Podcast transcript

This is Anne McCubbin talking with John Baillie, Chair of the Accounts Commission, about the report Overview of the Local Authority Audits 2008.

John, first of all, what did you find?

We found evidence that services across the board have improved. But – and there’s a big but – councils are facing significant challenges from the recession, from financial pressures quite regardless of the recession and in making local partnerships work.

They now need to take action in a number of key areas so that they are properly equipped to address those challenges.

So what are those big challenges facing them?

Well the ones that I would like to draw attention to just now fall into two categories.

First of all there is the need now for councils to look at the opportunity they have for shared services. We’re really quite disappointed that there hasn’t been more work done in shared services by councils working together. Linked to that, there’s an obligation for councils to lead partnership working in their areas. And councils must now address that.

The second issue is to do with governance and scrutiny. And it’s to do with the need again for performance management - I say ‘again’ because we recommend this every year. So, proper performance management, but linked to proper training and development for councillors because at the moment we’re seeing that the lack of training is becoming a barrier to effective scrutiny. And in a time of recession that is a particular worry given what has happened in the private financial sector and the apparent lack of full scrutiny there. 

You mentioned scrutiny…why is scrutiny so important?

Councils are complex organisations in their own right. They are effectively conglomerates, whether they’re large councils or smaller councils.

So the role of the councillor is complex and demanding. And in those circumstances it’s important that the councillors understand fully what’s required of them in leadership and in scrutiny. 

And it’s against that background therefore that the scrutiny debate and consideration has to be considered. 

It’s important to remember that scrutiny is only really part of the bigger picture, all of which is aimed eventually at the delivery of better services. If there’s not effective scrutiny then ultimately there’s not effective service delivery in the way that local people want. 

Are there any other areas that you want councils to look at?

Yes indeed. Best Value is a process of continuous improvement. It’s a statutory duty on councils and they now need to develop a strong culture of continuous improvement across services, with even greater emphasis on efficiency and the effective use of resources. And of course both of those things link back to the need for robust performance management systems.

The second of the three points I want to make relates to the competitiveness of the councils’ key services. We believe that councils should now be looking to those services and benchmarking them against what happens in the market, so they can determine whether they are getting full value for money and whether things can be improved.

The third point is that it is vital that other public bodies than councils also make corresponding improvements to their work, as part of the whole ‘joined-upness’ of the process.

So what do you want to happen next?

Well we would urge councils to focus on actions to improve in the key areas I’ve mentioned, to ensure that they are indeed fully equipped to address the challenges and provide Best Value to local communities.

In saying all that, it’s important to have balance in what I’m saying. And therefore I would stress that in this last year, which is the subject of this overview report, councils have indeed made progress and it’s important to say that.

John, thank you very much.