The Leader and Chief Executive of South Ayrshire Council have spoken out as they await a decision on next steps regarding an Audit Scotland report on targeted best value audit work within the Council, following consideration of the report by the Accounts Commission on Thursday 13 February.
Councillor Bill McIntosh, Leader of South Ayrshire Council (pictured above), said: “The Audit Scotland report sets out six recommendations for improvement within the Council – and I want to be very clear that work on every one of these areas is already underway and has been ongoing since before the publication of this report.
“Crucially, not one of these areas relates to service delivery or the quality of our services, so we can reassure our residents on that front. In fact, the Commissioners explicitly said in public session last week that there are no concerns about the quality of our Council services.
“What has been put under the microscope are internal processes, reporting mechanisms and monitoring arrangements and we’re addressing these.
“A review of our scrutiny arrangements is underway to ensure we maximise governance throughout the organisation, performance reporting mechanisms (which do already exist) are being clearly formalised and our Council Plan – which we've taken the time to get right – will be considered by elected members at the Council meeting on 6 March.
“We are an ambitious Council, so we constantly strive to improve, and I am confident we will continue to do that – in line with any findings from the Accounts Commission – to help ensure we achieve best value for our residents.”
Chief Executive Eileen Howat (pictured above) added: “We all – the elected members, the corporate management team and our staff across the Council – take great pride in serving the people of South Ayrshire. And while we await the feedback from the Accounts Commission on what happens next in relation to this audit report, our focus will continue to be on doing the best job we possibly can.
“We are, of course, concerned at the conclusions within the report but we have various strands of work already underway across the Council to address these quickly and effectively.”
South Ayrshire Council is a Founder Member of the Elite Ayrshire Business Circle.
