8 March 2011
Ministers have launched a review of councils’ statutory duties, including the requirement to designate a chief finance (section 151) officer.
Decentralisation minister Greg Clark said this was the first time Whitehall had attempted to assess the legal burden imposed on councils.
He said: ‘We’re asking councils to tell us which duties actually serve the public and which ones serve to create unnecessary burdens.
‘Rather than sending reams of paperwork to officials in Whitehall, councils need to be more accountable to their local residents. I am determined to release councils from the grip of Westminster micro-management by busting these bureaucratic barriers and burdens and letting them get on with their job.’
Launched yesterday, the review lists 1,294 statutory duties imposed on local authorities by central government. Councils are being invited to tell ministers which duties should be kept, which should be repealed and which have not been included on the government’s list.
The deadline for submissions is April 25.
