Bridging the accountability gap - Audit Commission

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Governing partnerships | Governing partnerships for better accountability
Figure 8
Pooled budgets in local government
There has been a marked growth in use of pooled budgets in local government.
Percentage
100
90
80
74
70
60
53
50
40
30
20
10
0
County
councils
Source: Audit Commission, 2004
43
London
boroughs
72 72
50
Metropolitan
borough
councils
34
54
Unitary
authorities
2002/03
2003/04
114 In the NHS, the use of pooled budgets shows a similar increase in 2003/04 over 2002/03,
although from a lower base than in local government (Figure 9).
115 Pooled budgets are the clearest example of integration between separate organisations
and most clearly illustrate the balance between risks and benefits in partnerships. They
have the potential to bring significant benefits, in terms of greater clarity of purpose,
increased resources and better services. They also, however, bring the risks that this
section of the report has identified. These risks require careful management to realise the
anticipated benefits and this is achieved through the pool memorandum of accounts. The
host to the pooled budget arrangement prepares the pool memorandum of accounts,
which shows the pattern of the budget’s income and expenditure, and sends it to each of
the partners for inclusion in their own statements of accounts. The role of host, which can
be adopted by any best value authority, does not confer any additional risks to an
organisation; participating organisations share these risks. Agreeing the pooled budget