Elected Member Update, January 2018

Happy New Year!

This is the Improvement Service’s first elected member e-newsletter of 2018 and we wanted to start off the new year by sharing some of our recently published briefing notes and content from 2017.

A little bit about us

The Improvement Service is the national improvement organisation for local government in Scotland. Our purpose is to help councils and their partners to improve the health, quality of life and opportunities of all people in Scotland through community leadership, strong local governance and the delivery of high quality, efficient local services.

We have a non-partisan role to support all elected members in Scotland. More information about the support we provide can be found on our website. www.improvementservice.org.uk/elected-members-development.html

Our quarterly elected member e-newsletter contain updates that will be of interest to you as an elected member. We will include briefing notes, guidance notebooks, information about elected member workshops, amongst other things, that will help you as an elected member.

We hope you enjoy the content and if you want to get in touch please email us electedmembers@improvementservice.org.uk or follow us on twitter @LocalCllrIS

Improvement Service

Briefing Notes

Participatory Budgeting

COSLA and Scottish Government have agreed a framework to work together to have at least 1% of council budgets subject to participatory budgeting (PB) by 2021. This briefing note aims to help elected members better understand PB and their role in a PB process.

Health and Social Care Integration: the Role of all Elected Members

This briefing looks at the role and interests of councils as a statutory integration partner in health and social care, and issues of interest to elected members who do not currently serve on the new integration structures.

Health Inequalities and Improving Health: the Role of all Elected Members

Health inequalities are the unjust and avoidable differences in people’s health across the population and between specific population groups. The purpose of this briefing is to highlight the crucial role of elected members in reducing health inequalities and improving health.

Civil Contingencies and Emergency Preparedness

This briefing note outlines the responsibilities of the council under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 and aims to help elected members understand their role in preparing for, responding to and recovering from emergencies.

Alcohol Harm in Communities

This briefing note aims to increase understanding of how alcohol consumption and harm impacts local communities and across different areas of local authorities' work. It examines the role elected members can play in tackling the harms caused in their communities and improving local outcomes.

Webinars

Digital Transformation

Hosted by David Barr with speakers Martyn Wallace and Colin Birchenall from the Digital Office - Scottish Local Government, this webinar discusses Digital Transformation in local government.

Keep up to date on Twitter

You can keep to date with our work on Twitter. Be among the first to hear about elected member workshops, briefing notes and webinars, plus find out about the wider work of the Improvement Service.