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Ministers meet COSLA
24/05/2011
Ministers today reaffirmed their partnership with local government as Finance Secretary John Swinney and Minister for Local Government designate Aileen Campbell met COSLA President Pat Watters and COSLA political leaders in Edinburgh.
Mr Swinney said: "The new relationship between Scottish Government and Local Government, established in 2007, transformed the way we work together and recognises that local authorities are partners in the delivery of public services. Today, we continued to build on the relationship.
"With reduced public spending available there are fundamental challenges ahead and we jointly committed to continue to work together to deliver even better public services.
"I want to see real improvements across the public sector and a continuing focus on outcomes that matter to people, with a key part of this improvement agenda on driving up performance. We await the report from the Christie Commission on the future of public services and we have a real opportunity to jointly address some of the most deep-seated problems. That is what we are committed to doing."
Ms Campbell said: "This was my first meeting with COSLA and I was pleased to be able to reassure political leaders that I will always be open in my engagement with COSLA, and with all of local government, as we work on our shared agenda to improve public services."