(Title Image: Wales Audit Office, Crown Copyright)
The Wales Audit Office published a report revealing that a third of Wales’ town and community councils had their accounts qualified during the 2018-19 financial year, despite their budgets increasing (pdf).
Only 66% of councils met deadlines to submit accounts and 12 public interest reports were issued. Town and community councils raised a combined £54.1million in revenues during 2018-19.
“Local councils are expected to play an increasingly important role in the delivery of public services and in local communities. While I am delighted to see the positive response from some councils to our recommendations from last year, I am disappointed that some councils still receive qualified opinions for multiple reasons. I recommend that all councils consider the issues raised in this report and reflect on whether any of the issues may apply to them.”
– Auditor General, Adrian Crompton
Some aspects of the function of town and community councils are subject to future reform through the recently-introduced Local Government Bill.
