CPP Overview report – podcast transcript 
I’m here with Douglas Sinclair, chair of the Accounts Commission for Scotland, to talk about a report on community planning. 
Douglas, can you tell me what this report is about…
Yes, it’s our second overview report on progress in community planning. Just to give you a bit of background…..community planning partnerships were set up more than ten years ago in each council area to bring together the council, the health board and a range of other local bodies to tackle key problems such as reducing inequalities, tackling the causes of crime and improving the environment. And all that needs common working across these organisations because the solution is never within the gift or the control of a single organisation.
So what have you found?
Well, we gathered evidence from five individual partnerships and we also made a wider analysis of developments this year.  What we found is that there is now a lot more energy is being put in nationally and locally to bolster community planning because it’s absolutely fundamental to the reform of  public services – such as better health and social care integration.
All that’s good and positive ….. but our overall conclusion is that the ambitions for community planning have yet to be translated fully into actions on the ground.
Does that mean it’s not working?
Certainly not. There are many, many good examples of partnerships working well together but across Scotland as a whole, it is a pretty patchy picture. For example, leadership, scrutiny and challenge remain inconsistent.  And many CPPs are still not clear about what they are expected to achieve and there is still confusion over whether the focus on community planning should be on local priorities or on national priorities. 
In short…   there has been a lot of improvement but it is still a long way to go to achieve its real potential to improve people’s lives on the ground.
But what does this mean for the public?
Well, I think part of the problem over the years is that community planning is not an easy concept for the public to understand and as a result the public aren’t really engaged. If folk don’t understand something, they won’t get involved in it. But what we are talking about here are vital services we use every day and key issues such as reducing crime and improving the quality of life for our communities.
So what do you want to see happen next?
Well we found that the key to a successful partnership is building mutual trust. That's easier said than done - particularly so when each partner organisation has its own priorities and its own line of accountability.
There needs to be more clarity about what’s expected from CPPs, what support they need and how successful delivery will be measured and monitored.
That needs to come – support needs to come - from the National Community Planning Group, the Scottish Government and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities. And in our report we’ve outlined a series of recommendations for each of them, as well as for the individual partnerships themselves.

Douglas, thank you very much.