Improvement and how we compare

We aim to continuously improve the services that we deliver to you. To make sure this happens, we have processes and reporting procedures in place. You can provide feedback/suggestions at 'Have your say' on our performance or contact us at performance@southlanarkshire.gov.uk

Internal scrutiny

IMPROVe is the council’s performance management system which enables us to track progress of the actions detailed in the Council Plan Council Plan 2022-27 and the Resource Plans.

Performance is monitored, reported and scrutinised by committees throughout the year; at the end of Quarter 2 (September) and Quarter 4 (March - year end).

South Lanarkshire Council carries out an annual self-assessment and improvement activity horizon-scanning exercise to build up a picture of the council's self-assessment profile and to provide assurances of the council's continuous improvement and Best Value journey. If applicable, a self-assessment activity may be proposed and we run workshops and surveys, with a cross-section of employees, to discuss statements and questions about their services and operations to help to identify areas for improvement with actions being put in place over an agreed timescale.

External scrutiny

The main scrutiny bodies for local government are

In 2018-19 The Accounts Commission carried out a review of South Lanarkshire Council to seek assurance on the council’s statutory duty to deliver Best Value and to demonstrate a steady pace of improvement. A positive assessment was published in the South Lanarkshire Council Best Value Assurance Report, published on 28 March 2019. The council considered the BVAR at its meeting on 26 June 2019 and approved an action plan addressing each of the BVAR recommendations, with detailed progress against the specific actions being reported as appropriate to Committees of the council.

Benchmarking

The Shared Risk Assessment (SRA) process enables scrutiny bodies to engage with local government in a simplified and co-ordinated way, whilst protecting their independence.

We also take part in a range of comparison and benchmarking activities with other councils and organisations:

Local Government Benchmarking Framework (LGBF) allows councils to work together, to use performance information in a way that will help understand variations, share knowledge, expertise, and good practice, with a view to making improvements. At the core of the framework is an agreed suite of performance indicators. We report the results for these indicators, over time, on the website. Additionally, you can compare our LGBF results with other councils' using the Local Government Improvement Service Dashboard explore the data tool. Not all local authorities are alike and so family groups of eight ‘similar’ councils have been set up for comparison purposes and meetings are taking place across Scotland to progress this. We are actively involved in these discussions.
Association for Public Service Excellence APSE
Scottish Housing Regulator, HouseMark
Scottish Housing Best Value Network
Society of Chief Officers of Transportation Scotland (SCOTS)
Society of Chief Officers of Environmental Health in Scotland (SOCOEHS)
Scottish Local Authorities Economic Development group (SLAED)
Education Scotland
Care Inspectorate
Society of Information Technology Management SOCITM
Chartered Institute of Public Finance Accountants Information Services (CIPFA stats - data sets)
Procurement and Commercial Improvement Programme (PCIP)

Annual Performance Spotlights

Our Annual Performance Spotlights (APSs) help to ensure that our communities, residents, and customers are kept properly informed about our services, how they are performing and what areas of improvement we will tackle in the years ahead. The APSs cover all of the council's 4 priorities, these can now be viewed individually by following the links on the Annual Performance Spotlights page.

Performance and improvement

Email: Performance and improvement