Local government, 2018

From the abolition of library fines and the creation of age-friendly communities to the completion of thousands of social housing units and the announcement of a ‘21st Century University Town’, 2018 proved a busy year for local authorities. It was a year in which much data on the performance of local authorities were disseminated. The Local Government Audit Service’s report for 2016 (published in 2018) noted an improvement in some local authorities in revenue-collection yields, budgetary control, procurement, capital balances and governance. The National Oversight & Audit Commission (NOAC) continued to oversee the implementation of national policy at local government level, producing reports on performance indicators and the Public Spending Code, as well as a report on customer satisfaction levels and three reports on auditing issues. NOAC also continued its profiling of local authorities, visiting councils to enable NOAC members to gather and interrogate data on topics such as finances, customer service, corporate planning, housing issues, performance indicators, tourism initiatives, employment, and economic and community development.