CFO transparency, Audit Commission needed, Yorkshire upgrade, Sheffield investment fund, Procurement skills questioned…

Councils slammed over transparency
Less than half of councils fully disclose the role of their chief financial officer in their annual governance report, according to a new report. The Local Government Governance Review 2014, a study by auditor Grant Thornton, said those who did not outline the role were breaching guidance by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy. It said: “A lack of compliance here means that the reader cannot fully understand how financial governance is exercise by the local authority.

Audit Commission “will have to be reinvented”
Think tank the Institute for Government has said that the government will be forced to reinvent at least some of the current functions of the Audit Commission following its abolition in 2015. The IfG report said: “The standardisation of data that the commission can command is still needed if really high-quality value-for-money studies are to be undertaken.” It added that the government‘s initial timetable for the abolition, originally planned for 2012, had been “insanely ambitious”.

Rating upgrade for Yorkshire Building Society
Ratings agency Moody’s has upgraded the deposit ratings of Yorkshire Building Society from Baa2 to Baa1. Moody’s said the decision reflected the society’s improving asset quality and profitability, along with a reduction in legacy assets such as non-standard lending. It also praised the solid retail funding base and the successful integration of the Chelsea and Norwich & Peterborough building societies.

Sheffield launches regeneration investment fund
Sheffield City Council has announced plans to form an investment fund to unlock development in the city centre. The Sheffield Investment Fund will be wholly owned by the council, which will inject both land holdings and receipts from its tax increment finance arrangements. The fund, due to be officially launched in the summer of 2014, will be managed by CBRE Capital Advisors, which will develop an investment and stewardship model for the city.

Council of Europe says council service under threat
The Council of Europe has called on the UK government to devolve more powers to English councils, including increased tax raising powers. A new report, Local and Regional Democracy in the United Kingdom, said that the ability of councils to provide “essential public services, quality health and social care and effective and adequate community services and facilities, especially to the growing number of older people” was under threat from government cuts. The report said that despite significant reductions of their own, councils in Wales and Scotland are better off financially than their English counterparts.

MPs: Councils failing to embed procurement skills
Councils must invest in procurement skills across all staff involved with commissioning and managing services from third party providers, according to a group of MPs.
A communities select committee report this week raised questions over whether all councils are taking adequate steps to ensure effective control of contracts being delivered by private and third sector organisations. It added that councils could save an extra £1.8 billion by better collaboration with each other in procurement. A separate report released this week by the Public Accounts Committee called for the government to extend freedom of information legislation to public contracts with private providers, provide access rights for the National Audit Office; and introduce a requirement for contractors to open their books up to scrutiny by officials.

Croydon invests in property fund for homeless
London Borough of Croydon has agreed to invest £10 million into a property fund which leases properties to a charity to house homeless people. The investment, which could rise to £20 million, is being invested in the Real Lettings Property Fund, run by social impact fund manager Resonance and homeless charity Broadway. Croydon’s total commitment is expected to secure 94 one and two-bedroom properties in London for the council over the coming months, which it will be able to use to help meet its obligations to house homeless people.