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.
Subscribe to the Improvement Service
Newsletter
See past issues of the IS newsletter
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.
Products
We deliver a range of products that are available to all councils, focused on data and analysis, digital public services, learning and development, online tools and collaboration and performance management and indicators. A full list of our products is below.
Data and Analysis
Viewstat
An interactive mapping tool that allows you to see data on life outcomes mapped to Scotland's neighbourhoods.
Welfare Reform Dashboard
A dynamic tool bringing together key data on welfare reform from NOMIS, DWP and Scottish Government.
Digital Public Services
myaccount
myaccount is the simple and secure sign-in service for online public services in Scotland.
National Entitlement Card
The National Entitlement Card (NEC) is a smartcard used to provide public services to Scottish residents.
One Scotland Gazetteer
A database of addresses of land and property in Scotland, maintained by all 32 Scottish councils.
Tellmescotland
Scotland's national public information notices portal, allowing public notices from across Scotland to be published in a single online location.
Knowledge Management and Collaboration
Innovation Exchange
A joint IS /SOLACE Scotland project that highlights innovative work being carried out in communities across Scotland.
Knowledge Hub
The UK's largest public service collaboration platform. We offer access and support to all Scottish public service organisations.
Learning and Development
Access 2 Learning (A2L)
A free e-learning platform offering a wide range of learning resources for Scottish local government, public and third sectors.
CPD Framework for Elected Members
A continuous professional development framework for Scottish councillors developed by the IS in partnership with local government.
Community Planning Partnership Board Member Guidance
This series of notebooks provides information, guidance and support to Community Planning Partnership (CPP) Board members.
Customer Service Professional
A customer service qualification developed for councils by councils.
Elected Members' Masterclasses
Exploring local government issues such as community planning, board level skills, performance management and community engagement.
Elected Members' Induction Materials
A series of notebooks providing councillors with information, support and guidance to help them fulfil their role as elected members.
Elected Members Guidance and Briefings
A Briefing Series developed by the IS to help elected members keep apace with key issues affecting local government.
Performance Measurement and Indicators
Community Planning Outcomes Profile
A benchmarking programme to help Community Planning Partnerships assess their performance and identify opportunities for improvement.
Customer Service Measurement Tool
A national standard for local government and its partners to evaluate the performance of the services they deliver.
Economic Development Improvement Guide
A practical toolkit to encourage councils to improve their economic development by critically reviewing their activities.
Local Government Benchmarking Framework
LGBF brings together a wide range of information about how all Scottish councils perform in delivering services to local communities.
Menu of Local Outcome Indicators
The menu of indicators reflects the main outcome areas included within SOAs and the most relevant and robust outcome indicators available.
Money Advice Performance Management Framework
A performance management framework designed to measure the performance and impact of council-funded money and debt advice services.
Public Service Improvement Framework
A performance improvement model which encourages organisations to review their own activities and results.
SLAED Indicator Framework
A framework used by all Scottish local authority economic development services to measure the economic impact of councils.
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