Council achievements recognised but further improvement essential
The Accounts Commission recognises the improvement achieved by local government in Scotland. Its report Overview of the local authority audits 2007, published today, highlights progress in services and the need for an increased focus on key areas to meet the challenges ahead.
Professor John Baillie Chair of the Accounts Commission, said:
“Local government in Scotland continues to improve. Councils are facing and addressing significant challenges.
We particularly welcome increased recycling, higher council tax collection rates and the general picture of sound financial reporting.
“But the drive for continuous improvement in services continues and there are ongoing pressures on resources.
“We have identified a number of key areas where there is a need for increased focus. For example, councils need to improve performance management significantly to enable them to show whether they are improving services for local people. This will support the shift towards an outcomes based approach, as set out in the Concordat between the Scottish Government and COSLA.”
The Commission says that councils should focus on the following key areas:
- supporting and developing leadership skills and capacity
- demonstrating the benefits of community planning, working with other public bodies such as the NHS and shared services
- taking a more strategic approach to resources
- stronger commitment to testing the competitiveness of their services
- developing robust baseline data against which improvements in service delivery can be measured and demonstrated
- improving performance management to demonstrate delivery of the outcomes based approach.
