South Lanarkshire Council – Podcast

What did you find?
1.	South Lanarkshire Council performs very well. 
2.	It benefits from strong leadership and clear direction. 
3.	Services perform strongly and there are high customer satisfaction rates.
4.	However, whilst recognising the council’s achievements, the Accounts Commission is keen to see further improvements

What is the council particularly good at?
1.	The council sets clear priorities and has a good record of delivering on these, in particular on improving the housing stock, social work facilities and the schools estate, and extensive physical regeneration. 
2.	Services perform well overall and are getting better, and surveys indicate high customer satisfaction. 
3.	Performance is strong in education, regeneration, social work, housing, and waste recycling. 

What do they need to improve?

1.	The Commission has highlighted that openness and transparency are cornerstones of good governance and the council needs to review and amend its arrangements to accord with best practice.
2.	It highlighted the lack of scrutiny taking place in public 
3.	Internal appointments and area committees also need to be looked at.
4.	The council also recognises that improvement is needed in criminal justice services and is taking action to increase investment in roads

How are they managing to achieve such good results overall?
1.	South Lanarkshire is a tightly managed council 
2.	The council benefits from strong leadership and clear direction, and is able to marshal its resources effectively to deliver on its priorities.
3.	The council has good arrangements to support service delivery and continuous improvement, including effective approaches to business planning & performance management.
4.	It manages finances, people, assets, ICT and risks effectively and has strong longer-term financial planning and asset management arrangements. 
5.	The council’s customer care arrangements are also good, and work is underway to develop an overall customer care strategy.

How does this council show 'many of the characteristics of BV'?

1.	There is statutory guidance in place to support the 2003 Act which requires councils to deliver Best Value.
2.	This guidance describes 10 main characteristics of Best Value and the council performs well on most of these
3.	The characteristics include; commitment and leadership,  Sound management of resources, Responsiveness and consultation and Equal opportunities arrangements

What happens next?

1.	We’ll be monitoring progress through the routine audits that we carry out on an ongoing basis.