Audit Scotland
As part of our developing work on the audit of Best Value, Audit Scotland has produced a suite of 18 Best Value toolkits, for use across the public sector. These are detailed diagnostics which we will use to help us form audit judgements. The toolkits are designed to contribute to sound professional judgements and allow individual evaluations to be made about the level a public body has attained in a specified area of activity.
They have been developed to support the corporate assessment process around the five corporate assessment areas identified in our Best Value approach, and the two cross-cutting themes of equalities and sustainability.
However, as each toolkit also incorporates a series of questions on the impact of the area under review, they will also provide some evidence to support the assessment of service performance and outcomes.
Director of Best Value & Scrutiny Improvement, Fraser McKinlay said:
"In developing these toolkits, we have followed a very detailed process of research, testing and, most importantly, consultation with clients and stakeholders.
We have now made the toolkits available to practitioners across the public sector through our website for their information.
"The toolkits take the form of structured key questions, with a matrix of possible levels of performance, ranging from basic to advanced practice. However, as the matrices cannot capture all of the ways in which a public body may address the requirements of best value, there is scope for auditors to exercise balanced judgement and for public bodies to respond flexibly in demonstrating how the key areas of challenge are addressed."