To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what plans (a) his Department and (b) the Audit Commission has to review guidance to local authorities on investment policies. (279873)

Officials are working with the Audit Commission, the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy—CIPFA—and the local authority associations to assess how the Department’s investment guidance might be fine tuned in light of the report from the CLG Select Committee and the report of the Audit Commission on local authorities and Icelandic banks. The Department’s guidance on local government investments is available at:

http://www.local.communities.gov.uk/finance/capital/data/lginvest2.pdf

The Audit Commission does not issue guidance to authorities on investment policies.