I’m here with John Baillie, chair of the Accounts Commission for Scotland to talk about the Midlothian Council Best Value report.  John, can you tell us what this report is about.
Well, it looks at what has been going on at the council over the last four years since the last Best Value report.  That earlier report highlighted a number of issues which Midlothian needed to address to show it was improving services and getting best value for the money it spent.
So what’s changed over the last four years?
Well, Midlothian has made solid improvements in a relatively short period of time. Councillors and officers have worked well together and shown good leadership in increasing the pace of change. We’d like to see this continue – and,  indeed, speeded up. 
Now, the Council is managing its budget well and has made good progress in key areas like working with partner organisations, and in community engagement, self-evaluation and managing people.
What does this mean for the public?
It means that council services are generally getting better but there is need for further improvements in areas like planning, housing and secondary education services. 
And what does the council need to do now?

Well, Midlothian should to pick up the pace of improvement in secondary education and in some areas of education psychological services and community learning and development. It needs to improve its scrutiny of education services and develop a shared vision to drive further improvement in attainment and achievement.
The council  also needs to be more systematic in listening to customers. It can also make more use of value for money assessments and seeing at how it compares with other councils.
What do you want to see happen as a result of this report?
Well, the Council shows l shows good awareness of where and how it needs to improve. And that’s a good start. It also has a Business Transformation Strategy that to give it a clear focus and direction. We’d look forward to seeing this deliver the expected benefits and savings. 
John, thank you very much.