Podcast transcript – Local Government Overview report 
I’m here with John Baillie, chair of the Accounts Commission, to talk about the annual Overview report on local government in Scotland.
John, can you tell me what this report is about?
Well,  the report looks  back at how Scotland’s 32 councils have been doing over the last twelve months and it also looks ahead to the challenges they face in the coming year.  Councils spent around £21 billion last year on key services like schools, housing, and the environment which, of course, are important to us all.
So how have they been performing and how tough is going to be this year?
It’s clear that councils will need to do more with fewer resources. They have coped well with the financial pressures of recent years but these pressures are not easing and demands on services are still rising.  This means that to balance their budgets, councils may now have to consider decisions, which they had previously ruled out.
They are also having to cope with new pressures like the impact of welfare reform. Councils are taking this very seriously and are responding well but there are major challenges for councils in putting the new benefits arrangements in place.
And there are other changes ahead such as the new national police and fire services and plans to integrate health and social care.
So how can councils do better?
They need to continue to review existing services as well as identifying fresh ways of providing them – working with their partners, sharing skills and resources and keeping close tabs on budgets to ensure every pound is spent wisely. 
Now all of this is  tall order.   But there is a fresh appetite now from government and councils for new ways of working such as more effective community planning.  Councillors are the centre of this and they have a crucial role in making sure their councils are delivering the best services for local people.
The report says that overall reserves held by councils have gone up….
The trouble is that reserves can only be used once and so are not a sustainable source of funding. Every council therefore has decide for itself on the right level of reserves they should be holding. Our view is that councillors and the public need clear information on why reserves are built up and what the council intends doing with them.
So, what do you want to see happen next?
Well, we now have a lot of fresh faces in councils across Scotland.  More than a third of councillors elected last year were new to local government and around one third of councils have changed their chief executive in the last two years. These changes provide an opportunity for fresh ideas and renewed impetus for improvement – and that is what we want to see.       John, thank you very much.