 | 'Scotland's least effective and efficient councils are clustered around west central Scotland - and tend to be those where the Labour Party dominates.' Douglas Fraser in the Sunday Herald, 5 th March 2000. |  |
| 'Scotland's least effective and efficient councils are clustered around west central Scotland - and tend to be those where the Labour Party dominates.' Douglas Fraser in the Sunday Herald, 5 th March 2000. | |
The research shows the extent to which Scotland's least effective and efficient councils are clustered around west central Scotland - and tend to be those where the Labour Party dominates, with little doubt it will return to power at re-election.
The findings, based on official statistics for the financial year leading up to last year's council elections, will reverberate round the Edinburgh conference centre where Scottish Labour meets for its annual conference this week, not least because the councils which do worst do not like being compared this way. Delegates will argue over plans to take away the untrammelled dominance many of them have in west central Scotland, through a reform of the voting system intended to make it reflect more accurately how the electorate votes.
The findings should also focus councillors' minds as they struggle to find a new place in Scottish politics alongside the ever-dominant Scottish parliament, and as major changes loom in the way councils organise themselves and provide services. On Friday, the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities unveiled a major organisational shake-up to sharpen up its presence in Scottish political life.
Council politics remains a highly sensitive issue, even in the Edinburgh parliament. This week the Executive saw its majority slashed by a LibDem revolt against next financial year's cash share-out. And in modernising the system of government, finance minister Jack McConnell is driving hard to blur the boundaries between councils by pushing them towards more efficient joint service departments.
Yet small is not necessarily inefficient. The survey's top 10 councils are not in the main large - and include Clackmannanshire and Orkney, with the smallest populations.
In party terms, things look good for the Scottish National Party. It not only holds thetop slot with Angus - but its only other councils until last May's elections had high placings in previous years when a parallel survey was carried out. Angus came top two years ago, and second behind Orkney last year.
The survey is based on an analysis of five recently published reports by the official council watchdog, the Accounts Commission of Scotland. These compared statistical returns on a wide range of services including finance, benefits and housing, environmental services, education, leisure and social work.
The analysis relies on 22 indicators which represent the fairest basis on which to compare councils. That means eliminating indicators where council performance is very similar, where rural councils are at an obvious advantage or disadvantage (on class sizes, for instance), or where the performance of a council clearly depends on circumstances beyond its control (such asthe number of repairs required on council houses).
It also means eliminating Accounts Commission figures on matters where it is not clear what the most desirable outcome might be. It collects statistics, for instance, on what proportion of a council's swimming pool costs are covered by entry fees, but that might reflect one council's desire to subsidise a healthy lifestyle against another's aim of maximisingits income.
What is included is a range of 22 performance indicators covering a range of council activities - from the cost and effectiveness of collecting council tax to the speed with which street lamps are repaired, bills paid, library books supplied and customer complaints processed. The position in the table reflects the average position each council occupies compared with other councils on each of the 22 indicators.
The statistics come with a health warning, however. The calculation gives equal weighting to each indicator to stress the breadth of services rather than the importance, say, of financial efficiency.
Even more importantly, the figures do not say much about the quality of council provision. They say nothing, for instance, about the actual quality ofschooling, only the efficiencyof its provision.
The Accounts Commission says its figures can be used to highlight issues of concern and hold councils to account for their performance, but warns the circumstances councils face should be considered. "Some councils that appear to be doing less well may be doing better than others given the circumstances," says theCommission's Lesley Bloomer.
"The principle of comparing councils' performance is generally accepted both as a way of helping the public judge how well their council is doing and of helping councils identify scope for improvement. For both reasons, it is important to compare the performance of councils over time as well asin the same year."
But the figures do raise someimportant questions about how much better some councils do in similar circumstances. Dundee is in the top 10, as is Falkirk. Both cities are not without social problems - and both are Labour-run - yet fare far better than the urban councils in Clydeside. Some councils continue to languish at the bottom of the table, such as Inverclyde (joint last place two years ago) and Glasgow (bottom place all three years).
There are also questions for rural councils such as Argyll and Bute or Dumfries and Galloway as to why they do so much worse than rural councils at the top of the table, none of them having Labour control as an issue.
For Glasgow, the survey is further confirmation that it provides relatively poor services in difficult circumstances, its tax-paying hinterland cut off by council reorganisation five years ago.
Yet even comparing over time, the situation looks bad. On the crucial indicators of its financial management, it has barely reduced how much it spends collecting council tax: at £12.07 per household, it is nearly five times more than Midlothian and nearly twice that of Edinburgh.
Yet its success in collecting council tax has worsened - nearly a quarter of council tax remained unpaid at the financial year end - while it has been slower to pay its own bills. Over time or compared with others, the figures suggest that Glasgow simply isn't miles better.
(now minority SNP)
(nowLab/LibDem/Con/Ind)
(now min Lab)
(now min Lab)
(now min Lab)
(now Ind/LibDem)
(now Ind/Lab)
(now Ind/Lab/Lib Dem/SNP)
(now min Lib Dem)
(now Ind/LibDem/SNP)
Council Tax Overdue
The best: Orkney, Borders, Shetland
The worst: West Dunbartonshire, Inverclyde, Glasgow
Cost of Collecting Council Tax
The best: Midlothian, Falkirk, East Dunbartonshire
The worst: Western Isles, Orkney, North Ayrshire
Provision of Nursery Schools
The best: Fife, Orkney, Dumfries and Galloway
The worst: Western Isles, Argyll and Bute, South Lanarkshire
Recycling of Household Waste
The best: Argyll and Bute, Perth and Kinross, Angus
The worst: East Ayrshire, Fife, Glasgow
Time to Repair a Street Lamp
The best:Moray,Dumfriesand Galloway, Shetland
Theworst: Aberdeenshire, Argyll and Bute, Inverclyde
Handling of Complaints
The best:Midlothian,Perthand Kinross, Aberdeenshire
Theworst:Fife,East Dunbartonshire, Falkirk
Performance indicators on which this table was compiled, as published by the The Accounts Commission for Scotland and all applying to 1998-99; administration cost per case of housing and council tax benefit; % of council tax due and collected by 31 March each year; cost of collecting council tax per home; % of invoices paid within 30 days or as agreed; % of council house repairs completed within target; current council house tenants' arrears as % of rent due; average time taken to complete the sale of council houses; % of social work clients receiving more than four hours of home care weekly; % of staff in elderly residential homes who are qualified; % of staff in children's residential homes who are qualified; % of single rooms offered by councils in homes for the elderly; % of assessed children with disabilities whose carers receive respite care; % of children entering primary school with education department pre-schooling; % of primary schools at less than 60% of capacity; % of secondary schools at less than 60% of capacity; average time taken to complete assessments of special educational needs; average number of days taken to satisfy a library book request; % of priority food hygiene inspections carried out within the target time; % of household waste recycled; average time to process a building warrant; average repair time for the most urgent street light repairs; % of consumer complaints completed within 30 days.
5 th March 2000
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