The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) has made progress in setting up its new programme to release enough public sector land for 160,000 homes by 2020 but the programme has had a relatively slow start.
The need for housing in England has in recent years grown faster than its supply, and housebuilding needs to increase across the country.
Homelessness has increased across all measures since 2010, with many local authorities now seeing it as a risk to their financial sustainability.
This briefing has been prepared for the Communities and Local Government Select Committee to provide an overview of the work and performance of the Department for Communities and Local Government (the Department) in the financial year 2007-08 and subsequent months. It takes as its basis the Department’s Annual Report 2008, drawing upon the work of the National Audit Office (NAO) together with relevant material from other external and internal reviews of departmental performance.
DCLG has made good progress in its design of 100% local business rates retention but faces a challenging timescale for delivery.
The role and remit of Local Enterprise Partnerships has grown since 2010, but the approach taken by DCLG to overseeing Growth Deals risks future value for money.
The Department of Health now needs to gain a better understanding of the different ways to commission personalised services for users, and how these lead to improvements in user outcomes.
This briefing is prepared for the Communities and Local Government Committee of the House of Commons to provide an overview of the work and performance of the Department for Communities and Local Government in the financial year 2006-07 and subsequent months.
The Better Care Fund has not achieved the expected value for money, in terms of savings, outcomes for patients or hospital activity.
UK Government says it is on track to meet target to resettle 20,000 Syrian refugees by 2020. Local authorities’ ability to secure suitable school places and houses a risk to success. NAO estimate programme will cost £1.12bn by 2020.
The Department for Education recognised since 2010 that child protection services are not good enough but its subsequent response has not yet resulted in better outcomes. Spending on children’s social work, including on child protection, varies widely across England and is not related to quality. Neither the DfE nor authorities understand why spending varies.
Devolution deals to devolve power from central government to local areas in England offer opportunities to stimulate economic growth and reform public services for local users, but the arrangements are untested and government could do more to provide confidence that these deals will achieve the benefits intended
Local authorities have kept up levels of capital spending but face pressure to meet debt costs and maintain investment in existing assets.
This briefing paper is provided in response to a request from the Environmental Audit Committee that the National Audit Office provide information on local authorities and climate change.
Overall spending on discretionary local welfare support by central and local government has reduced since April 2013. The consequences of this gap in provision are not understood.
The Emergency Services Network is one of the most technologically advanced systems worldwide and is set to replace the existing emergency services communication system, Airwave. However several risks have been highlighted.
The incentives on government Accounting Officers to prioritise value for money are weak compared to those associated with the day-to-day job of satisfying Ministers.
Explore the broad trends identified by our report Homelessness and build a richer understanding of what they mean for different parts of the country.