Best Value Audit

Audit Scotland carried out a remote Best Value Audit of South Ayrshire Council between January and June 2021.  View the report.

The previous Best Value Audit report on South Ayrshire Council was published by the Accounts Commission on 29 June 2016.

The Accounts Commission findings were as follows:

We acknowledge and welcome the considerable progress made by the Council.

A strong culture of improvement is in place, built upon shared leadership by members and officers and improved relationships between elected members, demonstrated by the effectiveness of the Best Value working group and better scrutiny arrangements. The development of the senior management team has also been a significant contributory factor, and there have been encouraging efforts by the council to learn from other organisations in finding new ideas and fresh thinking.

It is imperative for the Council to sustain its momentum, so that it can meet its duty of Best Value and in particular, address difficult decisions that lie ahead in reshaping Council services in response to reducing resources. The momentum will be helped by:

• Continuity in the stability of its leadership arrangements
• Embedding its improvement culture further, at all levels in the council
• Continuing with the full appraisal of options for the future delivery of services
• Further improving its approach to engaging service users and communities

We will maintain our interest in the council's progress. The Controller of Audit will continue to monitor progress through the annual audit.

These findings and recommendations were considered by the Council at its meeting on Tuesday 30 August, where the Council agreed to:

• continue the tenure of the Best Value Working Group with its current membership and remit;
• commit to a programme of work developed by the Best Value Working Group covering the next 18 months; and
• approve an action plan for reviewing and evaluating progress, to assess whether momentum in terms of the Council meeting its duty of Best Value is continuing and whether appropriate progress is being made.

Progress will be kept under review by the Best Value Working Group and updates will be provided to the Council's Audit and Governance Panel every 6 months.