Managing ICT contracts: An audit of three public sector programmes, published today, reports on the management of important ICT programmes that were delayed, cancelled or overran on costs. The programmes were the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (£10 million budget), Disclosure Scotland (£31 million budget), and Registers of Scotland (project originally valued at £66 million but £112 million has been spent so far).
Fife Constabulary and Fife Police Authority both demonstrate most aspects of Best Value. They share a strong vision of taking policing closer to the community and need to maintain the progress they have achieved in the run-up to a single force.
The Best Value Audit and Inspection: Fife Constabulary and Fife Police Authority sets out how these bodies are meeting their duties to deliver Best Value in what they do. It is a joint report from the Accounts Commission and Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary for Scotland (HMICS).
The body charged with overseeing Strathclyde Police has done little so far to improve its performance over the past year but is now showing some positive signs.
Aberdeenshire Council has made significant improvements in the service it offers for housing and council tax benefits.
The Accounts Commission called for an update on its earlier report from August 2011 which criticised councillors for lack of scrutiny and failing to ensure robust arrangements were in place to improve the service.
Strathclyde Fire and Rescue Joint Board demonstrated systemic failures in handling the retirement and re-employment of its chief fire officer, says the Accounts Commission.
In June 2009, the board approved the retirement and re-employment of chief fire officer Brian Sweeney on a fixed term contract. Later that year pension arrangements were clarified which could see the Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) seek an “unauthorised payment charge” of £29,000 on the board.
An Accounts Commission report says gathering, analysing and acting on performance information is essential to improve services and the quality of people’s lives. But no single council has all the elements of a comprehensive performance and improvement framework in place.
An Audit Scotland report, Scotland’s colleges: current finances, future challenges, assesses the financial standing of the college sector before structural reforms and public spending reductions take effect.
The report says that while the overall financial standing of Scotland’s colleges is sound, the sector works to tight margins and faces considerable financial challenges and major reforms.
An Audit Scotland report, NHS financial performance 2011/12, provides an overview of the financial performance of the NHS in Scotland in the last financial year, as well as financial sustainability and the challenges and cost pressures the NHS faces.
All the boards met their financial targets for the fourth consecutive year, ending 2011/12 with a small combined surplus of £13.4 million against total spending of £10.9 billion.
Auditor General for Scotland, Caroline Gardner, said:
An Audit Scotland report, Reducing reoffending in Scotland, looks at the efficiency and effectiveness of approaches taken to address the problem. Reconviction rates have remained relatively static over the past decade, and 30 per cent of offenders are reconvicted within one year. In 2010/11, 9,500 people convicted (one in five of convicted offenders) had at least ten previous convictions.
A report by the Accounts Commission and Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary for Scotland (HMICS) draws out wider lessons from Best Value audits and inspections carried out across the eight forces since 2009.
It highlights key issues facing the new service including the effective integration of local and national plans and clarity about the roles of police commanders, councillors, and communities in setting local policing priorities and plans.
