South Ayrshire Council follow-up report – podcast transcript 
I’m here with Douglas Sinclair, chair of the Accounts Commission for Scotland, to talk about a report on South Ayrshire Council. Douglas, can you tell me what this report is about…
Yes, it’s a follow-up report to one we published in February this year when the Commission highlighted serious concerns in the way the council was run. We found significant failings in direction, leadership, scrutiny and performance management.  And a lot of these were long standing weaknesses which should have been addressed much earlier. So, in short, a council really not performing at all well for the people it serves. 
And what have you found?
Well, there is clear evidence that it has taken prompt action to address the weaknesses identified. In March the council approved a plan to drive forward improvement across the organisation. Scrutiny arrangements have also been overhauled and senior management posts restructured.
The report recognises that a number of the improvements, especially the new system for scrutinising council performance, have still to be fully implemented. This means it is too early to assess the effectiveness of the changes. The report also stresses the importance of councillors and senior officers having a clear and shared understanding of their respective roles and responsibilities. 

So what does this mean for the public?

Well, people in South Ayrshire like everyone else have a right to rely on key services the council provides – like schools, roads, and refuse collection. It is vital that it has a good structure in place to deliver them and get the best value for every pound spent. 

What does the Accounts Commission want to see happen next?

What we want to see is this progress maintained over the years and months ahead. 
At the heart of this is the need to build and embed a culture of getting best value for the public and making continuous improvement. That is a duty on all councils. 

South Ayrshire still faces substantial and deep-rooted problems. It will take time to be certain the changes made will be long lasting. But so far, the signs are encouraging but it is still too early to assess the longer term impact. In short, there is still a lot of work still to do. 

Douglas, thank you.