HC Deb 01 December 1994 vol 250 cc881-3W
Mr. Sumberg

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what plans he has for establishing an accounting framework for local authority support service costs, as proposed in the White Paper, "Competing for Quality: Competition in the Provision of Local Authority Services."

Mr. Robert B. Jones

I have today tabled regulations under the Local Government Finance Act 1982 which will require local authorities to publish annually a statement of support service costs. This will illustrate the full costs of the professional support services to which the Government are extending compulsory competitive tendering, and will show the costs of these services to authorities' front-line service departments.

The proposals for SSSCs have been developed in close and productive consultation with the local authority associations, the Audit Commission, the Accounts Commission for Scotland, and the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy. A consultation draft of the regulations was issued by my Department on 22 February 1994. Comments were received from 194 local authorities and other interested parties.

In the light of those comments, I have decided that the first SSSCs will be required for 1995–96, rather than 1994–95 as proposed in February, to ensure that authorities have good time to prepare. The regulations also incorporate other technical improvements responding to comments and suggestions received.

Five support services are to become subject to CCT—legal services, construction and property services, IT, finance and personnel services. Parliament has already approved orders under section 2(3) of the Local Government Act 1988 making legal services and construction property services "defined activities", for the purposes of CCT. The SSSC regulations which I have tabled today relate to these services, designating them as "specified activities" to be covered in SSSCs. The Government will, over the next few months, place before Parliament CCT orders for the other three support services. Subject to Parliament's approval of the orders, the Government will table further SSSC regulations bringing them also into the scope of SSSCs.

London boroughs, metropolitan authorities, and joint committees of these authorities are required to produce an SSSC from 1995–96 onwards. Shire authorities, and joint committees of shire authorities, will be required to produce a SSSC from 1996–97, or the second financial year after the coming into being of an authority newly established or reorganised following local government review, should that be later. SSSCs will also be produced by unitary authorities in Wales and by new police authorities established under the Police and Magistrates Courts Act 1994 in due course. SSSCs will be introduced in Scotland under separate legislative procedures.

Local authorities' support services cost more than £4 billion a year. SSSCs will make available authoritative information on these costs, and will be of value to local taxpayers, local authority members, and those responsible for the front-line local authority services, who are the customers for support services and bear the costs. The information will enable informed discussion of support service costs, and promote efficiency and value for money.

I have placed a list of responses to the consultation proposals in the Library, through which copies of individual responses may be obtained.