The Improvement Service (IS) is the ‘go-to’ organisation for local government improvement in Scotland. 

We support local authorities and their partners to deliver transformational change to sustain and, where possible, improve outcomes, reduce inequalities and achieve efficiencies. 

Our purpose is to: 

  • Provide leadership to local government and the wider system on improvement and transformation 
  • Develop capability and capacity for improvement within local government 
  • Support local authorities to collaborate and work together to tackle shared challenges and drive improvement and innovation 
  • Support local authorities to share knowledge, practice, learning and skills 
  • Deliver national improvement programmes for local government and partners and support councils to improve at a local level 
  • Provide research, data and intelligence to inform local government’s policy-making and decision-making and to drive improvement 
  • Deliver national shared service applications and technology platforms 
  • Broker additional resources to support our improvement work