The Auditor General for Scotland is one of the judges of a newly launched awards ceremony to celebrate excellence and outstanding achievement within public services.
Holyrood Magazine's Scottish Public Service Awards, supported by the Scottish Government, Scottish Parliament and with EY as Headline Sponsor, aim to recognise the rich diversity of public life in Scotland and the vital relationships that cut across departmental, geographic and institutional boundaries.
John Swinney, the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Employment and Sustainable Growth has today announced the appointment of Ronnie Hinds as a Deputy Chair and Tim McKay and Stephen Moore as Members of the Accounts Commission.
These appointments will see changes in the membership of the Accounts Commission from October 1.
A new Chair takes the helm of the Audit Scotland Board from today (1 October).
John Maclean, the longest serving independent board member, succeeds Ronnie Cleland as chair. John has been Chair of the Audit Committee for five years and is looking forward to chairing the board during a period of change.
The Auditor General for Scotland, Caroline Gardner, has issued a report to the Scottish Parliament on matters raised in the audit of the 2013/14 accounts for the Scottish Government.
The report draws Parliament's attention to ongoing risks to achieving the successful delivery and to overall value for money of the Scottish Government's five-year Futures Programme, created to effectively implement Common Agricultural Policy reforms in Scotland.
West Lothian Community Planning Partnership (CPP) has considerable strengths built up over years of effective joint working which has delivered real benefits to local communities.
A report published today for the Accounts Commission and the Auditor General for Scotland says the partnership has made good progress in improving outcomes for people living in West Lothian, especially in relation to the economy, community safety and aspects of health and wellbeing.
The Auditor General for Scotland, Caroline Gardner, has issued reports to the Scottish Parliament on matters raised in the audits of the 2013/14 accounts for NHS 24, NHS Highland and NHS Orkney.
The reports draw Parliament's attention to:
The NHS in Scotland is facing significant pressures from increasing demand for services, while also striving to achieve challenging performance targets and working within tightening budgets.
Orkney Community Planning Partnership (CPP) lacks effective leadership - all partners need urgently to agree priorities and align resources to deliver them.
A report published today for the Accounts Commission and the Auditor General for Scotland says there are good examples of island bodies working well together but the CPP is not exploiting these to deliver better outcomes for the people of Orkney.
An overview report published today for the Accounts Commission and the Auditor General for Scotland says ambitions for community planning have yet to be translated into action on the ground.
Community planning partnerships (CPPs) were set up over a decade ago in all 32 council areas to bring together councils, health boards, and a range of other bodies to jointly plan and deliver better services for their communities.
The City of Edinburgh Council faces substantially greater challenges to cut its spending while meeting increasing demands on services.
In May 2013 the Accounts Commission highlighted difficulties the council faced in making additional savings of £17 million to balance its budget in 2017/18. That figure has now risen to £67 million.
