The 'go to' organisation for Local Government improvement in Scotland

Financial, workforce and demand pressures mean tough decisions for councils

Councils are having to make increasingly difficult decisions about the shape and level of service delivery finds the 12^th annual Local Government Benchmarking Framework (LGBF) National Benchmarking Overview Report.

The report looks at data from 2022/23, when councils across Scotland were being faced with unprecedented financial challenges, in the shape of soaring inflationary pressures and the cost-of-living crisis, against a backdrop of significant external and internal pressures, including those resulting from the still ongoing effects of the Covid pandemic.

Read the National Benchmarking Overview Report 2022/23

Scotland’s National Planning Improvement Champion has published the findings of a ‘call for ideas’ asking for views on what a high-performing planning system looks like.

The report highlights that although there are differences of opinion on what constitutes good performance, there is a need for collaborative approaches to planning.

Read Planning Ambitions: Findings from the Call for Ideas on Planning Performance

Watch this new video from Public Health Scotland to learn how the Shaping Places for Wellbeing Programme, a collaborative initiative by Public Health Scotland and the Improvement Service, has been implemented within Alloa and Fraserburgh, two of the Project Towns the Programme is working in.

Watch the video.