Our strategy and work programme

We expect councils to show how they are making the best use of public resources and are improving local services for the communities they serve. This is fundamental to their Best Value obligations.

As the public’s independent watchdog for local government, our aims are to provide assurance over how public money is used, including the sustainability of local spending, and support public scrutiny by informing the public about the quality and value for money of local services.

Strategy and work programme 2020-2025

 

We update our strategy and work programme each year to set out priorities for our work and how we will take them forward over the next five years.

We review the priorities each year based on our work, to ensure that they reflect current issues and challenges in councils. This year we are continuing our current priorities as they remain relevant to the challenges faced by councils and our expectations of them.

 Download the strategy and work programme 2020-2025 - PDF 2.6Mb

Our work programme 2020-25

We update our five-year work programme each year to keep our work relevant to the public and our stakeholders.

We consult widely over our work programme each year, with councils, third sector representatives and trade unions. This helps us plan our work to reflect current risks and issues in local government.

Download our strategy to find out more about our work programme - PDF 2.6Mb

View the joint Accounts Commission and Auditor General work programme 2020-2025

How we engage

We need to understand issues important to the people of Scotland to keep our work relevant and help improve our public services.

Our strategy outlines how we engage with the public and a wide range of stakeholders: councils, Scottish Parliament, and the various professional bodies and representative groups we deal with. Our engagement has three main purposes: