Departmental Overview: Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government 2017-18
This Overview summarises the Department’s responsibilities on how it spends its money and its key developments of work.
11 Oct 2018
This Overview summarises the Department’s responsibilities on how it spends its money and its key developments of work.
Wave 1 City Deals encouraged cities to develop capacity to manage devolved funding and increased responsibility. It is too early to tell what impact they will have on growth.
A programme to sell enough government land by March 2015 to build a potential 100,000 homes did not collect information on the amount of money raised or how many homes have actually been built. In future land sales, responsibility for monitoring what happens to land after disposal should be made clear.
Devolution deals to devolve power from central government to local areas in England offer opportunities to stimulate economic growth and reform public services for local users, but the arrangements are untested and government could do more to provide confidence that these deals will achieve the benefits intended
This report examines the Department for Education’s evaluation of the Children’s Social Care Innovation Programme.
Local authorities have worked hard to manage reductions in government funding, but the DCLG needs to be better informed about the situation across England.
Local authorities have kept up levels of capital spending but face pressure to meet debt costs and maintain investment in existing assets.
It has not yet been demonstrated that funding mechanisms for supporting local economic growth are capable of delivering value for money.
There is wide variation in the extent to which £79 billion in central funding allocated to local health bodies differs from target allocations that are based on relative need.
• This is NAO’s first report on funding since the 2013 health reforms took effect. Where possible comparisons have been made with funding under the previous system set out in a 2011 NAO report.
The Better Care Fund has not achieved the expected value for money, in terms of savings, outcomes for patients or hospital activity.