Public services across central belt of Scotland most 'broken' as councils struggle to deliver

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Public services across the central belt are the most "broken" in Scotland, according to an index ranking the country's local authorities.The index was devised as part of the Broken Britain study undertaken by the New Britain Project, looking at the performance of services such as the NHS, education and policing.The think-tank looked at 13 different indicators with North Lanarkshire being ranked as the most “broken” in the rankings out of the 29 local authorities assessed.Glasgow and Falkirk were the next lowest.

They were followed by Midlothian, South Lanarkshire and West Dunbartonshire.The think tank called these areas "Scotland's original red wall" and said their public services are "under the greatest strain".The indicators were broken down into three topics.

One was “health emergency” which looked at NHS performance. Another was “forgotten generation”, which looked at education attainment and absences along with young people’s mental health services.The final was “crumbling communities”, which looked at crime clear-up rates, food insecurity, the number of derelict buildings and the number of roads requiring maintenance.North Lanarkshire ranked 25th in health, 28th in the “forgotten generation” category and 24th in “crumbling communities”.Both health and education and young people’s services were in 16th for Glasgow, but infrastructure was dead last.Falkirk was in 27th place, ranking the same in health and children’s issues and 14th in infrastructure.The three best rated areas were in Shetland, Renfrewshire and Highland, respectively.The figures were released on the same day the Scottish Government is due to announce its draft budget on Tuesday.The Scottish rankings were released separately to the UK-wide study