New legislation means councils will have to transform the way they deliver social care, offering people choice and control over the support they need. A report published today makes recommendations to help councils fully implement the policy.

Every year Scotland's councils spend £2.8 billion on social care services. They now (as of April 2014) have a legal duty to offer a wider range of options to help meet people’s individual needs. This duty is part of the national Self-directed Support (SDS) strategy to transform social care over a period of ten years.

Educational attainment is improving overall in Scotland, but there is a need to close the gap between the lowest and highest performing pupils.

A new report from the Accounts Commission highlights the rise in attainment over the last decade, as measured by exams taken during S4, S5 and S6. However, there are significant variations between councils, schools and individual groups of pupils.

Fraud and errors worth £16 million have been identified following the largest and most diverse detection exercise undertaken by Audit Scotland and more than 120 Scottish public bodies.

The latest National Fraud Initiative, carried out every two years in Scotland, brings the total value of outcomes recorded by the exercise in the last decade to £94 million, and sends a clear warning to those who seek to defraud public services.

Argyll and Bute Council has responded constructively to a critical report but much more work is required to secure the improvements needed at the local authority, says the Accounts Commission.

A follow-up report published today charts what has been done since October 2013, when the Commission voiced serious concerns about risks to the council from political instability, inadequate leadership and scrutiny.

Moray Community Planning Partnership must show stronger leadership and target resources towards agreed priorities if it is to keep recent progress on track.

A report published today for the Accounts Commission and Auditor General for Scotland highlights that Moray CPP has only begun to make important progress over the past year, despite being established more than a decade ago, in 2001.

The Accounts Commission's annual report for 2013/14 is published today. It charts the work of the commission during an eventful and challenging year for local government in Scotland. The commission's annual action plan progress report for 2013/14 is also published.

Visit the annual report pages here.

Audit Scotland is supporting three charities across the country to improve their financial planning and structure, as part of a scheme which recruits skilled business volunteers to provide expert advice to charities.

A commitment to e-publishing has seen a significant decline in the size of Audit Scotland print runs in recent months – with thousands of people receiving reports and updates via email.

Following a survey of stakeholders and research which showed a 40 per cent increase in readership of Audit Scotland reports through tablet and other electronic communication devices, the public spending watchdog made a move to e-publishing in April this year.

Audit Scotland is delighted to be hosting October’s EURORAI conference, focusing on Auditing in a Period of Austerity. We’re looking forward to welcoming delegates from across Europe, promoting an exchange of knowledge and contributing toward Audit Scotland’s vision to be a world class organisation. We will be discussing a range of challenging issues, including the delivery of best value, continuous improvement and shared services.

With around 100 delegates from different European audit institutions, it looks set to be a challenging and interesting conference.

Audit Scotland is delighted to announce that our staff have chosen leading dementia body Alzheimer’s Research UK as their corporate charity for the next two years.

The charity specialises in generating funding for research into preventions, causes, treatments and a cure for dementia, which affects more than 820,000 people in the UK and has a devastating impact on both the sufferer, and the family and friends who care for them.