Local audit, including reports on value for money arrangements within local authorities, helps to provide transparency and assurance to both central government and taxpayers on local authorities’ plans to achieve effective services. At 31 March 2024 only 25% of local government bodies had up- to-date external audit assurance on their 2022–23 financial statements, leading to significant gaps in information available.11 MHCLG told us that since the introduction of the first backstop in December 2024 (by which date a local government body should have published its audited accounts up to and including 2022–23), it now has returns from around 94% of the sector, although these may be disclaimed audit opinions because the auditor ran out of time to complete their work.12 MHCLG specified that local audit is one of a range of tools it uses to understand the position of local government, as audited accounts provide a retrospective view of local authority finances.13 Nevertheless, it stated its intention to set up the local audit office, with the aim of having no disclaimed accounts because of local audit delays by the end of 2027–28.14