21 November 2003
The Audit Commission is to take the unprecedented step of investigating the causes behind this year's council tax hikes, it emerged this week.
The commission is to step into the political minefield of whether changes in central government grant or high-spending local authorities were responsible for average council tax rises of 12.9% this year.
The probe was reportedly ordered by chief executive Steve Bundred and is due to be completed in early December.
The commission was coy about the report and refused to give details ahead of its publication, but it made it clear that councils with the highest rises would come under close scrutiny.
'The commission's role has involved looking at value for money in the way local government delivers its services. It is perfectly natural, therefore, for us to look at local council tax levels,' a statement said. It added that much of the report would draw on the work its auditors did as part of their normal scrutiny.
But the move raised eyebrows as the news of the inquiry filtered out in the week of councils' provisional finance settlement and yet more warnings that errant authorities will be capped.
Iain McLean, professor of politics at Oxford University and a former Oxford City councillor, described the commission's move as 'extraordinarily activist'.
'I presume it thinks it has the power to do this but it is surprising, and I am certainly not aware of any precedent.'
Professor Gerry Stoker, chair of the New Local Government Network and a member of the Balance of Funding Review panel, said he considered it to be a part of the 'process of keeping council tax at a reasonable level'.
Sir Jeremy Beecham, chair of the Local Government Association, said he was delighted by the news. 'We have nothing to fear from a proper examination and I suspect the research will confirm what we have been saying about the effects of gearing.'
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