Improvement Service

The latest version of the Scottish Local Authorities Economic Development (SLAED) Indicators Framework has been developed by SLAED, the Improvement Service (IS) and the Scottish Government.

The SLAED Framework is designed to be used by Scottish local authority economic development services to assess both the overall and relative performance of council economic development activity. It uses a limited number of indicators covering key aspects of economic development. The data collated will be of practical use to each individual council in benchmarking its performance and identifying potential areas for improvement.

More generally, it will also help demonstrate the important contribution to the economy that is made by local authorities. In an era of limited resources, these aspects are vital to ensuring good value for money and ongoing support for the effective delivery of economic outcomes. Recent interest from both Audit Scotland and the Scottish Parliament has underlined the importance of this work.

A £25m fund to help transform disadvantaged areas across Scotland was launched by Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and COSLA President David O’Neill  today (29 April 2013).

A website dedicated to Self-Directed Support (SDS) has been launched by Social Services Knowledge Scotland (SSKS).

The Public Service Improvement Framework (PSIF) is currently being reviewed in line with EFQM 2013.

The PSIF Annual Review Event, which took place in January, resulted in PSIF practitioners agreeing how to take the Framework forward in light of the EFQM Excellence Model changes and a number of other areas, including perceived duplication of PSIF statements and the new Public Sector Equality Duty.

A campaign to raise awareness of stalking behaviour and where to go for help has been launched by the Glasgow Violence Against Women Partnership, Glasgow Community and Safety Services, Action Scotland Against Stalking and Rape Crisis Scotland.

The first in a series of briefing notes on welfare reform for elected members has been produced by the Welfare Reform Implementation Support Programme (WRISP).

An evaluation of an IS/Scottish Government project to support self-assessment and improvement planning in Community Planning Partnerships (CPPs) has been published.

The IS has been working with 16 CPPs over the last 18 months, at Board, thematic and neighbourhood level, to use self-assessment tools to determine whether their governance, planning, performance management and resource management were fit for purpose to deliver improved outcomes for their communities.

The Improvement Service and the Money Advice Service are working in partnership on a two-year action research project focusing on improving outcomes in money advice across Scotland.

NHS Health Scotland has developed a series of briefing notes designed to help Community Planning Partnerships take action to reduce or mitigate the impact of inequalities on health.

The Planning Development Programme (PDP) is commissioning a one-day workshop on retail assessment training for planning staff.

The PDP is a skills development programme for planning staff and elected members with planning responsibilities. A specific need for retail assessment training has been identified, and a provider is now required.