Published

Auditors have praised members of Falkirk Council for their ‘encouraging’ ‘increased collaboration over issues such as budgets and business transformation in a report published today (1 December 2016).

The report also praised the greater scrutiny carried out by elected members in their work.

However, in a report published by Audit Scotland on behalf of The Accounts Commission (the public spending watchdog for local government) inspectors have highlighted a number of areas for improvement to be made by the local authority.

These included: better financial planning in the medium to long term; the speed of change taking place within the Council; the scale of improvement required to be made and; a more streamlined and co-ordinated approach to improvement.

The report was based on an inspection that took place between April and June 2016 and is a follow up to the report published in August 2015.

Councillor Craig Martin, Leader of Falkirk Council said: “The report has stated where progress is being made across a number of areas however we recognise more can be done to improve.

“Falkirk Council is fully aware of its responsibilities and many of the improvements required are already being worked on.

“Last year the Accounts Commission said they had concerns about our ability to achieve the savings necessary to set a balanced budget for 2016/17.

“Despite having to find an unprecedented saving of £25m on our budget, members stepped up to the mark and took the difficult decisions to make sure we set a balanced budget. It now looks like we need to plan for further savings of £25m in 2017/18 and members are currently considering options on how this will be achieved.

“We are proud to say that Falkirk Council has a reputation across local government for being financially prudent. This reputation has been built over many years and I believe our financial performance stands scrutiny against anyone else.

“A recent report from the Accounts Commission highlighted the strain being placed on all local authorities in terms of the shortfall in Government funding and how this is impacting locally on services.

 “The audit also comes only seven months after the previous report was completed so while progress has been made in some areas, additional time is needed to see through all of the recommendations.

“Like many other local authorities across the country we are facing the most challenging times but we are pushing ahead with changes that will make a significant difference to how we operate and how we deliver services to our communities.”

Councillor Cecil Meiklejohn, Leader of the Opposition said: “The inspection was thorough and the findings were clear – there is more to be done. We are determined to work constructively to ensure this happens and to deliver the best outcomes for our communities.”

Improvement work by the Council is already being carried out across a wide range of areas to address the findings – these include: developing a clearer vision of how the Council will operate in the future; transformation of how services are delivered locally on the ground; improvement in technology; reviewing Council property assets and more participatory budgeting .