Skip to main content

Local Government: Cost Effectiveness

Volume 506: debated on Monday 1 March 2010

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what targets his Department has set for local authorities to make efficiency savings of each type in each of the next three years. (319039)

Local Government has a target to achieve at least 4 per cent. efficiency savings in 2010-11. Overall, we expect local authorities to achieve £5.5 billion of cumulative savings in the three years to 2010-11, of which we expect £3.2 billion to be delivered in the current year.

No target has been set for efficiency savings to be delivered in 2011-12 or 2012-13. The 2009 pre-Budget report set out the potential for local government to make £800 million savings by 2012-13, of which: £550 million could come from more efficient waste collection and disposal, reducing the burden of inspection, assessment and reporting requirements from across government, and measures to reduce duplication and inefficiency between different tiers of local government; and £250 million from reducing variations in spend on residential care. Local government is also expected to make a significant contribution towards the £8 billion of Operational Efficiency Programme savings identified for delivery by 2012-13 in the pre-Budget report.