Drug and alcohol services in Scotland are complex and a clear plan is needed to improve people's lives and increase transparency around spending.

Drug-related deaths have been rising steeply since 2013. A record 1,339 people lost their lives to drugs in 2020 – the highest rate in Europe. Alcohol deaths have been decreasing since the early 2000s, but rose by 16 per cent in 2020, when there were 1,190 deaths. 

Moray Council has made progress in some important areas to address financial stability and having plans in place to tackle poor performing services. Challenges remain, however, as it seeks to deliver strategic change. Progress also continues to be hindered by some poor working relationships among some councillors.

The Scottish Government must focus on transforming health and social care services to address the growing cost of the NHS and its recovery from Covid-19.

Improving the NHS will be very difficult against the competing demands of the pandemic and an increasing number of other policy initiatives, including plans for a National Care Service.

Flaws found in the way the public body in charge of Scotland's inland waterways recorded and valued its assets meant auditors could not give an opinion on its accounts.

Scottish Canals' status changed from a public corporation to a non-departmental public body in 2020/21. That change came with a requirement to follow HM Treasury's accounting guide, including the methodology to be used to value the canal infrastructure and inland waterways.

The full financial impact of a cyber-attack on Scotland's environmental agency is still not clear, and the incident remains a warning to other public sector bodies.

Action is needed now to change how Scotland’s social care services are delivered so that it meets the needs, and improves the experience of, people relying on care and support.    

A joint briefing by the Accounts Commission and the Auditor General for Scotland says fundamental issues and threats to the future sustainability of Scotland’s social care system need to be addressed. The pandemic has exacerbated long-standing challenges, highlighting the precarious situation of many vulnerable people who rely on social care or support.  

The Scottish Government needs to take urgent action to ensure essential progress in improving how workforce skills are planned and provided.

In 2017, the Scottish Government, Skills Development Scotland (SDS) and the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) agreed to work towards skills alignment – a more integrated approach to equipping people with the workforce skills Scotland needs. This is a key element of economic growth and recovery and aims to benefit individuals, employers and the economy.

Our school and college leaver recruitment and selection process has been carefully designed to give you as much opportunity as possible to show your skills and qualities relevant to our school or college leaver roles.

To give you an idea of what’s involved, we’ve put together some helpful hints and tips for you.

The National Audit Office (NAO) has published a report today on HMRC's administration of Scottish income tax, including the final calculation of Scottish revenues for the 2019/20 tax year.

The Auditor General for Scotland, Stephen Boyle, provides additional assurance to the Scottish Parliament on the work of the NAO in this area.

Falkirk Council’s leaders need to urgently make and implement big decisions about how to deliver sustainable services and make significant and necessary savings.

The Accounts Commission, the independent body that holds local councils to account, says progress at Falkirk Council has stalled over the past three years. The Commission cannot yet have confidence the council will be able to make savings of £70 million over the next five years. Doing so will require councillors to make difficult decisions that they have, so far, been unable to do.

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