17:22 Wednesday 20th April 2016
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire
CHRIS MANN: New doubts have surfaced today over the Government’s devolution deal for East Anglia. The plan announced by the Chancellor earlier this year would mean powers over planning and transport would transfer to a new authority, combining Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. Cambridgeshire and Peterborough have rejected the current deal, and today fresh concern, this time from the National Audit Office. It says the plan is untested, and by giving so much power to so many councils, accountability could be a problem. I spoke to Keith Davis from the National Audit Office a little earlier.
KEITH DAVIS: So what we’re saying about these deals is they offer the prospect of local growth and of public service reform, but what we’re trying to say is that they’re new, they’re untested, and therefore it’s particularly important that there is clarification on exactly what they’re trying to achieve, how impact is going to be monitored and assessed, the questions about accountability also need clarifying, who’s going to be responsible, how is that going to work. The other big point we’re making is that this is taking place against the backdrop of reductions in the funding of local authorities, 25% over the last five years, another 8% coming out over the next four. And then that makes it more of a challenge in terms of their capacity to implement these kind of changes.
CHRIS MANN: These aren’t little concerns. These are big issues, aren’t they? So should it go forward with all of these unanswered so far?
Continue reading “National Audit Office – reservations around devolution”