Fourth Report - COVID-19: Local government finance

Select Committee

Public Accounts Committee HC 239 4 June 2021

Report Status Government responded

Conclusions & Recommendations 26 items (18 recs)

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Government Response (AI assessment · 26 of 26 classified)

Accepted 15

Acknowledged 4

Deferred 5

Not Addressed 2

Government response

Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Fourth report from Session 2021-22 · published 2 Sep 2021

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Recommendations & Conclusions

4 results

4 Recommendation Acknowledged

The Department has not fulfilled previous assurances that it will be transparent about financial risk...

Recommendation

The Department has not fulfilled previous assurances that it will be transparent about financial risk in the sector by sharing information with the National Audit Office. The Department previously told us that it would ensure the National Audit Office can … Read more

Government Response Summary

The government agrees with the recommendation and states it is mindful of the NAO's need for information while maintaining confidentiality with local authorities. It commits to continuing engagement with the NAO to meet their needs but does not outline specific new mechanisms for sharing information or indicating sharing limitations.

HM Treasury

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15 Recommendation Acknowledged

The Department told us that during the early months of the pandemic it developed greater...

Recommendation

The Department told us that during the early months of the pandemic it developed greater structure and a stronger framework around exceptional financial support for individual authorities. Exceptional financial support is used where the Department accepts authorities face unmanageable financial … Read more

Government Response Summary

The government agrees with the recommendation but describes its existing monitoring and response to exceptional financial support requests, noting that all capitalisation directions are published. It states it has considered its engagement with at-risk authorities and will write to the Committee in October 2021 with its response.

HM Treasury

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16 Recommendation Acknowledged

The Department told the NAO that sharing information on the number of authorities interested in...

Recommendation

The Department told the NAO that sharing information on the number of authorities interested in exceptional financial support or at risk more generally would invite public speculation on the identity of the authorities affected. However, the information the Department does … Read more

Government Response Summary

The government agrees with the recommendation to share information with the NAO, acknowledging its statutory interest, but also stresses the need for confidentiality in discussions with local authorities and commits only to continued engagement with the NAO on how to meet its needs.

HM Treasury

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17 Recommendation Acknowledged

We previously discussed the provision of this type of information with the Department as part...

Recommendation

We previously discussed the provision of this type of information with the Department as part of our examination of the Department’s Starter Home programme. We recognised that sensitive information should not necessarily be made public, but we asked the Department … Read more We previously discussed the provision of this type of information with the Department as part of our examination of the Department’s Starter Home programme. We recognised that sensitive information should not necessarily be made public, but we asked the Department to commit to ensuring “the National Audit Office can see anything it needs 32 Qq 12 and 30, LGF0011 submission from SOLACE page 2 33 LGF0003 submission from DCN paragraph 17 34 LGF0007 submission from SIGOMA paragraph 2.16 35 LCCI comment on coronavirus grant roll-out by councils (londonchamber.co.uk) 36 Qq 82, 85; C&AG’s Report, paras 19 and 2.5 37 Q 56; letter from Jeremy Pocklington CB, Permanent Secretary Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government to the Committee of Public Accounts regarding exceptional financial support, dated 17 March 2021. 38 Qq 109–115; C&AG’s Report paras 2.45–2.46 and 3.22–3.23. 39 Q110; C&AG’s Report, paras 2.45–2.46 COVID-19: Local government finance 15 to” in relation to financial pressure on individual authorities. The Department agreed at the time.40 We therefore asked the Department why, given this commitment, the NAO had struggled to access this information. The Department told us that its position was that information relating to individual councils and its analysis of their financial position should remain private and confidential. It asserted that it was important that it had “a private space where we can have confidential discussions with local authorities”. The NAO explained that it understood the need for this safe space but would have liked to have had more information shared with it. The NAO regularly receives confidential and highly sensitive information, in order to support Parliamentary scrutiny, and has demonstrated it can reach sensible judgements about what is put into the public domain. We therefore asked the Department what steps it thought it could take to ensure that the NAO and Parliament were aware of the scale of risk in the sector in future. Show less

Government Response Summary

The government agrees with the recommendation for the NAO and Parliament to be aware of sector risk, but emphasizes the need for confidential engagement with local authorities and commits only to continued engagement with the NAO to address its needs.

HM Treasury

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