Quality and assurance

Auditing our services

Best Value is a statutory audit delivered by Audit Scotland on behalf of the Accounts Commission. Best Value promotes continuous improvement of public organisations while maintaining a balance between quality and cost.

Download our Best Value reports (PDFs)

The first Best Value Audit report on the City of Edinburgh Council was published in February 2007.

The second Best Value audit published in May 2013 advised that the we had a clear and ambitious vision for the city and faced a range of challenges, however there were many excellent examples of service delivery.

Audit Scotland carried out a follow up audit in the summer of 2014 to track progress on key issues and areas for improvement. Best Value follow up report was published in December 2014.

Assurance and improvement plan

Every 3 years our Local Area Network of statutory scrutiny bodies carries out a risk assessment of our planned activities. The network includes

  • Audit Scotland
  • Education Scotland
  • the Care Inspectorate
  • the Scottish Housing Regulator
  • Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMICS).

The assessment takes into account

  • performance data
  • external audit reports
  • service plans for the city, including the Single Outcome Agreement and local development plans.

It informs an assurance and improvement plan which presents a programme for the next 3 years to focus scrutiny where it is most needed.

We update our assurance and improvement plan on an annual basis. Download the assurance and improvement plan (PDFs).