Accounts Commission acknowledges progress at West Dunbartonshire Council and urges further work

The Accounts Commission for Scotland published its latest findings today on Best Value at West Dunbartonshire Council. The Commission acknowledges the council’s progress and increased commitment and urges the council to move forward as quickly as possible on areas where progress has been limited.

West Dunbartonshire remains the only council to have been the subject of a Hearing during the course of its Best Value and Community Planning audit. The Hearing was held in November 2006 at Clydebank Town Hall. In its subsequent findings the Accounts Commission stated that it believed the council was not in a position to deliver Best Value and Community Planning, decision making at the highest levels was not open and transparent and the council needed significant and sustained investment across a range of activities. The Commission set out priorities for an improvement plan and asked for a further formal report from Audit Scotland on the council’s progress as at 31 July 2007. Today’s findings are based on this report.

Today’s findings state:

‘The Commission acknowledges the Council’s increased commitment to continuous improvement and the progress made by the Council within a fairly short timescale. We endorse the conclusions of the Controller of Audit in her report and would urge the Council to move forward as quickly as possible on the areas where progress has been limited. Priority should be given to:-

• Continuing to develop member-officer relationships
• Establishing arrangements to demonstrate the competitiveness of its services
• Developing robust financial planning
• Improving community engagement.

The Commission believes that West Dunbartonshire Council needs a longer period of time to put in place the improvements required to demonstrate Best Value and would encourage the Council to increase the momentum of change. The Commission accordingly requires a further report from the Controller of Audit in eighteen months time.’

The Controller of Audit’s report referred to in these latest findings concludes that:

• The council has accepted the Commission’s Jan 07 findings and developed an appropriate improvement plan
• There are still significant challenges including developing strategic leadership, HR and financial capacity
• There is an increased commitment to continuous improvement but still much to do to develop a positive culture and environment within which this can flourish
• Work is underway on many of the priority improvement areas but the council would benefit from clearer prioritisation and a greater focus on the impact it expects from improvement activities
• The council needs to consolidate its approach and increase the momentum it has established to ensure a best value and continuous improvement culture is systematically embedded throughout the organisation

John Baillie, Chair of the Accounts Commission for Scotland, said:

"It is encouraging and pleasing to see that West Dunbartonshire Council has an increased commitment to Best Value and Community Planning and has made progress in a relatively short time to address the serious problems we identified in 2006.

"We recognise, however, the scale of change still required. Whilst we want this to happen as quickly as possible, we know it will take more time to properly develop and implement.

“We now urge the council to speed up their improvement activity and become more focused. In particular we would like to see the council prioritise relationships between members and officers, establishing arrangements to test the competitiveness of its services, developing robust financial planning and improving how it engages with the local community.”