On behalf of its membership, the cross-party LGA regularly submits to Government
consultations, briefs parliamentarians and responds to a wide range of parliamentary inquiries. Our recent
responses to government consultations and parliamentary briefings can be found here.
We note that the consultation states that the provisional Local Government Finance Settlement will be published in December 2019. We would urge the Government to publish the provisional settlement as soon as possible after 12 December and no later than Parliament rising for the Christmas recess.
The 31 May deadline should be extended to 30 June for preparing draft (unaudited) accounts for the 2022/23 year and onwards until the current crisis in local audit has been resolved .
We appreciate the difficult context for the setting of the audit fees for 2023/24. Local audit is in an ongoing crisis and this has made the fee setting process more difficult. Nevertheless, we accept that the proposals made by PSAA are the best way of calculating the audit scale fee figures that can be made in the circumstances.
This consultation follows on from proposals originally made in 2021 to which we responded, and a further post consultation survey on revised proposed regulations that we also responded to. The proposals made in the current consultation have taken account of the comments we made in response to those earlier consultations and it is clear that the aim of the revised regulations and guidance is to avoid the potential problems with drafting in the original proposals that we and others in the sector highlighted. This is to be welcomed.
The current flexible use of capital receipts scheme, which has run since 2016/17 and has now been extended until March 2030, has been welcomed by councils.
The Local Government Association (LGA) welcomes the opportunity to submit a representation ahead of the Government’s March 2021 Budget. The LGA works to support, promote and improve local government. We will continue to contribute to Government’s national priorities and ambitions and support councils through challenging times by making the case for greater devolution, helping councils tackle their challenges and assisting them to deliver better value for money services that provide sustained outcomes for residents and communities. This submission has been approved by the LGA’s Chairman and leaders of all LGA political groups.