Improvement Service

Nine Scottish organisations, including seven councils, have been honoured at COSLA's Excellence Awards 2009 for outstanding quality of service to the Scottish public. Highland Council, Falkirk Council and NHS Forth Valley, South Ayrshire Council, South Lanarkshire Council, Glasgow City Council and Central Scotland Police all enjoyed recognition as the best in their field for each category of service delivery.

Best Team award went to Aberdeenshire Council while the Chairman's Award went to Strathclyde Fire & Rescue. Scottish Borders Council scooped the Scottish Government's Delivering Excellence Award for its museums project.

COSLA Vice President Councillor Alex MacDonald, who chaired the judging panel, described the entries for the awards this year as truly inspiring. "It is both exciting and heartening to see so many examples of quality and Best Value across the whole local government spectrum. Scotland's councils never fail to impress the judging panel with their enthusiasm, passion and commitment. All those who took part - and there were more than 180 entries for these awards - can be proud of their achievements in developing real life initiatives which make local government services more responsive and effective."

A full list of winners can be found on the COSLA website.