Author: Joanna Mansell
Last saved by: Emma Woods

Animation, Best Value Audit Report, the City of Edinburgh Council
The City of Edinburgh Council is an ambitious council that must do more to maximise its potential.
It has ambitious strategies to improve the city and lives of local people.
The council manages its money well.
It needs to focus on continual improvement, acting on feedback and reviews of its services.
It predicts a budget gap of £70 million over the next four years…
…and Covid-19 will increase these pressures. 
There are challenges ahead for the council in:
-	Putting in place a plan to manage its finances in the longer-term
-	Developing a plan to manage staff numbers and identify skills needed. 
-	Engaging more effectively with all communities, empowering them to improve services.
-	Continuing to lead and progress ambitions to tackle poverty.
-	Developing a single strategic plan to make clear its priorities and ambitions for the city.
-	Improving how it reports performance to the public.

The Edinburgh Integration Joint Board, the body that delivers adult health and social care services, faces significant financial challenges. Most services are performing below the national average.

All against a backdrop of Covid-19.

Elma Murray, Interim Chair of the Accounts Commission, said, “I expect the council to act swiftly on our report. Doing so will support the council’s ambitions to improve the lives of its residents.”

What happens next? The Accounts Commission will keep a close interest on progress made by the council. Auditors will report on progress each year.

Elma Murray video transcript
The City of Edinburgh Council has made mixed progress since our last report in 2016.
Areas where we believe improvement is required include: adopting a strategic framework for continuous improvement; 
The council has made improvement to its performance across a number of its key measures, but needs to report this better to its residents.
It has improved aspects of its leadership and is ambitious for the city. So the council now needs to provide clearer direction through its 2050 City Vision and Adaptation and Renewal Programme about how these ambitions will be progressed.

What’s important now is how the council uses this report to help it focus on the improvements that it needs to make.
I look forward to meeting with the council soon to explore their plans in more detail.