This is Anne McCubbin here to talk with Elaine Boyd about our follow up report on Best Value at Inverclyde Council. Elaine what did the initial report say?
It highlighted areas of good service performance. However the council needed to establish Best Value, and the report called for changes.

In particular, it needed more effective leadership by senior managers and elected members and a greater consistency in decision making and scrutiny by senior managers and elected members.

The council needed an effective approach to corporate strategic improvement and to develop a culture of always seeking to improve and showing a clear approach to Best Value for money.

So how is the council doing now?
This is a real success story. Inverclyde Council has made significant progress in developing its improvement programme. They now have the building blocks in place to provide Best Value, a solid foundation for making further improvements.

They’ve made significant improvements so far, since our last report, such as the strategic planning arrangements, management arrangements and political management arrangements.

Structures have now been addressed and the new management structure is beginning to embed throughout the council. And councillors have been provided with a comprehensive training programme.

New systems and processes are starting to take effect and service improvement is visible within the council. The council is embracing all the challenges with clear commitment and renewed energy and enthusiasm. It now needs to focus on keeping the momentum up and delivering service improvements and demonstrating customer satisfaction levels.

However the council still needs to look at its trading operations and the limited progress to date and demonstrate value for money and competitiveness within these operations.

How has the council achieved all this?
The council has approached delivery of its improvement programme with clear commitment, enthusiasm and energy. 

They have built monitoring procedures to ensure delivery of the desired outcomes within the programme. There has been considerable work carried out on setting a clear direction through community and corporate plans and also to changes to political management arrangements and structures.

In addition to this the council have developed a strategic planning and performance management framework which is now embedded within the council and monitors performance and planning throughout the council’s activity.

Finally, what happens next?
The council need to keep up the momentum and continue to improve. We will be monitoring progress through the routine audits that we carry out on ongoing basis.