Executive attacked over teamwork

The Scottish Executive was criticised over a lack of teamwork

Community development is being undermined by the failure of Scottish Executive departments to work together, according to a new report.

A survey by the Scottish Parliament's audit committee said changes needed to be made to the operation of new community partnerships.

MSPs said the lack of co-ordination was obscuring policy priorities and creating more bureaucracy.

An executive spokeswoman said the issues were being addressed.

Councils set up community partnerships to help public services work together.

Committee convener Brian Monteith said: "The potential of the community planning process is being undermined by the failure of executive departments to work together.

Joined up

"This lack of collaboration means that community planning partnerships are set too many priorities that are not effectively linked.

"There are too many different funding streams and monitoring arrangements are overly complex.

"All this creates a burden for the agencies involved."

Community planning is the process through which public bodies work with neighbourhoods, businesses and voluntary sectors to improve services.

As a first step we have established a tightly focused strategic board chaired by the permanent secretary Scottish Executive spokeswoman

The report said that policies should be more "joined up" and effectively prioritised, with funding streamlined and best practice from existing successful projects rolled out across Scotland.

An executive spokeswoman said said some of the issues raised in the committee report were not new, and many of the recommendations were already being addressed.

She said: "As a first step we have established a tightly focused strategic board chaired by the permanent secretary.

"We will give careful consideration to the committee's conclusions and recommendations and respond formally in due course."