City authority told it relies too much on inspections when improving services

ONE of Scotland's city councils will be left struggling to improve vital services in the face of a twin threat from the recession and cuts in financial support for local government, the public spending watchdog warned yesterday.

Dundee City Council is already facing "significant" demographic, economic and social challenges. And the pace of change is already too slow in areas where the need for service improvements have not been driven by critical external inspections, according to the Accounts Commission.

Five years ago, in its last review of council services, the watchdog published a highly critical report on the performance of the city authority.

And, following a new "best value" inspection, the Accounts Commission states that, while progress has been made, Dundee City Council still needs to embed a culture of continuous improvement throughout its business and increase the pace of change.

John Baillie, the chairman of the commission, warned: "There has been too much reliance on inspections to drive improvement. Services are improving and the council knows what it needs to do to improve.

"But change has been too slow in areas that have not been highlighted in inspections as priorities for improvement."

Mr Baillie continued: "The council still needs to embed an attitude of continuous improvement throughout its business, and its current approach will not be sufficient to meet the big challenges that it faces."

r Ken Guild, the leader of the city council, said: "There are many positive comments throughout the report about improving performance, but we recognise that these are not universal and there are still important areas that we need to concentrate on."

He added: "In common with all local authorities, we are facing a future with less money to spend on services, and this is going to bring new challenges and difficult decisions. It is within this context that we will be looking to speed up change."