The Improvement Service (IS) is the national improvement organisation for local government in Scotland.
Our purpose is to help councils and their partners to improve the health, quality of life and opportunities of all people in Scotland through community leadership, strong local governance and the delivery of high quality, efficient local services.
Through a series of principles, the IS works to promote improvement in local government and among its partners to support them improve outcomes and reduce the outcome gaps within populations and within areas.
The IS delivers a range of products and services that support CPPs to build their capacity to deliver the public service reform agenda.
The IS has a non-partisan role to support all elected members in Scotland.
Latest Publication
A review of the impact of 2016-17 local authority budget cuts on the provision of money advice services which are funded and/or delivered by local authorities.
As well as news from the Improvement Service other news relevant to local government improvement in Scotland. is also published. The Improvement Service welcomes contributions from Scottish local authorities and partner organisations. If you have a story you would like to share, contact us.
The Improvement Services produces a series of newsletters on a range of subjects, including myaccount, elected members, tellmescotland as well as the main IS newsletter. Subscribe on this page.
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Find out about all the events and activities organised by the Improvement Service or of interest to Scottish local authorities here. If you would like to add an event to this calendar, please contact info@improvementservice.org.uk
You can quickly browse events from the calendar opposite, or go to the events page for full details of all events.
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Councillor induction materials now available
Three induction notebooks for intended for councillors due to be elected in May have been published by the IS.
The notebooks make up the first of a series of seven that will be available to new councillors. Feedback from councillors after the 2012 election highlighted an overload of information immediately after being elected. By publishing these early, candidates will have the chance to better prepare themselves for the roles and responsibilities expected of them should they be elected.
The first three notebooks cover:
- The first few weeks in office
- Roles and responsibilities of the elected member at ward level
- Roles and responsibilities of the elected member at council level
The notebooks are available to download at www.localcouncillor.scot/induction.html
