Consultation display

The National Assembly of Wales’ Public Accounts Committee is undertaking an inquiry into the Welsh Government’s Supporting People Programme.  The Auditor General for Wales published a report on the Supporting People Programme on 31 August 2017, and the Welsh Government have responded to the Auditor General’s recommendations.

The Committee is aware that the recent publication by the Welsh Government of the detail of its budget plans has created some uncertainty about the way in which Supporting People funding will be managed in future and this will be taken into account as part of the Committee’s work.

The inquiry will consider the overall governance and management of the Supporting People Programme. The Committee does not have a role in scrutinising the Welsh Government’s budget, but it can consider the way in which budgetary changes are implemented and their impact.

To assist with its inquiry, the Committee would welcome your views on the following matters:

• The impact of wider policy developments on the programme including:
• The overall clarity of the Programme’s objectives;
• The implications of, and emerging response to, the UK Government’s Supported Accommodation review;
• How the Welsh Government might improve communication about the priorities for the Programme and the impact of wider developments;
• How best to align the work of the Regional Collaborative Committees with other collaborative governance arrangements;
• The lessons to be learned from the mixed effectiveness and impact of regional working over the past five years;
• The extent to which the governance and management arrangements for the Programme reflect the ways of working expected under the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015.

·         Monitoring and evaluation including:

• How monitoring/outcome data is used to inform decision-making about programme expenditure and contract monitoring;
• The revised outcomes framework that the Welsh Government is proposing and the extent to which it will address the limitations of the current framework;
• How any revised outcomes framework arrangements can be best communicated and embedded;
• Other opportunities to strengthen monitoring and evaluation, including in assessing the relative value for money of comparable services.

·         The distribution of Programme funding and financial planning including:

• The issues that need to be considered in developing and implementing any new funding formula;
• How budget pressures and funding uncertainty have affected service planning and delivery;
• Reasons for the identified wide variation in financial support for different client groups across local authorities;
• Reasons for the noticeable change in the overall proportion of programme funds spent on floating and fixed support;
• The extent to which local and regional planning processes and spending reflect well-evidenced needs, rather than historical patterns.

Submissions should arrive by 22 December 2017.  It may not be possible to take into account responses received after this date.

Providing Written Evidence

The National Assembly for Wales has two official languages, Welsh and English.

In line with the Assembly’s Official Languages Scheme (PDF 1MB), the Committee requests that documents or written responses to consultations intended for publication or use in National Assembly proceedings are submitted bilingually. When documents or written responses are not submitted bilingually, we will publish in the language submitted, stating that it has been received in that language only.

We expect other organisations to implement their own standards or schemes and to comply with their statutory obligation.

Please see guidance for those providing evidence for committees.

Disclosure of information

Please ensure that you have considered the Assembly’s policy on disclosure of information before submitting information to the Committee.