Submission on coroner spending scrutiny to the Housing, Local Government and Transport

Commission of Labour’s National Policy Forum

would answer in part the questions “How can we make sure that local authorities have the
resources they need to deliver the level of services needed for communities?” asked in the Housing,
Local Government and Transport Commission’s discussion paper.

The role of Senior Coroners, Area Coroners and Assistant Coroners is unusual:

An extension of the Local Government Transparency Code would allow the public to be better
informed about how money is spent by local authorities and the value for money local authorities
offer.

I would like to submit the following proposal for an extension of the Local Government
Transparency Code to require local authorities to publish:

1) The broken-down total costs of employment, non-individually identifiable job titles and
administrative groups of all staff including bank/agency staff and contractors.

2) Detailed non-individually identifiable staff sickness data by department.

3) Procurement contracts and related documents, excluding those parts the local authority can
demonstrate need to be confidential for commercial reasons.

4) Private Finance Initiative contracts and related documents, excluding those parts the local
authority can demonstrate need to be confidential for commercial reasons.

The Public Accounts Committee examines reports produced by the Comptroller and Auditor
General (C&AG) on value for money (VFM) studies of economy, efficiency and effectiveness with
which government departments and other bodies have used their resources

The Committee of Public Accounts is appointed by the House of Commons to examine:

"the accounts showing the appropriation of the sums granted to Parliament to meet the public
expenditure, and of such other accounts laid before Parliament as the Committee may think fit"
(Standing Order No 148).

The Committee's remit

This Committee scrutinises the value for money - the economy, efficiency and effectiveness - of
public spending and generally holds the government and its civil servants to account for the
delivery of public services.

As delivery models for public services have changed, so the reach of the Committee, in following
the taxpayer's pound, has spread beyond government departments to also examine public bodies and
private companies providing public services.