Benchmarking performance for Scotland’s councils

Scotland’s 32 local authorities join forces today in a new initiative to help deliver better services by comparing best practice across the country.

Data gathered over two years by SOLACE (Society of Local Authority Chief Executives), COSLA  (Convention of Scottish Local Authorities) and the Improvement Service (IS) will be used by the councils to benchmark their performance and look for opportunities to drive improvement.

The benchmarking project, which demonstrates the 32 councils’ resolve to work together in new and innovative ways, was launched today at the annual COSLA conference.

OIC chief executive Alistair Buchan said: “Benchmarking has the potential to help deliver better services for less money and to drive up outcomes for communities and individuals by comparison of best practice across Scotland.

“The first set of benchmarking data released today will help us understand where there is variation in service delivery. This will allow us to work together to understand why differences occur, learn from each other and look for opportunities for us to change and improve.”