Local council tax payers in North Lanarkshire will be encouraged by a report published today (Wednesday 28 May) which confirms that their council demonstrates value in its services, a strong commitment to improvement and works effectively to meet the needs of the area.

The findings are contained in a report published by the Accounts Commission following an audit of North Lanarkshire Council at the end of last year.

The Commission's findings also acknowledge the council's "good strategic direction, with good leadership and clear vision" as well as the pace of change across the council and the high rate of service improvement, while recognising the challenges faced by the council from the area's industrial past.

This is evidenced by significant improvements in customer satisfaction levels and performance levels improving above the Scottish average, alongside what the report describes as the council's "ambitious range of improvement projects" through its Service and People First programme.

North Lanarkshire Council Leader Jim McCabe is welcoming the report and says he is delighted with what the findings mean for the people of North Lanarkshire: "The Commission's findings tell a very positive story about North Lanarkshire and recognise the significant progress the council has made over a number of years. We have progressed to this position through the combined effort of our communities, our staff, our elected members and our partners, so this is a report that everyone has played a part in achieving.

"Our focus is always to provide high-quality services that deliver the best possible value within our available resources. And this report is an independent endorsement that we are achieving this. This is not only good news for the council, but is also great for the local communities we serve on a daily basis.

"This report is not about getting everything right and we know that. There are areas where we need to improve and these are also identified in the report, although action plans are already in place within the council to address the majority of these. What's important is that we have recognised and are committed to making these improvements and, crucially, the Accounts Commission itself recognises that we are doing this.

"This report shows us where we are and what we are achieving now and points us in the direction of an even brighter future for North Lanarkshire. I am very proud of the picture this report paints of North Lanarkshire and we will continue to build on this to ensure we deliver for our people – staff, members, visitors and residents – at all times."

The report asks four key questions to assess the council's effective operation – 'Does the council have clear strategic direction?', 'Is the council organised to deliver better services?', 'Is the council delivering better public services?' and 'What needs to improve?'.                       

In answering these, the report concludes that the council benefits from clear and consistent leadership and strong commitment from officers and elected members, the council has good arrangements to support service delivery and continuous improvement, consultation with service users is good and services are improving, with strong performances in a number of areas.

Under what needs to improve, the report identifies an action plan for the council which is "designed to build on the momentum that already exists" within the council. For example, the report identifies some service areas where performance needs to improve: S3 to S6 secondary educational attainment and pupil attendance, services for homeless people, housing allocations and repairs, library services, waste recycling and more effective community engagement. It also recognises that challenges remain for the council in relation to sickness absence and staff morale.

Echoing the council leader's comments, North Lanarkshire Council Chief Executive, Gavin Whitefield, says that work is already well advanced in some of the improvement areas identified. He added: "Work has been underway for some time and we have already made good progress in several areas. For example, a new housing allocations policy has just been approved, following months of consultation, and our 'recycle for good' initiative has stepped up a gear with the introduction of increased recycling collections.

"Given the size of the council and the range of our activities, the number of improvements identified for action is fairly limited and the Accounts Commission recognises that we already have a robust agenda in place to tackle these and this is very reassuring.

"This is a very positive and extremely heartening report and I am particularly pleased that the Accounts Commission recognises our "capacity and ability" to build on our current high performance, with a view to delivering further and tangible improvements in the coming weeks and months.

"Everyone working for and with the council should be encouraged by this outcome as we continue to work to improve all our services, make a difference and put service and people first at all times."                             

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