Council welcomes praise for 'high-performing' services
Accounts Commission report highlights the Council's consistently strong performance across a broad range of corporate and service areas
Published: 6 February 2025
A new report says the Council's services excel in many areas and praises the local authority as an example which other councils can learn from.
The report hails East Renfrewshire's 'high-performing' services in education, adult and children's care, digital transformation, waste and recycling, and says the council's engagement with local residents is excellent.
The independent Best Value audit report published on Thursday 6 February by the Accounts Commission said the council had made consistently good progress in delivering recommendations from previous Best Value reports.
The Commission, the public spending watchdog for local government, said it was impressed by the "consistently strong performance of East Renfrewshire Council across a broad range of corporate and service areas".
Andrew Burns, Deputy Chair of the Accounts Commission, said: 'East Renfrewshire excels in so many areas, with a focus on digital, data and dialogue with local people. Other councils can learn much from its engagement with partners and local communities.
The Commission says there is a real focus by the Council on targeting the needs of local people and using data to gain a deeper understanding of communities and the needs of the most vulnerable.
The report highlights that when compared with services provided by other Scottish councils, East Renfrewshire performs above the Scottish average in 64% of indicators. East Renfrewshire also ranked first or second in the country for a quarter of the 95 indicators, (ranked first in 16 and second in eight indicators).
There are key strengths in adult social care, including the proportion of adult care services graded 'good' or better (first nationally); the second lowest rates of readmission to hospital following discharge; and the highest recycling rates Scotland.
Another achievement highlighted in the report was the council exceeding its target to build 270 new affordable homes over the period 2017-23, with 413 completed by the council and its social housing partners.
It points out the council's consistently strong performance was delivered despite financial pressures and says the building blocks are in place to deal with those challenges.
The Commission also noted significant engagement had taken place with local residents to develop A Place to Grow, a vision to improve the lives of people in East Renfrewshire between now and 2040.
Council Leader Owen O'Donnell said: 'I am absolutely delighted that this extremely positive independent report from the Accounts Commission has recognised the very impressive work that is being done right across the council, day in day out, and it is a credit to our dedicated employees and strong local partnerships. It righty describes our engagement with local residents as excellent. We may not always get everything right but we work tirelessly to understand the needs of our local communities and listen to residents when it comes to making decisions. We have not been immune from the financial challenges facing all councils in recent years but we have plans in place and an exciting and ambitious long-term strategy to improve the lives of people in East Renfrewshire. While there is much to celebrate in this report, no one is complacent. Everyone in the council will continue to work hard to make our services even better.'
Council Chief Executive Steven Quinn added: 'This report is testament to the efforts of our employees in delivering high-quality services and working with key partners across East Renfrewshire to ensure we get it right for our residents. I'm particularly pleased the report recognises our focus on learning and that we are taking proactive steps to invest in our employees including developing a refreshed People Strategy and rolling out a health and wellbeing programme. My thanks to all our employees and partners who work so hard to ensure the council keeps improving and keeps delivering for our residents.'
The report reflects some areas where the council can further build on its performance, particularly in view of the challenges facing local authorities in future years and work is already underway to address these.
Councillors will consider the findings of the Accounts Commission report at a meeting of the full Council on 26 February before agreeing the council's response and next steps.
