An end-of-year review has found that East Renfrewshire Council remains among the top-performing councils in the country and is continuing to improve across the board.

Among the highlights noted was the fact its schools recorded the best exam results in mainland Scotland, as well as achieving the best school exclusion rates.

The authority was also the third best in Scotland for the number of young people going into education, employment, or voluntary work after leaving school.

ERC also posted a commendable council tax collection rate of 96 per cent, making it the third best performing authority north of the border, while it recorded the second highest recycling rates.

The report stated that the council produced a “consistent and excellent” performance in meeting housing quality standards, supporting local businesses, helping people into work, dealing with customer requests and responding to call outs.

However, one area that was in need of improvement was in collecting rent arrears, with plans in place to tackle this issue.

Council leader Jim Fletcher said: “East Renfrewshire Council has a proud reputation for consistently providing some of the best services in the country and I’m delighted that this review paints an equally very positive picture.

“Every council in Scotland is facing challenging circumstances but we are rising to that challenge, responding well, and ensuring our residents have access to high quality services.

“We will continue to strive to make sure this not only continues but that these services, and the resultant benefits for local people, improve even further.” ERC’s work with various partners, such as Police Scotland and the NHS, was also worthy of praise with highlights including: the lowest recorded level of violent crimes, the smallest proportion of the population smoking, the best record on minimising teenage pregnancies for five years, and the number of ‘bed days’ lost due to delay in discharge in hospital has more than halved.

The council also has a good record in dealing with noise complaints — community wardens are on site within 20 minutes of a call out on average, well within the target of one hour.

The drop in the loss of rent from empty properties has fallen by 40 per cent, saving £50,000.