This is Anne McCubbin talking with John Baillie, Chair of the Accounts Commission, about our report ‘Asset management in local government’. John what are the main findings in the report?

Over a quarter of Scotland’s council buildings are in poor or bad condition and over a fifth are not fully suited for the services being delivered from them. Over 1500 buildings fall into both categories. So we would urge councils to take a serious look at their property across all services and put together a long term plan that addresses both the immediate and the long term needs of the council.

So what are the difficulties with this?

Well, properties don’t fall into a poor condition overnight. What tends to happen is that councils may be tempted to defer expenditure on maintenance of properties for one year and on the succeeding year the same deferment takes place. So over a period of years a backlog builds up and it then becomes much more expensive for councils to repair that property.

So what do councils need to do next?

I would urge councils to read our report carefully, to look at the key recommendations and the checklist we’ve provided and to consider the extent to which their councils are already meeting these recommendations and the issues raised in the checklist. In addition, councils need to devise a long term plan for the use of their properties. They need to consider the property condition and suitability and identify the number and location of properties they will need for the future and lay aside sufficient resources to maintain them on a regular basis.