Local Government Overview report – podcast transcript 
I’m here with Douglas Sinclair, chair of the Accounts Commission for Scotland, to talk about this year’s Overview report. Douglas, can you tell me what this report is about.

Well, it’s our look back on how councils have performed over the last year and also a look ahead to what they face in the year ahead.

And what have you found?

Overall, they have managed finance pressures pretty well. Funding has gone down, like the rest of the public sector – for councils it down more than 8 per cent in real terms over the last three years.

They’ve coped so far largely by cutting staff numbers but that alone is not sustainable in the longer term. They are looking at other ways of delivering services and will need to do more of this.

How does this affect the public?

It affects us all – because we all rely on council services in our daily lives. Schools, roads, social work, rubbish collection – it’s a long list. Councils are having to look hard at what they provide and how they can deliver more them efficiently. They are engaging with their local communities on choices that need to be made – some more effectively than others – and they need to get better at this.

At the other end, councils are also facing more demand on services, largely because we are all living longer.

How are councils going to cope with this?

Well, they have coped well so far. But they now face pressures over the next three years are of intensity not previously experienced - budgets are getting even tighter and demands on services are ever increasing. That’s why longer term financial planning is so important.

Councils need to have effective long-term financial plans to give them a good understanding of their finances and the future pressures - and provide options for addressing them.

And the big challenge for councillors is to make best use of the money that is available and to take difficult decisions now to avoid storing up problems for the future.

That in a nutshell is what it comes down to.

What do you want to see happen as a result of this report?

Well, we do get good feedback about our Overview reports. I think councils find it useful in offering a wider perspective of what’s happening in other areas and what they can learn and just reflecting a while to take stock. 

Councils have gone through a lot of recent restructuring and reductions in staffing. So they need to make sure their governance and scrutiny arrangements keep pace with all of that - and the other changes they now have to make - including the integration of health and social care services.

Douglas, thank you.