Thank you very much, convener. First of all, the Accounts Commission welcomes the opportunity to discuss with the committee the challenges facing local government. As we all know, Scotland’s councils provide important services, but they do so against the background of reducing budgets, an ageing population and rising demands and expectations from the people whom they serve.
Our work shows that although councils are coping well, they face increasingly difficult choices about how to maximise the value that they get from the available money. To help make those decisions, they need to make better and more consistent use of options appraisal, to look carefully at how services are delivered and to think openly about how services might be delivered in future. They need to ask the question: what works best, and can we prove it?
Many of the messages in this year’s report are not new; indeed, the fact that they are similar to previous messages simply serves to underline their continuing importance. I want to emphasise two areas in particular, if I may.
The first is the fundamental importance of good governance, which is the foundation of a successful council, with officers and councillors working well together and in a way that engenders the public’s trust and confidence. On the other hand, bad governance is dysfunctional, time consuming and expensive.
Secondly, the statutory duty of best value remains paramount. We believe strongly that councils that place best value—in other words, continuous improvement in all their functions—at the centre of all that they do are best placed to deal with change.
Although we recognise the current context as challenging, the commission is looking for councils to raise their ambition and up the pace of improvement. For our part, we are considering carefully how the commission can provide further support through its audit work in relation to local government.
Convener, my colleagues and I are very happy to answer questions.