An audit report in Scotland said that local councils needed to improve their planning and control of major capital projects.
Source: Major Capital Investment in Councils, Audit Scotland
Links: Report | Audit Scotland press release | Public Finance report
Date: 2013-Mar
An audit report highlighted the increasing difficulty faced by local authorities in England in absorbing cuts in central government funding without reducing services. Only half the savings required by them by March 2015 had been delivered, and 1 in 8 was at risk of being unable to balance its books.
Source: Financial Sustainability of Local Authorities, HC 888 (Session 2012–13), National Audit Office, TSO
Links: Report | NAO press release | CBI press release | CIPFA press release | LGA press release | BBC report | Guardian report | Public Finance report
Date: 2013-Jan
A report examined the outcome of a pilot of community budgets. It said that extending community budgets in England could save up to £4 billion per year. Devolving more decisions to local areas would also lead to better services.
Source: Ernst & Young LLP, Whole Place Community Budgets: A review of the potential for aggregation, Local Government Association
Links: Report | LGA press release
Notes: Community budgets bring together public sector funding in local areas to give authorities such as local councils, the police, and health services the ability to integrate their work and design services around the needs of the people who use them.
Date: 2013-Jan