Dundee City Council vow as report reveals it lags behind other Scottish authorities

Dundee City Council has vowed to “work hard” at improving its performance after analysis of national data showed it is lagging behind other Scottish authorities.

The latest data published by the Local Government Benchmarking Framework (LGBF) shows the council lags behind on education spending and outcomes and council tax collection rates.

In 2017/18 £12.17 was spent per household collecting council tax, above the national average of £7.35.

However, the authority has the worst council tax collection rate of any local authority in Scotland, with 6.1% of cash it is due going uncollected at the end of the year.

The figures also show that fewer than half of pupils leave with five or more National 5s (equivalent to O Grades).

Street cleaning spending has also fallen by 55% in real terms since 2010, and street cleanliness scores have fallen by a tenth.

© DC Thomson

Despite the set-backs, administration leader John Alexander says the LGBF data is informative – and is used to set the council’s priorities for future years.

He said: “Our council plan for 2017-2022 has indicators which are informed by the LGBF data.

“The use of the framework helps us to compare our performance with previous years, as displayed in our key performance indicators.

“While there are improvements to be made, we are certainly not complacent and are well aware that there are aspects of our performance that need to be enhanced.

“We are working hard and we have action plans in place for all of these.”

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The LGBF data also highlights areas where Dundee is outperforming other Scottish councils.

About 80% of children are recorded as meeting key developmental milestones, council housing is rated as some of the best in the country, and Dundonians are also among the most satisfied with local museums.