Report of the Local Government Efficiency Review Group

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Financial Summary: 1. Reduce number of county/ city managers and directors through joint administrative areas – €2 million 2. Reduce number of directors – €4 million 3. Establish 10 joint administrative areas to pool corporate services – €7 million 4. Reduce number of corporate services staff in other local authorities – €2 million 5. Reduce number of senior and middle managers (administrative) – €15 million 6. Reduce number of senior and middle managers (professional/ technical) – €10 million 7. Reduce number of planning staff by 10% – €7 million 8. Reduce number of staffing in Dublin and Cork cities by 15% – €47 million Total Amount: €94 million 6.11.4 It should be noted that these estimates do not take account of staffing savings likely to accrue from recommendations made by the Group in other areas, such as motor tax (section 10), rent collection (section 10.1), town councils (section 5), and shared HR and payroll systems (section 8). 76
7.1 Local Government Audit 7. Value for Money and Audit 7.1.1 Internal audit in local government is carried out by specially assigned staff within local authorities. Each county and city council also has an audit committee (see sections 7.2 and 7.3 below). 7.1.2 External audit of local authorities is carried out by the Local Government Audit Service (LGAS). It is an independent service, which for administrative purposes constitutes a Division of the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. It audits the accounts of 184 local bodies such as city, county, borough and town councils, and miscellaneous bodies including some harbour authorities. All audit staff are professionally qualified accountants and have for many years been recruited externally, having worked in industry, public audit firms, and public sector bodies, and this mix of skills enhances the external audit function. The LGAS provides independent scrutiny of the financial stewardship of local authorities and other bodies. Its role is to carry out audits of local authorities and other bodies and promote the achievement of value for money in local authorities by undertaking Value for Money (VFM) audits and publishing such reports. A VFM Unit has been established within the LGAS. 7.1.3 The Director of Audit, who is fully independent in the discharge of his responsibilities, is the organisational head of the service. Each local government auditor is assigned an audit district under warrant of authority from the Director of Audit. There are at present twenty-one local government audit districts. Local government auditors operate independently of the Department when discharging their professional functions. This independence is protected in legislation through the Local Government Act 2001. 7.1.4 Audit districts comprise a number of audits grouped, as far as possible, in convenient geographical areas, and these districts are further grouped into four regions – Western, Southern and two Eastern. Principal auditors assist in the regional organisation and supervision of audits. In addition, they have direct responsibility for the major audits in their region. 7.2 The Local Authority Internal Audit Function 7.2.1 The role of the internal audit function covers the following: • Appraisal of systems and procedures; • Assessment of adequacy, reliability and integrity of data; • Examination of compliance with policies, plans and procedures; • Assessment of arrangements for acquisition, safeguarding and disposal of assets; 77
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Report of the Local Government Effi
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5. Organisational Efficiency Issues
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14. Recommendations 14.1 Recommenda
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associated Government Statement, ne
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more focussed than previously on mu
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ating town councils is largely repr
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• The provision of quality custom
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1.7 Compliance Requirements on Loca
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2.1 National Public Finances 2. Bud
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Figure 2.2 - Total Local Authority
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evenue were needed for the local go
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Figure 2.3 - Sources of Local Autho
Page 25 and 26: Figure 2.4 -Sources of Local Author
Page 27 and 28: Figure 2.5 - Local Authority Curren
Page 29 and 30: Payroll Expenses Table 2.4 - Breakd
Page 31 and 32: 2. Reintroducing domestic water cha
Page 33 and 34: Income €m € 1,600.0 € 1,400.0
Page 35 and 36: 3. Local Government Experience of E
Page 37 and 38: maintenance are provided by the cou
Page 39 and 40: well as reductions in the number of
Page 41 and 42: 4. Context - Looking Forward 4.1 Na
Page 43 and 44: 4.2.6 Aside from keeping costs down
Page 45 and 46: 5. Organisational Efficiency Issues
Page 47 and 48: statutorily vested in certain ratin
Page 49 and 50: 5.5.6 Roads are classified into nat
Page 51 and 52: the majority of town councils, a pl
Page 53 and 54: 5.7 Other Local Bodies 5.7.1 A smal
Page 55 and 56: • County council offices / area o
Page 57 and 58: Figure 6.1 - Local Authority Staff
Page 59 and 60: Figure 6.2 - Staffing per 1,000 Pop
