Lyons Inquiry:
Council finance chiefs should be "finance directors for council and community" says Lyons
Council finance chiefs should be "finance directors for council and community" says Lyons
Lyons Inquiry Press Notice: 14 June 2006
Sir Michael Lyons will today challenge council finance officers to play a more active role in supporting local leadership, building capacity for local coordination of services and preparing the way for more difficult choices to be made at the local level.
In his speech to the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy Annual Conference, Sir Michael will ask treasurers whether they want to be seen not just as keepers of the town hall's accounts, but more broadly as "finance directors for council and community", taking a strategic view of investment in an area and engaging with citizens and taxpayers.
Sir Michael's speech will outline the findings of his May paper "National Prosperity, Local Choice and Civic Engagement" which concluded that:
- greater local choice can improve public satisfaction, deliver better value for money and help manage pressures on services;
- "place-shaping" is the responsibility of all councils, and involves developing a distinctive sense of place and promoting economic, social and environmental well-being; and
- local government must make further improvements to discharge this broader role, through: building on best practice in the family of local government; better engagement with citizens and taxpayers; demonstrating strong commitment to value for money; and reshaping the way it works with other services, voluntary and business organisations, and most of all with local citizens and taxpayers.
The Lyons Inquiry will now go on to explore what this means for local taxation and local responsibilities. The Inquiry will also consider what needs to change for local government to take on a bigger role, including the convening role in coordinating services across the local area.
Notes for Editors
- Sir Michael Lyons was originally commissioned in July 2004 by the Deputy Prime Minister and the Chancellor to make recommendations on how to reform the local government funding system by December 2005. On 20 September 2005 the remit of the Inquiry was extended to enable Sir Michael to consider issues of function before finalising his conclusions on funding.
- On 15 December 2005 Sir Michael issued a consultation paper and interim report, inviting responses to the questions posed by 13 March 2006. At the same time submissions received from organisations and the research commissioned by the Inquiry were also published.
- On 8 May 2006 Sir Michael published a further paper, "National Prosperity, Local Choice and Civic Engagement", which set out his latest thinking on the future role and function of local government
- Copies of the May and December reports, submissions, research commissioned, and the terms of reference for the Inquiry, can be found on the Lyons Inquiry website at www.lyonsinquiry.org.uk
- Sir Michael will present his final recommendations and findings to Government on the future role, function and funding of local government in December 2006.
- Any press enquiries should be directed to GNN on 020 7261 8356.