Agenda item

To receive details of the Corporate Peer Challenge 2025.

The Leader of the Council presented the report of the Executive Director for Place, which set out the findings of the Peer Review Team (the Team) and highlighted areas of best practice and recommendations for consideration by the Council.

As part of a commitment to continuous improvement, which ensured that services were, and the organisation as a whole was as efficient and effective as it could be to take forward delivery of the Council’s strategic priorities, in October 2025, the Local Government Association (LGA) undertook a Corporate Peer Challenge of the Council, at the request of the Leader and the Chief Executive, to explore how effectively resources were prioritised and used to deliver the Council’s vision “to protect, care and invest to create a better borough”.

Councillor Carter said it was the first time that he had been part of this process and despite having been a little unsure as to what to expect, it was pleasing to present the outcome of that corporate peer challenge.

It was an important external check that helped ensure the Council remained a high performing, well-run Council and that it did not stop driving delivery of good services for its residents, which was its focus.  As part of the Council’s commitment to that continuous improvement, he and the Chief Executive invited the LGA to undertake the peer challenge, since its last review in 2021.

It was considered good practice to have a peer challenge every five years and the Council wanted to do that early, particularly since a change in leadership of the Administration 12 months ago, it was important to have that external view and to understand quickly where the Council could strengthen further.

In October 2025, the Team, made up of cross-party Councillors and Council officers from across the country, met 120 people through interviews and focus groups, which included external partners. The aim was to understand how the Council used its resources to deliver its priorities, and the Team had produced a report of its findings, which identified the Council as having strong leadership and a culture that was working effectively to deliver its vision to protect, care and invest to create a better borough.  It commented that Telford and Wrekin was a confident and high-performing Council with a strong track record of delivery, civic pride and innovation.  The Team praised the quality of the leadership, the workforce, financial management, economic development, social care and its focus on brilliant basics. Fundamentally, it endorsed the way the Council managed its budget, made evidence-led decisions and delivered for its communities.

To support the Council in its desire for continuous improvement and to maintain its strong track record in delivery, the Team had identified eight recommendations to be considered in taking the Council forward. It was positive that these recommendations built on commitments that the Council had already made and provided assurance that the Council was delivering in the right areas.

The recommendations provided an opportunity to review and refine existing activity, to ensure the Council’s work to improve remained focused and in proportion. The Action Plan at Appendix A to the report highlighted and set out how ongoing actions already met many of these recommendations.  The Leader hoped that having produced the plan to demonstrate clearly what the Council needed to do to continue to improve, and that it would do so quickly, showed how seriously the Council took that and it would deliver those as quickly as it could.

The Council would update the Team on the work when it returned later this year.

The Leader thanked the Team for its work and constructive and positive feedback, and everyone involved with Telford and Wrekin Council and its partners for the way that they engaged with that process and continuing to be a fantastic Council that delivered and was focused on delivering the very best for its residents in Telford and Wrekin.

The Leader of the Conservative Group said that there was one certainly around economic growth in the borough, which was 1.8% between 2013 and 2023. It was above the West Midlands average, which was good, but it was way below the national average of 8%. There were some good points, around NEETs (not in education, employment or training), the default, the infrastructure and skills together were the pathway to prosperity. However, a lower proportion of level three plus qualifications in the borough, plus health inequalities still remained as challenges that the Council needed to deal with.

In respect of Highways, and certain issues around potholes – there was a cost to doing this and it was a substantial cost. There was a balance to be reached at some point as to whether the road surface was repaired rather than filling a pothole, cost wise.

Opposition briefings were extremely good, candid and senior officers did attend as requested and gave substantial briefings, which was to be commended.

RESOLVED – that Cabinet:

a)    noted and endorsed the LGA Corporate Peer Challenge which highlighted that:

· the Council was a high performing organisation;

· had strong and effective leadership together with a committed

   workforce;

· was valued by partners as an organisation that gets things

   done; and

· had a strong performance culture underpinned by a commitment

   to continuous improvement.

b)   noted and endorsed the action plan to implement the recommendations at Appendix A to the Corporate Peer Challenge 2025

c)    approved the timescales for reporting progress to Cabinet and the follow up review to be undertaken by the Local Government Association;

d)   records its thanks to the Local Government Association Corporate Peer Challenge team who visited Telford & Wrekin Council and undertook the review.