New Writing Standards

Who we are1 Audit Wales is the non-statutory collective name for the Auditor General for Wales and the Wales Audit Office, which are separate legal entities with their own legal functions.2 Wales Audit Office supports the Auditor General for Wales (AGW) as the public service watchdog for Wales. Our aim is to ensure that the people of Wales know whether public money is being managed wisely and that public bodies in Wales understand how to improve outcomes.3 The Auditor General is independent of government and is the Chief Executive of Wales Audit Office, a corporate body established under the Public Audit (Wales) Act 2013 to provide resources to the Auditor General, including staff.4 The Auditor General is the statutory external auditor of most of the Welsh public sector including the Welsh Government, public bodies sponsored by the Welsh Government, the Senedd Commission, NHS bodies in Wales and local government bodies in Wales.Background5 Each year, we issue many reports and other written outputs covering many topics across the public bodies we audit. We recognise that the way we present and convey information in our written outputs makes a difference to their appeal and impact. Our new Five-Year Strategy includes a focus on developing a targeted and impactful approach to communications and influencing.6 We are looking to appoint a provider to:- deliver services that will help us to renew and modernise our writingstandards and guidance;- design and construct templates that support those standards; and- design and deliver training programmes that will help our staff deliver those standards in their written outputs.7 Any contract is expected to commence towards the end of this calendar year.What we are interested inDevelopment of new writing standards, guidance and template design8 Audit Wales currently has several guides for staff on how to communicate in writing. Some of these guides have not been reviewed for some time or have been reviewed in a piecemeal fashion. The existence of several disparate guides makes it harder for our staff to understand and abide by their contents.9 We wish to streamline and update our current writing guidance to:- make it easier for the user to apply;- to reflect what is considered as best practice; and- where necessary, better reflect the digital communications environment.10 Using this new guidance, we want designs for new templates for reports and other potential outputs. As well as supporting our new guidance, these templates would need to meet the requirements of our auditing standards and legal requirements, and comply with our branding guidelines.Technical construction of new templates11 We want to use our new writing guidance and template design to construct a new series of standard reporting templates in Microsoft Word. The number of templates would be determined as part of the design process above.12 These templates should use existing Microsoft Word functionality to make applying our new guidelines as easy as possible for users.13 Any new templates should include any necessary branding and/or publishing requirements. Also, they need to be compatible with our standard laptop build and any other IT standards e.g. cybersecurity.Training14 Audit Wales would like to develop and deliver a training programme that supports the roll-out of our new writing standards and templates.15 The training should comprise not only theory but a large element of participation to enhance delegates’ learning, support reflective practice and familiarise our staff with our new guidance and templates.16 We expect learning will be delivered primarily face to face at an Audit Wales office, but the successful supplier must have the skills and technology to deliver and facilitate workshops virtually if needed.If you are able to provide any or all the services outlined point 6 above, please email [email protected] before the 06/09/2023 to register your interest.NOTE: To register your interest in this notice and obtain any additional information please visit the Sell2Wales Web Site at https://www.sell2wales.gov.wales/Search/Search_Switch.aspx?ID=134197.