Published: 04 August 2009
Spending without Knowing Why
Councils are basing important decisions on unreliable information, an Audit Commission study has found.
The report - Is there something I should know? - finds councillors complaining that they receive lengthy reports that don’t contain the information they need. Less than 5% of councils have excellent quality data and 65% face problems sharing data externally.
With tough financial times ahead, councils say they know they need to act now to improve the quality of their data. Nine out of ten councils say they think good quality information is a top priority.
Steve Bundred, Chief Executive of the Audit Commission, said:
“Giving decision makers the information they need will help councils make savings while improving services. This is all the more critical in recessionary times and some solutions have little or no extra cost.
It's important that councils have the right information now because many of the decisions that they are going to make in the years ahead will be harder than usual.
Information may not sound like an exciting topic, but right now too many councils risk making poor decisions because their information is inaccurate, irrelevant or incomplete”.
The report considers whether councils are equipped to improve their information. It also says that decision makers must be more demanding about getting the information they need to make decisions.
The report finds that almost 80% of councils say that a lack of in-depth analysis is a major problem. But their analysts spend around twice as much time on producing routine reports as on value-added analysis.
Previous Audit Commission studies have consistently shown that councils have failed to capitalise on the power of information.
Most recently, one report said that only 20% of finance directors had all the information to manage their councils’ estates properly.
The Audit Commission is providing tools to help councillors demand better information and to help councils improve the information they provide to decision makers.
It will also assess councils on the information available to support decision making in use of resources as part of the Comprehensive Area Assessment, which publishes this December.
Further information
Is there something I should know? - Making the most of your information to improve services (see also related documents)
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