By David Williams
30 July 2009
An Audit Commission report has found local authorities routinely make vital policy decisions based on little evidence.
The auditors’ charge led town hall leaders to attack the study for ignoring progress made in recent years.
The report, called Is there something I should know?, published on July 30, said 94% of councils claimed that improving their gathering and use of data was a priority. But it added that ‘few extract value from the information they already hold’.
Only half are providing formal training to help councillors and directors use data more effectively. As few as 5% had excellent quality information, and 65% faced problems sharing data externally, the commission said.
Councils often lacked financial data to explain budget overspends, accurate figures on staff numbers and costs, information on fluctuations in service performance, and basic demographic population breakdowns, the report added. Many councils could improve their information systems at little cost.
Commission chief executive Steve Bundred said: ‘This is all the more critical in recessionary times… many of the decisions that [councils] are going to make in the years ahead will be harder than usual. Too many councils risk making poor decisions because their information is inaccurate, irrelevant or incomplete.’
Report author John Kirkpatrick told Public Finance that the problem was cultural. He said change must come from the top, with councillors and directors demanding more good relevant information.
‘It’s important for councils to understand that a performance indicator is not the only information they need,’ he said. ‘One thing that struck us there was the extent to which councils didn’t have all the information they knew they wanted in order to make decisions about their property portfolio.
‘There’s £250bn tied up in the local government estate – it’s hard to believe that, if people knew a bit more, they couldn’t make some useful savings. In many cases councils didn’t know the market value of the property itself, or the cost of managing it.’
A commission study published in June showed that just 20% of finance directors had all the information they needed to manage their council’s estates properly.
Corin Thomson, programme director at the Local Government Association, acknowledged there was
room for improvement and welcomed the report for drawing attention to an important issue for councils. But she also criticised the study for taking a ‘glass half-empty approach’.
She said: ‘It fails to recognise the improvements councils have made in this area in a short space of time.’
She pointed out that the Audit Commission focused on the mere 5% of councils that had ‘excellent’ data quality even though the proportion of authorities rated ‘good’ had risen from a quarter to nearly two-thirds in two years.
She suggested the commission had taken a negative tone to make people take notice of the report. ‘They’re trying to be challenging to raise awareness but it’s just as helpful to do so without overlooking the improvements taking place.’
Thomson also said the report had not taken central government failings into account, arguing that vital information that could be used for comparison and benchmarking was not being published on time.
The study was given a warmer reception by Andrew Collinge, director of policy at the Local Government Information Unit. He described it as ‘a useful wake-up call that local government has to accept and respond to’.
He added: ‘It’s not the sexiest item on the agenda but it’s inextricably linked to efficiency, personalisation, and getting people to behave in a more environmentally responsible way.
‘Although it’s not really the case that local authorities are flying completely blind, we can’t afford one of the instruments in the cockpit to be giving a false reading.’
He said councils should act to improve data-sharing, but added that central government must also do its bit. ‘You’re always going to struggle to fit a range of services around one individual when organisations like Jobcentre Plus say they’re unable to share their data.’
30 July 2009
An Audit Commission report has found local authorities routinely make vital policy decisions based on little evidence.
The auditors’ charge led town hall leaders to attack the study for ignoring progress made in recent years.
The report, called Is there something I should know?, published on July 30, said 94% of councils claimed that improving their gathering and use of data was a priority. But it added that ‘few extract value from the information they already hold’.
Only half are providing formal training to help councillors and directors use data more effectively. As few as 5% had excellent quality information, and 65% faced problems sharing data externally, the commission said.
Councils often lacked financial data to explain budget overspends, accurate figures on staff numbers and costs, information on fluctuations in service performance, and basic demographic population breakdowns, the report added. Many councils could improve their information systems at little cost.
Commission chief executive Steve Bundred said: ‘This is all the more critical in recessionary times… many of the decisions that [councils] are going to make in the years ahead will be harder than usual. Too many councils risk making poor decisions because their information is inaccurate, irrelevant or incomplete.’
Report author John Kirkpatrick told Public Finance that the problem was cultural. He said change must come from the top, with councillors and directors demanding more good relevant information.
‘It’s important for councils to understand that a performance indicator is not the only information they need,’ he said. ‘One thing that struck us there was the extent to which councils didn’t have all the information they knew they wanted in order to make decisions about their property portfolio.
‘There’s £250bn tied up in the local government estate – it’s hard to believe that, if people knew a bit more, they couldn’t make some useful savings. In many cases councils didn’t know the market value of the property itself, or the cost of managing it.’
A commission study published in June showed that just 20% of finance directors had all the information they needed to manage their council’s estates properly.
Corin Thomson, programme director at the Local Government Association, acknowledged there was
room for improvement and welcomed the report for drawing attention to an important issue for councils. But she also criticised the study for taking a ‘glass half-empty approach’.
She said: ‘It fails to recognise the improvements councils have made in this area in a short space of time.’
She pointed out that the Audit Commission focused on the mere 5% of councils that had ‘excellent’ data quality even though the proportion of authorities rated ‘good’ had risen from a quarter to nearly two-thirds in two years.
She suggested the commission had taken a negative tone to make people take notice of the report. ‘They’re trying to be challenging to raise awareness but it’s just as helpful to do so without overlooking the improvements taking place.’
Thomson also said the report had not taken central government failings into account, arguing that vital information that could be used for comparison and benchmarking was not being published on time.
The study was given a warmer reception by Andrew Collinge, director of policy at the Local Government Information Unit. He described it as ‘a useful wake-up call that local government has to accept and respond to’.
He added: ‘It’s not the sexiest item on the agenda but it’s inextricably linked to efficiency, personalisation, and getting people to behave in a more environmentally responsible way.
‘Although it’s not really the case that local authorities are flying completely blind, we can’t afford one of the instruments in the cockpit to be giving a false reading.’
He said councils should act to improve data-sharing, but added that central government must also do its bit. ‘You’re always going to struggle to fit a range of services around one individual when organisations like Jobcentre Plus say they’re unable to share their data.’
