06 June 2008
Finance Secretary John Swinney has ordered Aberdeen City Council to take immediate action to implement an improvement plan following a damning report on its performance.
Swinney voiced his concern in a letter to the council, commenting on findings by the Accounts Commission for Scotland published on May 29. The commission concluded that the council was facing 'extremely serious challenges'.
It endorsed controller of audit Caroline Gardner's view, expressed in a previous report, that the council was in a 'precarious financial position' and it called for the appointment of external assistance, including an expert in local government finance.
The commission, whose findings follow a public hearing on May 13-14, also recommended that the council should set up an all-party leadership board to run an improvement plan. During the public hearing, chief executive Douglas Paterson announced his intention to retire.
The commission concluded: 'We found that there was a lack of a full appreciation of the seriousness of its current circumstances.'
Swinney said the people of Aberdeen had the right to expect that their council could meet its Best Value obligations and be in a position to secure the best outcomes for them.
Accounts Commission chair John Baillie said the council had extremely serious problems with its management, governance and finances as well as the effective delivery of major services such as social work.
'It is essential that the council accepts the seriousness of its circumstances, pulls together and acts quickly and decisively to implement our recommendations. It will need specialist support from outside the council to do this,' Baillie said.
In a statement, the council said it fully accepted the seriousness of its financial difficulties but stressed that these applied overwhelmingly to its historical levels of spending on health and care services. 'Much of the work that we need to do has already begun,' the statement added.
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