The Best Value report was presented at a meeting of the council last week as part of the audited annual accounts, for which the auditors confirmed an unmodified audit report.

The key messages in the report are:

• The council has a clear vision supported by revised priorities, and recently approved a revised and streamlined approach to monitoring performance.
• The council has engaged with citizens and communities when developing the priorities.
• The council’s priorities have a focus on the need to reduce inequalities and its climate change commitments.
• An ambitious capital plans is in place, aligned to the council’s priorities. Business plans, workforce plans and digital transformation are being refreshed and updated.
• The leadership (both political and officer) has been effective in setting clear priorities but now needs to demonstrate sustainable plans for delivering them.

To ensure progress continues, the auditors have set out further improvement actions for the council.

Council leader Cllr Ellen Forson said: “The auditors take a robust approach to looking into our financial management and our plans to deal with the increasingly difficult financial decisions we have to make, so I’m very pleased to see the many positives in this report.

“There is a recognition of the really positive work that has been ongoing in the council to plan for the future, with clear and measurable objectives. We’ve been able to achieve this by working across political parties and having productive relationships between elected members and officers.

“Like all public bodies, we are continuing to face difficult financial constraints, that require us to think innovatively and make some hard decisions. This confirmation that we are making good progress from external auditors is pleasing, but we know that we still have further to go and we will be working to follow the advice on where we can make further improvements.”