A new contract for consultants has cost the NHS in Scotland an extra £235m in its first three years but clear evidence of its benefits has yet to emerge.

An Audit Scotland report published today, Implementing the NHS consultant contract in Scotland, says the new contract offers an opportunity to improve patient care by planning consultants’ work better, but it is not yet being used to its full potential.

Scottish Enterprise needs to improve how it evaluates its activities to provide a clearer assessment of its contribution to growing Scotland’s economy.

This is the key finding in the Auditor General for Scotland’s report Performance Management in Scottish Enterprise which is published today.

The transfer of council housing ownership is bringing benefits for tenants, says an Audit Scotland report published today. The report also finds that management of transfers is improving but better, clearer measures are needed to assess impact and value for money.

In its local authority overview report for 2005 published today (Thursday 30 March) the Accounts Commission says that Scotland’s councils are facing major challenges and calls on them to further increase their pace of change and improvement.

The report notes that local authorities are working in an environment of major change as government seeks to reform and modernise public services: councils have to deliver Best Value and lead on Community Planning; they also face substantial financial pressures, including equal pay claims and increasing pension contributions.

In its report on The Highland Council published today (Wednesday 5 April), the Accounts Commission says that whilst the council often delivers appropriate and effective solutions to residents’ problems, there are areas in which it must make improvements if it is to be in a position to deliver Best Value. In particular there is a need for stronger corporate direction from councillors and for corporate strategic management in the senior management team to complement the chief executive.

The Teachers’ Agreement has brought benefits for the teaching profession, but the lack of performance measures makes it difficult to assess the wider impact of the £2.15 billion investment.

These are the main findings of the joint report by the Auditor General for Scotland and the Accounts Commission, A first stage review of the cost and implementation of the Teachers’ Agreement ‘A Teaching Profession for the 21st Century’.

The benefits of the Agreement include:

Scotland’s councils have worked with other public bodies to identify £15m worth of fraud and errors in a national detection exercise.

Under the 2004/05 National Fraud Initiative (NFI), councils compared information about benefit applicants, public sector employees and pensioners, and students with the Scottish Public Pensions Agency and the Student Awards Agency for Scotland to find fraud and errors.

A report published by the Accounts Commission today (Thursday 2nd June 2005), says that Inverclyde Council must take urgent, remedial action to address weaknesses in leadership and direction.

Today’s Best Value audit report is part of a rolling programme affecting all local authorities in Scotland and provides information to local people for the first time about how well the council is organised to deliver improving services.

The Deputy Chair of the Accounts Commission, Isabelle Low, said:

An Audit Scotland report, A review of community planning in Scotland, published today, says community planning partnerships have made progress but need to do more to show how their work is improving public services. The report also says that their complex remit makes it difficult for them to achieve their aims and calls on the Executive to support community planning more effectively.

Councils are required to establish community planning partnerships to help public services work together.

Today’s report finds that:

Audit Scotland has today published a report on the six main public sector pension schemes, which will provide retirement benefits to about 950,000 people. Nearly one in five people living in Scotland has some entitlement to a public sector pension.

The largest pension scheme examined covers local government: