Government influence over councils faces scrutiny
Share
A new select committee could be set up to probe how central government affects the ability of councils to do their job.
The government said it was worth investigating the idea with the House Of Commons authorities, in its response to its Strengthening local democracy consultation.
Communities secretary John Denham said the government was already delivering some of the proposals in the consultation including enabling councils to set up joint scrutiny committees and petitioning powers for people to demand action from local authorities, pilots of carbon frameworks to reduce emissions, and powers to allow councils to scrutinise other local services.
He said: ‘One of my first priorities as communities secretary was to set out my vision for further strengthening local democracy. Over the past six months we have acted quickly to implement many of the ideas like powers to compel local service providers to appear before scrutiny committees, the development of local carbon budgets and of course taking forward the Total Place reforms of local government.
‘In a tighter financial climate these steps will enable councils to act on behalf of local residents to meet the challenge of delivering better public services, offering better value for money for the taxpayer’s pound and making those services more transparent and open to scrutiny.’
Have your say
You must sign in to make a comment
Readers' comments (1)
Broadsword | 08/02/2010 5:01 pm
Well here we go again, another selecxt committee, do MP's get additional pay/expenses for this?
Why not let the Tenant Voice, TSA do this?
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment