Written question asked by Grant Shapps (Conservative) on Thursday, 21 February 2008, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 25 February 2008. It was answered by John Healey (Labour) on Friday, 29 February 2008 on behalf of the Department for Communities and Local Government.

Local Government

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what (a) estimate her Department has made of and (b) research her Department has conducted into the cost of (i) local authority reporting to central government and (ii) local government inspection by external inspectors and auditors.

Answer: A PricewaterhouseCoopers report ““Mapping the Performance Landscape””, commissioned by this Department and published in July 2006, estimated that the costs of reporting performance information to central Government was of the order of £2.6 million. This estimate is based on a study of four local authorities. The Department for Communities and Local Government will begin research during the 2008-09 financial year to consider the savings due to the introduction of the new performance framework.The Department is responsible for sponsorship of the Audit Commission. The Audit Commission is the only inspectorate of local government to charge a fee element to authorities for inspection. The total inspection fee income in 2006-07 published by the Commission was around £11 million. The Department also pays grant to the Commission to underwrite the cost of its inspection activity. In 2006-07, this grant totalled almost £26 million. The Department does not hold information about the costs of inspection of local authorities by other local inspectorates.

Secondary information