The Scottish Building Standards Agency (SBSA) will visit a number of Highland Council Offices in October in the process of auditing the Verifier functions of the Building Standards Service of the Council. The audit will be carried out on 23-25 October 2007.
The SBSA website explains the purpose and reasons for Audit as follows;-
The Deputy Minister for Communities has appointed all 32 Scottish Local Authorities as verifiers under section 7 of the Building (Scotland) Act 2003.
The appointment period runs for 6 years (2004-2010). The principle role of the verifier is to grant building warrants once they are satisfied that the design will satisfy the expanded functional standards introduced by the Act. Verifiers should be impartial and their working practices transparent. Verifiers should be competent and consistent in their activity. They must also be accountable for their actions. In order to meet this requirement a report covering the following 5 activities will be compiled by the audit team:
- Public Interest
- Private Customer
- Internal Business
- Continuous Improvement
- Finance
The Scottish Building Standards Agency (SBSA) has been appointed to audit Local Authorities as Verifiers. Participation in an audit forms part of the Ministerial approval by Scottish Ministers which will usually be undertaken every six years.
Four out of the eight area offices will be visited over the audit period, and the audit report is expected to be published by the SBSA approximately one month later.
The Highland Council balanced scorecard submission 2006-2007 can be accessed here.
The SBSA Audit report on the Highland Council Building Standards Service can be accessed here