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Scottish Local Government

Scottish Local Government. Does it Deliver Best Value?. What is “best value”?. Challenge Compare Compete Consult Also a commitment to Equal Opportunities Continuous Improvement. Best Value in Education.

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Scottish Local Government

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  1. Scottish Local Government Does it Deliver Best Value?

  2. What is “best value”? • Challenge • Compare • Compete • Consult • Also a commitment to • Equal Opportunities • Continuous Improvement

  3. Best Value in Education • All public organisations have a legal responsibility to improve performance on an annual basis • For example, schools’ improvement plans will be externally assessed by HMIe

  4. Best Value in Social Work • Social work departments help many thousands of vulnerable people on a daily basis. • Sadly, social work departments only tend to make the news when things go wrong, for example with the death of Brandon Muir in Dundee.

  5. Best Value in Environment and Transport • Local authorities have a legal responsibility to protect the environment and have commitments to make EU recycling targets • Many local authorities have bus lanes to encourage public transport use

  6. Kerley and McIntosh Reports • The Kerley Report paved the way for the introduction of salaried councillors. • The McIntosh Report advocated the introduction of proportional representation to elect councillors to improve turn out at elections.

  7. The New Broom: Aberdeen City Council As a result, many older councillors retired and a “new broom” of very youthful Councillors were elected in 2007. Callum McCaig (25) Prior to 2007, Scotland's 1,200 councillors were predominantly male (79%), with an average age of 55. Only 1% were under the age of 30. Kirsty West (24) John West Was just 18 years old when elected.

  8. Mais, au revoir to success? But, these new councillors have had to manage cuts in local services which have not been popular with the public. A French immersion programme for primary pupils in Torry, Aberdeen was axed because of the local authority’s budget cuts. (see final slide)

  9. Well being – Commonwealth Games 2014 A central component to Best Value is Community Planning and Partnerships. The Local Government in Scotland Act 2003 provided local authorities with a new ‘power of well-being’. Future Glasgow

  10. Public Private Partnerships The 1999-2007 Labour/Liberal Democrat Scottish Executive felt that PPPs delivered best value in the construction of big capital projects, such as new schools.

  11. The Scottish Futures Trust • By contrast, the SNP Scottish Government has abandoned PPPs as a method of financing new public projects. • It favours the “Scottish Futures Trust”. • But, is it any different from PPP? Scottish Futures Trust

  12. How do we measure Best Value? A number of quality assurance organisations have the responsibility of providing external verification that best value in standards are being met.

  13. Celebrating Best Value Best Value is often celebrated by organisations which have received good reports by the external quality assurance bodies. Best Value is becoming ever more important in an era of budget cutbacks. Every Scottish local authority is prioritising more efficient use of resources. COSLA Excellence Awards 2010

  14. But, cuts are happening in all Scotland’s local authorities The Scottish Government will probably need to reduce its spending by around 17% over the next four years. Such savings cannot be achieved simply by cutting waste or finding "efficiencies".The Scottish Government is almost certain to follow the UK's lead in imposing a two-year public sector pay freeze for employees on more than £21,000. The Scottish Government may well look again at some of the key policies brought in since devolution, such as free personal care for the elderly and the introduction of free bus travel for the elderly. So, what happens to Best Value?

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