Taking Forward Community Budgets

Taking forward community budgets

Community Budgets were introduced in October 2010 as part of the Spending Review with the aim of giving local public service partners the freedom to work together to redesign services around the needs of citizens, improving outcomes, reducing duplication and waste and so saving significant sums of public money. Following the riots in summer 2011 the focus of these budgets changed and the troubled families programme was introduced in December 2011, aiming to change the lives of 120,000 troubled families by the end of the current Parliament. As these Community Budgets initiatives for dealing with families with multiple problems are still at an early stage, the Communities and Local Government Committee has produced a brief report setting out issues which will provide a starting point for a full inquiry and report next year. It is carrying out scrutiny of Community Budgets in separate stages. For the first stage, it invited written evidence, held a single oral evidence session and sets out an outline of the questions raised, which will assist its subsequent work on Community Budgets. The report contains no conclusions or recommendations to the Government.

House of Commons - Communities and Local Government Committee: Community Budgets - HC 163

Community Budgets are demonstrating their potential to deliver cheaper, more integrated and more effective public services. They are at risk, however, of being replaced after a few years if key issues are not resolved. If this opportunity is missed, the Committee warns that local services could come under unsustainable pressure in the face of increased demand and reduced budgets. This in turn may result in more spending later on judicial and emergency health and welfare interventions. The Government should send a clear message that it will assist every local authority wishing to introduce Community Budgets and to set out the specific assistance it will provide them with. Furthermore, the programme of pilots must not be allowed to slow progress towards wider implementation. If they are to succeed, public service providers and local authorities must realise investment in Community Budgets will bring them benefits. Local authorities, their partners, and central government should, therefore, develop a framework for agreements on how the benefits of investment are to be shared. On the Troubled Families Programme, the Committee is supportive of the work being done but highlights the need for greater focus on how work with these families will continue after the programme ends in 2016. Noting that the resources available have not increased in proportion to the number of families added to the programme in June, DCLG needs to monitor carefully progress and provide more resources to local authorities if necessary

Pre-appointment Hearing for the Chair of the Audit Commission