Author: Elizabeth Gorrie

Podcast Transcript – Perth and Kinross Council 
I’m here with Elma Murray Deputy Chair of the Accounts Commission, to talk about a new report on Perth and Kinross Council.  
Elma, can you give us a brief overview of the purpose of this report and why it matters to local people? 
The Accounts Commission is the public spending watchdog for local government in Scotland. We look at how Scotland’s 32 councils are performing, and report back to the public. This latest report, known as a Best Value report, provides an independent view of Perth and Kinross Council. We’ve looked at questions such as how well is the council delivering services for its residents? Is the council using its resources effectively? And how well are they involving local communities in decision making?                                                                                 
So, what have you found?  
Over the last ten years, the council has improved at a steady pace, and services for local people are also improving. We’ve also recognised that the council, overall, works well with its partners to deliver services.
Importantly, the council manages its finances. As we’ve seen across Scotland the financial outlook is challenging, with councils delivering services with less money at a time of increased demand. 
Perth and Kinross Council is well placed to tackle its future financial challenges, having made savings over the last few years and with plans to make further savings averaging £52 million over the next three years. 
Whilst people in Perth and Kinross are more satisfied with services than the Scottish average the picture is actually more mixed. 61 per cent of services have improved, but 33 per cent have declined, including priority areas such as the performance of pupils at school from the most deprived areas. And that’s why we’re calling for the council to put in place action plans to ensure services continue to improve.
Your report highlights that the Perth and Kinross Offer has the potential to improve the ways in which the council works in partnership with residents, as well as deliver a new approach to how services are designed and delivered. Are these ambitions achievable?
We commend the council to having the vision to develop the Perth and Kinross Offer. It has the potential to bring about a significant change in how the council works with local communities to deliver future services. 
The Offer sets out how the council will work together with local people, communities and businesses to design future services and consider how best to use money and resources. 
Importantly, as part of our audit work, our auditors spoke with council staff and elected members, all of whom were very positive about the potential of the Perth and Kinross Offer. 
The council now needs to consider developing this Offer, maintain its momentum and ensure that they have the resource to deliver their ambitious plans. And they must do this with their staff, residents, businesses and other partners in the local area. 
We will continue to monitor the delivery and impact of this Offer in our annual audit of the council. 
What else are you recommending in this report? 
Whilst the council monitors its performance and evaluates services, they must now take action and use this insight and knowledge to drive forward further improvements. 
The council has progressed the delivery of a range of services online however, they need to develop their digital strategy to reflect their ambition to become the most digitally innovative council in Scotland.
There are also areas that we recommend need to be addressed, which include staff sickness levels and consideration of how the council involves residents at a stage when decisions are being made about how local money is spent and services are delivered.

So, what happens next? 
As I’ve highlighted our report includes a number of recommendations which we expect the council to respond to. We’ll follow up on these through our annual audit work and hope to hear more from them.
Elma, thank you very much. And you can download the full report at www.audit-scotland.gov.uk