Watchdog criticises “complexity” of local funding
Government spending watchdog, the Audit Commission, has said that the sheer number of central initiatives and complexity of funding is “severely hampering” success at local level.
It categorises the situation as a “Humpty Dumpy effect” explaining that: “Efforts to promote economic growth, social justice and environmental sustainability fracture when they hit the ground in departmental silos, just like Humpty when he fell off the wall. Local leaders play the role of all the King’s horses and all the King’s men, as they try to put the pieces back together again.”
It claims that: “The current institutional arrangements, the complex interaction of national programmes, initiatives and targets, and complicated partnership arrangements confuse lines of responsibility. Funding from a bewildering variety of sources result in excessive administrative costs and uncertainty as to the long-term sustainability of projects.”
The Audit Commission’s report- entitled “People, Places and Prosperity” suggests that local area agreements should set out in advance what benefits local people could expect from special initiatives that are outside mainstream service provision.
Local people should also be aware of what they can expect from the mainstream services.
It argues this would allow both local people and politicians to distinguish what initiatives are actually leading to improvements in quality of life.
James Strachan, chair of the Audit Commission, said: “The delivery of central government programmes currently suffers from a ‘Humpty Dumpty effect’. Though set centrally, their delivery is fragmented among separate agencies – sometimes on traditional departmental lines – and they have to be put back together to meet local priorities.
“Local area agreements would be a step forward. They would help define local needs and show how much taxpayers’ money actually improves the quality of life in our communities. The public services experienced by individuals in specific communities are the product of a so-called ‘delivery chain’, a complicated pattern of special initiatives and more mainstream governmental activities.
“At the moment local public services agreements set out usually ten to 12 targets, but the new report proposes this is extended with an explicit statement of the service priorities in each area.”
The Audit Commission is to lobby for the establishment of pilot schemes to test out its proposed new local area agreements.
