WIREDGOV

Responding to the Public Accounts Committee report into Community Budgets, Sir Merrick Cockell, Chairman of the LGA, said:

"Today's report is a ringing endorsement of the pioneering work local authorities are doing to modernise public services and sets out a real challenge to Whitehall to give local areas more control.

"The success of Community Budgets is already recognised at all levels of government and this report sends a clear message that the approach must be adopted across the public sector. It is high time that we stopped trying to tackle 21 Century problems with an outdated highly-centralised Victorian-era bureaucracy.

"We need to rewire the way services are paid for and delivered by devolving decision making to local areas. This approach is the proven way of improving services and saving money across both central and local government.

"Local authorities are pioneering Community Budgets but only a fraction of the potential savings will be unlocked unless Whitehall commits to modernising the way it works. With the bulk of potential savings from Community Budgets accruing to central government the onus is on Whitehall to wholeheartedly deliver the necessary reform."

Contact

Greg Burns, Senior Media Relations Officer
Local Government Association
Telephone: 020 7664 3184
Email: greg.burns@local.gov.uk
Media Office (for out-of-hours contact): 020 7664 3333