The Scottish Government has done a good job of delivering its first set of devolved benefits, but the real challenge is still to come, says the spending watchdog.
Carers and new parents successfully received payments in 2018 and the country's new benefits agency, Social Security Scotland, was set up. But bringing in early benefits was harder than expected.
The Auditor General for Scotland says the government does not yet have a clear picture of what will be needed to make the next, much more complex, set of benefit payments.
Stirling Council’s services largely perform well, and the council manages its resources effectively. It now needs to get better at identifying where and how it needs to change to meet future challenges.
Systems to prevent public money being lost to mistakes and fraud in Scotland's councils may be becoming strained, says Scotland’s public spending watchdog for local government.
The Accounts Commission says the need for robust scrutiny of financial management at councils is more important now than ever before. A new Commission report, Safeguarding public money: are you getting it right?, helps councillors to ensure that sound risk management and financial controls are working to protect public money.
South Lanarkshire Council demonstrates strong leadership, has a good approach to the way it manages its finances and has delivered improvements to many services. Now the council needs to ensure that service redesign is driven by engagement with local communities.
A report on the council by the local authority watchdog, the Accounts Commission, says the council delivers major capital projects on time and on budget, has redesigned services and has a culture of continuous improvement. This will help them to meet the financial challenges that all councils continue to face.
Our report on Local government in Scotland: Challenges and performance 2019 was published in March 2019. The Tableau visualisation below illustrates councils' spending and performance levels by services and other factors.
Scotland’s councils are managing to improve and maintain most services. But Scottish Government funding to councils is likely to reduce in future; this, combined with increased demand and less flexibility over spending decisions, means councils need to think differently about how they deliver services to the public.
The Local Government Overview 2019 report by the Accounts Commission, the local authority watchdog, says some services are beginning to show signs of pressure and change is needed to tackle a growing gap between demand and resources.
Audit Scotland's latest good practice note focuses on performance reports in the annual report and accounts of central government bodies. Our Professional Support team reviews public bodies' annual accounts to identify and share examples of good practice reporting, and highlight areas where improvements can be made.
Audit Scotland is delighted to announce a new charity partnership with SAMH (Scottish Association for Mental Health).
The Auditor General has raised concerns about the management of an ICT project at the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC).
Caroline Gardner says the SSSC's ending of a shared services agreement with the Care Inspectorate to pursue a separate ICT strategy lacked good governance and transparent decision-making.
Her report to Parliament notes that in implementing its ICT strategy, the SSSC did not:
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