06 January 2006
Local authorities remain on course to meet their Gershon efficiency targets for 2005/06 with just three months of this financial year remaining, the latest analysis from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has confirmed.
The department's mid-year update, based on returns from English councils, show that town halls should achieve £1.9bn of savings by April – in line with the total savings predicted at the start of 2005/06.
The figures exclude schools, police and fire services, which are being assessed under separate arrangements, and mean that councils are on course to meet their £3.1bn target by the end of 2007/08. The total figure for local government is £6.45bn over the same period.
Local government minister Phil Woolas, speaking after the update's publication on December 29, said: '[We] now expect councils to build on this achievement – continuing to budget prudently and ensure the good work that they are undertaking in terms of efficiency gains continues.'
Sir Jeremy Beecham, vice-chair of the Local Government Association, said: 'Local government has year-on-year been making efficiency savings and these latest figures underline what the government has already acknowledged – that local authorities are making more savings than any other part of the public sector.'
In Scotland, Finance Minister Tom McCabe commended councils for expected first-year efficiency savings of more than double the original target.
Commenting on efficient government monitoring figures produced by the local government improvement service, McCabe said councils should outstrip significantly their 2005/06 efficiency savings target. 'I am delighted local authorities are on track to deliver £122m of savings in the first year,' he said.
The minister pointed out, however, that the whole public sector would be judged on what it actually delivered.
'But this report shows councils are far outstripping their target of £54.1m and demonstrates local authorities recognise the benefits efficient government will deliver,' McCabe said.
The overall efficiency target for Scottish local government is £323m by 2007/08, of which £195m, or 2.5%, has already been deducted from the Executive's funding settlement for councils.
Pat Watters, the president of the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, described the figure as a remarkable achievement by Scotland's councils.
PFjan2006
