Edinburgh Council cannot ignore problems highlighted in Audit Scotland report – Iain Whyte

In the three-and-a-half years since the 2017 council election, I have often highlighted the SNP/Labour council’s lack of attention to quality of service and value for money.

Council leaders Adam McVey and Cammy Day need to get the basics right, says Iain Whyte (Picture: Greg Macvean)

Time and again I have been able to show a lack of performance reporting and poor financial planning.

Yes, it is my job to oppose and attack them politically, but I have always tried to illustrate this with evidence. Last week my charge against them got another “official” seal of approval with the publication of an Audit Scotland best-value report into the council. While the report still needs final approval by the Accounts Commission on 12 November, the direction is clear.

Highlights from the report include:

the council does not have adequate public performance reporting arrangements; residents’ satisfaction rates have declined overall since 2017; the council does not have a structured approach to continuous improvement; progress reports to elected members on its Change Portfolio – which includes transformation projects – do not set out details of the savings expected or achieved; and, it does not have a longer-term financial plan to address its significant revenue budget challenges.

Audit Scotland may be fond of boring management-speak but the message is clear.

There are parts of the report which do suggest improvement and I am sure my opponents will accuse me of cherry-picking. However, this improvement is often measured against the period before the current administration took office and many of the “improvements” that happened prior to 2017 and have not been followed through.

Other improvements, like on bin collection, have only returned the council to previous levels after a catastrophic drop in service quality in between. And the report notes that the council’s workforce plan – vital to controlling cost and prioritising staff resource in the right areas – has become less detailed than the 2016 version.

Perhaps most worryingly, the Edinburgh Integration Joint Board, which looks after adult social care, has “not yet developed the detailed plans needed to address significant financial pressures”. This when the report cites declining performance and all these problems were highlighted in 2017 in a damning Care Inspectorate report.

Where I feel most vindicated is on the report’s comments on the SNP and Labour’s own work – the 52 “council commitments” they made on forming their coalition. The report states what I have said all along. The business plan that is meant to implement the commitments “does not provide a clear focus for the council”.

Many of the commitments “are not easily measured and they are not prioritised”. A change strategy was to set out how the council would implement its business plan “but it does not include the 52 commitments or set out specific actions to deliver them”.

Over the coming days, I am sure the administration will want to highlight this phrase in the report, “the council has ambitious plans for the future of Edinburgh”. They will blithely ignore the follow-on “but its priorities are not clearly articulated”.

I have said before that the right to progress ambitious change relies on gaining public trust which is earned by getting the basics right. There is no evidence of that trust here. This report should be a catalyst for change. Once again, I suspect the current leadership will miss the opportunity.

Councillor Iain Whyte is the Conservative group leader on Edinburgh Council

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