Page 61 and 62: Figure 6.5 - Staffing Per 1,000 Pop
Page 63 and 64: Cluster Data Cluster Mayo Roscommon
Page 65 and 66: senior management staff - for examp
Page 67 and 68: ut this figure varies from 22% to 5
Page 69 and 70: eplacement with lower level staff w
Page 71 and 72: Corporate Services, HR, IT, and Fin
Page 73 and 74: to provide services in the corporat
Page 75: Recommendations: 6.11.1 In summary,
Page 79 and 80: through open recruitment. Opportuni
Page 81 and 82: the Director and relevant local gov
Page 83 and 84: 7.6.3 Local authorities should cons
Page 85 and 86: 8. Shared Services 8.1 Shared Servi
Page 87 and 88: 8.2.6 Many parts of the United Stat
Page 89 and 90: 8.4 Shared ‘Back Office’ Servic
Page 91 and 92: 8.4.12 For example, recruitment to
Page 93 and 94: approach which will be used to asse
Page 95 and 96: enefits in terms of pooling resourc
Page 97 and 98: while also improving the service fo
Page 99 and 100: Implementation Group suggested in s
Page 101 and 102: 9.2.4 The Local Government e-Procur
Page 103 and 104: forms are now captured online. This
Page 105 and 106: Table 9.1 - Non-Pay Items Procured
Page 107 and 108: 9.5.10 LAQuotes is used by the vast
Page 109 and 110: sectoral level, to promote exchange
Page 111 and 112: 10.1 Housing 10. Efficiencies in Pr
Page 113 and 114: 10.1.9 Two issues arise in this res
Page 115 and 116: that may arise in this respect as p
Page 117 and 118: the new Housing and Sustainable Com
Page 119 and 120: 10.2.6 To date, the emphasis of tol
Page 121 and 122: 10.2.14 The Group also noted the la
Page 123 and 124: • Allocating grants to improve th
Page 125 and 126: 10.3.11 It would also facilitate th
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consumption (see also section 9 in
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Financial Summary: Through a combin
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current levels of resourcing for pl
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educe the number of such transactio
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Financial Summary: Through a combin
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in the trend of rationalisation of
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Table 10.1 - Motor Taxation Classes
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detail in issuing licences. Motor t
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11.1 Treasury Management 11. Other
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for the overdraft, has the potentia
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• The online Roadworks Control sy
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management, etc. Use of professiona
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• Projects to streamline existing
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12. Local Government and the Wider
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significant administrative overhead
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City Enterprise Boards with county/
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suggests that financial incentives
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13. Cost Recovery and Revenue Issue
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13.1.11 The Group considers that th
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Minister for Education and Skills t
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legislation provides that arrears o
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Recommendations: 13.5.1 In summary,
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14.1 Recommendations 14. Recommenda
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25. Financial performance indicator
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Housing 48. Housing sections within
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Planning monitoring by other public
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Local Government and the Wider Publ
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that just because these recommendat
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Appendix 1 - List of Submissions Re
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Appendix 2 - Local Government Effic
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Gross Current Income by Source and
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County Councils Housing and Buildin
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Town Councils Housing and Building
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Non-Rating Town Councils (1) Paymen
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Regional Assembly Payments Receipts
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Local Authority Current Expenditure
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Town Council Population Size (Censu
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Appendix 5 - Local Government Net B
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Former Town Commissioners 2010 Net
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Appendix 7 - Performance Indicators
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Appendix 9 - Unaccounted for Water
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Appendix 11 - Membership of County
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Report of the Local Government Efficiency Review Group

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