News releases - Local government

Councils urged to remove restrictions on taxi numbers in Scotland - 23/02/07

Education complaints system improving but further action needed - 12/12/06

The Scottish Consumer Council has issued a warning about proposals that could lead to the removal of public phone boxes from many parts of the country.
97KB October 2005

Glasgow council to put food hygiene reports on the web
Graeme Millar, chairman of the Scottish Consumer Council said: "We applaud this initiative from Glasgow City Council in providing information to consumers about hygiene standards in food premises. We called for just this sort of action in a report last year and we hope other local authorities follow Glasgow's lead.

"We also want to see information provided directly to consumers in food premises themselves. The SCC is working with the Food Standards Agency, local authorities and others, including representatives of the food and hospitality industries, to agree a common approach on how this can best be done."

17/08/05

Action needed to break down language barriers in Scotland

60KB May 2005

Complaints from the public about taxi services
Graeme Millar, chairman of the Scottish Consumer Council said: "Taxis provide an important public transport service and it is worrying that so many consumers are getting a poor level of service. Taxi firms are required to meet standards on things like charges, vehicle safety and driver education. However we are concerned that these standards are not enforced uniformly across Scotland. Better enforcement will ensure that standards are improved and the public are ptoected against poor levels of service."

15/04/05

Greater clarity needed on public involvement in inspecting services

The Scottish Executive is being urged to conduct a national review into the use of members of the public in inspecting vital services such as education, health, housing and the police and fire services following research conducted by SCC.

36KB December 2004

Scots need better information on council performance

People in Scotland are not being provided with meaningful information that lets them know how their local council is performing. This is one of the main findings of a report produced by the SCC- How do you rate your council? - which examined how Scottish local authorities are meeting their responsibility to inform the public about their activities.

34KB 10 February 2004

Public should be given right to appeal against planning decisions, says SCC

The Scottish Consumer Council is backing proposed new legislation that would give the public the right of appeal against planning applications that have been approved.

34KB    January 2004

Involvement of user groups in assessing the quality of all public services

Statement from Graeme Millar supporting the involvement of user groups in assessing the quality of all public services.

139KB 09 July 2001

Survey gives councils top marks

The Scottish Consumer Council today published a survey about how local councils responded to enquiries from the public. The results were very positive and the survey showed councils were giving good information in most
cases.

31KB  07 April 1999