Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask Her Majesty's Government which local authorities are failing to make savings while continuing to provide excellent services to local communities in line with the government's stated expectations; and what remedial action, if any, they propose.

Councils have done fantastically well in reforming the way they work to become more efficient, both in back-office functions and front-line service delivery – and we welcome that. But with councils accounting for a quarter of all public spending, we and the sector know there is more to do. Councils need to continue playing their part in tackling the deficit, and we will be supporting them to do so. Across the country, councils are looking at ways to:

• manage demand for transformed services and deliver services differently with partners,
• make greater use of technology to reduce cost and improve service quality,
• become more commercial, and
• improve staff productivity.

In terms of specific councils, there is no definitive list or “right answer” on this, and it is local areas that are responsible for managing their own resources and performance. My department looks at risk levels in councils so that we can work with the Local Government Association and across Government to support them and prevent financial or service delivery failure.