Improvement Service

The Improvement Service was set up in 2005 help improve the efficiency, quality and accountability of local public services in Scotland by providing advice, consultancy and programme support to councils and their partners.

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.

We do this by:

• Encouraging councils and their partners to work together and helping them reap the extra benefits that come good partnership working (collaborative gain)
• Identifying and sharing best practice from the public, private and voluntary sectors in the UK and internationally
• Providing learning and development opportunities to elected members, senior management and officers
• Promoting the use of knowledge management within local authorities to support knowledge sharing, learning and business redesign

Our work covers the following areas:

• Single outcome agreements
• Performance management
• Collaborative gain
• Elected members development
• Leadership and management development
• Knowledge management
• Shared Services
• Customer First

Information on all our programmes is in our Core Programmes section.

The Improvement Service is a partnership between the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) and the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives (SOLACE). It is a Company limited by guarantee.