the fundamental
principles of independent, impartial, and evidence based
judgement. The OPSR have set out the following
principles which should guide external review: |
- The purpose is both assurance and improvement -
this should be an explicit purpose of external review
and should guide its focus, methodologies, reporting
and follow up.
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- A citizen/customer perspective is vital - rather
than be located only in professional perspectives
or in policy or cost imperatives.
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- Focus on outcomes - look at the effect on people
and places rather than concentrating on process or
internal management arrangements.
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- Be proportionate to risk - tailoring the approach
rather than adopting "one size fits all". Good performance
should be recognised and failure should be tackled
effectively.
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- Rely on self assessment - management are responsible
for performance, and the first step rests with them,
and with the politicians who set the policy framework
and the strategic direction. The role of external
review is to challenge and validate, and provide a
comparative benchmark.
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- Use transparent criteria for judgement - in particular,
encourage innovation and diversity, rather than compliance
to uniform standards.
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- Judgements should be based on evidence - this is
critical to impartiality.
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- Address value for money - this principle applies
to the regulators as well as to the service providers.
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- Continually learn from practice - regulators need
to understand their own impact on performance and
the ability of organisations to improve, and need
to learn how to become increasingly effective.
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| It is also important for regulation to be joined up
and to feedback information to citizens/customers, the
delivery bodies, and to policy makers. |
| The heart of any future Design for Governance and Excellence
in Wales will be the powers of the Assembly itself. But
given the part which regulation can play in achieving
the overall objectives of that Design, it would be helpful
to find a way of incorporating an approach to public service
regulation within that Design itself. This might be done
as part of any further Constitutional Settlement through
which greater powers are devolved from Westminster, or
as part of constitution building within Wales following
such a Settlement. |
| Finally, in so far as PSR in Wales further diverges
from England, the importance of collaboration with England
and with others for purposes of comparison and sharing
information in good practice, will increase significantly.
Collaboration with England and with others should be underpinned
and enforced as part of the Design for Governance and
Excellence, and through matching duties of cooperation
and collaboration. This should extend also where possible
to Scotland and Northern Ireland at the earliest opportunity,
and thereafter should be developed across the European
Union as a whole. |
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