Every few years we invite experienced members and officers from other councils to visit us, to assess how we're doing and provide feedback about how we can continue to improve.
These ‘peer reviews’ are not inspections, but tools for improvement as part of an industry recognised commitment to improving performance.
A peer review team:
- review documents to familiarise themselves with local issues
- gather information by attending meetings
- listen to views from residents, council staff, councillors, external partners, and stakeholders
Previous peer reviews
Find out about previous peer reviews (sometimes called a 'Peer Challenge'):
Peer review 2024
The findings and recommendations from the 2024 Peer Review were discussed at Executive on 9 May 2024 and are published online: LGA Corporate Peer Challenge Final Report (york.gov.uk).
We produced a Corporate Improvement Framework (.pdf) in response to the council plan action, 'how we will operate' informed by the LGA Peer Challenge recommendations, which was improved for consultation by Executive in May 2024.
We consulted residents, staff and Corporate Services Climate Change and Scrutiny Management Committee to develop a detailed action plan (.pdf) together which was approved by the Leader at the Decision session – Executive Leader, Policy, Strategy and Partnerships on Wednesday 17 July 2024 at 10.00am item 4.
The 2024 Peer Review, which took place from 6 to 9 February 2024, covered 5 high level themes from the Local Government Association (LGA) Peer Challenge Framework:
- local priorities and outcomes
- organisational and place leadership
- governance and culture
- financial planning and management
- capacity for improvement
We've asked for specific focus on:
- how we provide positive customer experiences
- how ready we are to benefit from future opportunities (such as Local Plan, Local Transport Strategy, and the Mayoral Combined Authority)
See the Audit and Governance Committee update about scope of the 2024 Peer Review via: Audit and Governance Committee Meeting Agenda (item 5) on Wednesday 31 January 2024.