Council performance

Best Value

We have a legal duty under the Local Government in Scotland Act 2003 to secure Best Value.

This means we must:

• Work with partners to identify priorities that respond to the needs of our communities
• Be organised and resourced to deliver those priorities
• Demonstrate clearly how we are meeting community needs
• Operate in a way that drives continuous improvement across all our activities

Best Value is not a one-off exercise. It is an ongoing process of self-assessment, external scrutiny, and improvement to ensure we deliver the best possible services.

We deliver Best Value through processes, controls and scrutiny, supported by our Best Value Framework, which is aligned with our Annual Governance Statement and reflects the latest Scottish Government guidance (2020).

Our approach is aligned to the seven Best Value themes:

• Vision and leadership
• Governance and accountability
• Effective use of resources
• Partnerships and collaboration
• Working with communities
• Sustainability
• Fairness and equality

We demonstrate Best Value by:

• Improving outcomes for local people and communities
• Making best use of public money
• Delivering services efficiently and effectively
• Working with partners and communities
• Being open, transparent, and accountable

Our work is driven by the Single Midlothian Plan, which sets out our shared priorities. You can find out how we are doing on our performance pages.

We support continuous improvement through:

• Council-wide self-assessment and service review activity
• External audit and inspection, including Annual Audit Reports
• Improvement plans to respond to audit findings

In 2023, Audit Scotland introduced a new approach to auditing Best Value. This is now integrated with each council’s annual audit, alongside a programme of thematic reviews across Scotland.  

There is also a requirement for the Controller of Audit to report to the Accounts Commission on each council’s performance on their duty of Best Value at least once over the five-year audit appointment, Midlothian’s report is due later this year (2026).