Renfrewshire Council gains high marks from independent watchdog

Home > News and Events > News - release archive > 2006 > July

A new report from an independent watchdog has given high marks to Renfrewshire Council for delivering value for money, customer-focused services.

The Accounts Commission audited a range of services to assess the Council's approach to delivering best value and community planning. In its newly published report, the Commission praised Renfrewshire Council for having:

• strong and effective leadership from councillors and senior managers
• services which are well-managed and customer-focused
• significant improvements in customer care
• a strong managerial culture which demonstrates a good understanding of best value
• a positive staff culture which supports continuous improvement
• a well integrated strategic planning framework based on broad community objectives
• effective communications

The overall conclusion of the report found that "Renfrewshire Council has adopted a modernising agenda to ensure it is in a good position to meet the changing demands on public service in its area." It has developed a "positive and customer-focused organisational culture which effectively supports the drive for improvement."

Renfrewshire Council Leader Jim Harkins said: "It is very encouraging that an independent report has found that we have achieved such high standards in modernising and improving our services. The Council has consistently brought in new ways of delivering services to ensure our customers get value for money. A major part of that approach has been joint partnership working with other public, community and business organisations through the community planning process.”

Added Councillor Harkins, “Renfrewshire faces particular social and economic challenges and the Council is leading the way in developing new approaches within and outside the Council to represent the area and take forward distinctive policies for our community. This report is proof of the significant progress we are making.

“The report has made some useful suggestions about the way the Council operates and we will take these forward through departmental service plans and in the Council’s formal response to the findings of the Accounts Commission. On services, I am pleased that the Accounts Commission have noted our improving performance and we are committed to improving our performance still further."

Tom Scholes, who retires in two months after 11 years as Chief Executive of Renfrewshire Council, said: "The Council has been proven to be taking forward a modernising approach which is committed to bringing further improvement in services. Renfrewshire is an innovative and forward-thinking council. We have successfully delivered continuous improvements in services and value for money while at the same time moving ahead with a strategic vision for the Council. And we have played a leading role in improving partnership working on a wide range of issues such as community regeneration, economic development and sustainable development."

Among the services and policies highlighted in the Accounts Commission's report on Renfrewshire was the Council's record on sustainable development which included economic, environmental, social and transport measures. There was also significant improvement in the Council's record on recycling - through making recycling facilities more widely available, and in meeting national performance targets.

Renfrewshire was found to be performing better than the average of Scottish councils on improvements in statutory performance indicators which show how well services are doing. Customer care has also been strengthened by additional training for 1700 frontline staff. Consultation with the public was praised in a number of areas where the Council had changed or expanded services in response to feedback from customers. The customer contact centre has extended its opening hours to deal with telephone enquiries between 8am and 8pm on weekdays. Other feedback to consultation with the public led to increased town centre cleaning, more litter bins and improved maintenance of parks.

The Council was found to have "consistently performed well in educational attainment." This assessment follows a very positive report by HM Inspectorate of Education (HMIE) in 2004 which rated Renfrewshire's education service as "very good" on eight quality indicators and "good" in three others. Renfrewshire has consistently outperformed comparable councils and has performed above the national average in standard and higher grades.

In social work, partnership approaches to modernise community care services have been strengthened despite the difficulties caused by restructuring of health services in the area. Strategies have been taken forward on learning disability services, mental health services and for services to older people.

On major development plans, such as Renfrew Riverside, the Council's Planning and Transport Department has helped regenerate communities and create employment opportunities.

The report also notes that the Council’s approach to developing partnership working to meet the complex needs of local communities has successfully been taken forward on a range of issues such as community planning, social inclusion, community safety and learning neighbourhoods.

Download the Audit Scotland Best Value Audit report for Renfrewshire Council 2006. Adobe Acrobat Reader is needed to view the report. This is available as a free download from the Adobe website.The report may take some time to download due to the large file size (1.2Mb).

More information on the Audit including the Council's submission, associated documents, and summaries of the service department assessments are available on the Best Value Audit area of this website.

Press release: Thursday 6 July 2006