This is Anne McCubbin talking with Maggie Bruce about our progress report on Best Value at The Moray Council. Maggie, what’s the background to this report?

Our first report into Best Value and Community Planning at the council was published in February 2006. It described a council with a long way to go to meet its Best Value duties.

Management practices were weak and there was a lack of corporate leadership and direction. The Accounts Commission recommended that the council seek external help to enable it to make the changes required to deliver Best Value.

In May 2007 we did a follow up report looking at what progress had been made since February 2006.

We found that there had been improvements, such as the publication of a community plan, the introduction of training programmes for councillors and senior officers and the setting of clear strategic priorities.

However the Accounts Commission still had areas of concern and asked for another follow up report to be done this year. This latest report covers the period to June 2008.

So how’s the council doing now?

We’re encouraged by the progress the council has made towards providing Best Value for the people of Moray. There is still more work to be done and it’s important that the council keep moving forward, but we’re encouraged by the progress so far.

The council is committed to improvement and showing an increased willingness to seek external advice. In particular we welcome the improvement in elected members’ strategic leadership and the development of the council’s approach to strategic planning.

There is more work to be done however. In building for the future it’s important that councillors are committed to continuing their personal development to ensure that they have the skills needed to deliver effective strategic management. The council also needs to build on its recent comprehensive review of trading services to ensure that it continues to demonstrate competitiveness, and to review its programme management arrangements for strategic projects.

And finally, what happens next?

It is important that the council continues to look for ways to improve the services it provides for the people of Moray. All councils are required to do this as part of their responsibility to deliver Best Value. We will continue to monitor progress made by the council as part of our routine audit work and will report our findings in our annual report to councillors and the Controller of Audit.

Thanks very much Maggie