Positive outcome to our Audit of Best Value and Community Planning

The Accounts Commission has published its findings following the audit of Best Value and Community Planning carried out in North Lanarkshire by Audit Scotland during the late autumn of 2007.

The Accounts Commission's findings, and the formal report prepared by Audit Scotland's Controller of Audit both concluded that North Lanarkshire Council:

• has a clear vision and strategic direction for the area;
• benefits from clear and consistent leadership from elected members and officers; and,
• works effectively with partner agencies on a shared set of priorities.

The report recognises our commitment to delivering best value and continuous improvement in the services we provide. This is endorsed by the Accounts Commission, which acknowledges our pace of change coupled with our high rate of service improvement. The Accounts Commission also welcomes our well developed arrangements for financial, risk and asset management and Audit Scotland describes our sound performance management processes within their report. The Accounts Commission also makes positive reference to the consultation we carry out with service users.

The Accounts Commission and Audit Scotland identify a relatively small number of areas for improvement which are consistent with our own improvement agenda.

The Accounts Commission focuses on internal matters relating to increasing the uptake of training by our elected members and developing how we scrutinise the implementation of our policies. Audit Scotland identifies a more detailed improvement agenda including a number of customer facing services where our performance needs to improve – for example, housing allocations and repairs and waste recycling.

Both the Accounts Commission and Audit Scotland also recommend the development of a comprehensive human resources strategy and action to address sickness absence and staff morale.

Gavin Whitefield, Chief Executive of North Lanarkshire Council, said: "The findings of Audit Scotland and the Accounts Commission support us in our drive for continuous improvement and excellence through putting service and people first.

"Work is already underway in many of the areas identified by Audit Scotland and we have made progress in several. For example, a new housing allocations policy has just been approved and our 'recycle for good' initiative has stepped up a gear with the introduction of increased recycling collections.

"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."

The audit is undertaken by Audit Scotland on behalf of the Accounts Commission. A copy of the Accounts Commission's findings and the full report by Audit Scotland are available on Audit Scotland's website.