Briefings and responses

The evidence of the financial strain on councils has been growing and today’s settlement does not provide enough funding to meet the severe cost and demand pressures which have left councils of all political colours and types warning of the serious challenges they face to set balanced budgets next year.

The changes in the 2003 Local Government Act and 2003 Capital Finance Regulations that introduced the Prudential Code were a major step in freeing local government from centrally imposed borrowing controls

The practice note includes a lot of technical detail that is primarily written for auditors and we have not previously commented on its content, or on recent consultations on changes to it. The reason we feel the need to comment this time is not because we have concerns over the approach taken by the Public Audit Forum to date, but because local audit is currently in crisis, and we would welcome any action that can be taken to help provide solutions that can alleviate the effects of the crisis.

We are seeking assurances from the Government that this Bill will have no detrimental impact on local government.

We continue to engage extensively in discussions with the Government on the implementation of further business rates retention and the Fair Funding Review. These reforms are important and are something local government has called for.

While we do not agree with some of the recommendations of the Redmond Review, and others need further consideration, in our response to the review we outlined that a number of quick actions should be taken as soon as possible to have an immediate effect on the audit market.

The LGA is of the opinion that the arrangements introduced in 2002 (Treasury Management code) and 2004 (Prudential Code) have worked well and provide a good governance framework to be followed by local authorities. We are therefore of the strong opinion that the present review should not fundamentally alter these arrangements. General points

Our response to the consultation in relation to the issue with the audit of council accounts relating to the valuation of infrastructure assets, we noted that this is an issue that adds to the problems being experienced by local audit.

Opted-in local government and police bodies, November 2020