Podcast script Comhairle nan Eilean Siar 
I’m here with John Baillie, chair of the Accounts Committee, to discuss a follow up report on Comhairle nan Eilean Siar to check on progress since the last Best value report in November 2011.
John, last year’s report highlighted what it called “serious” concerns about the comhairle. How is it doing now?
Well, in a nutshell, it is improving but it still has more to do. There has been some progress and this is encouraging. We’ve seen this in the way the comhairle manages its finances. It has also a new performance management system which has the potential to really help councillors in scrutinising and monitoring services and in improving them.
But you still have concerns?
Well, yes we do. They are concerns rather than serious concerns which we expressed last year. 
There are other areas where it needs to improve. For example, in the way it manages its workforce. That includes ensuring more staff appraisals are done, managing the rising levels of sickness absence and delivering on the improvement plan that it produced in response to a staff survey. 
It also concerning that the comhairle still cannot effectively measure customer satisfaction – customers are of course the people on the islands who use its services. 
So what happens next?
The comhairle needs to increase the pace of change and momentum of improvements.  And so we have asked for a further report in 18 months to see how things are progressing.
John, thank you very much.

”