John Ellis
Question:27 Mr. Ellis asked the Minister for the Environment if he will publish the names of the local authorities surveyed in the audits carried out by the value for money unit of his Department. [9749/97]
Written Answers. - Value for Money Audits.
As outlined in Better Local Government — A Programme for Change, the role of the value for money unit of my Department will be enlarged in terms of scope and application. With the experience gained from projects already completed, the unit will be in a position to undertake more comprehensive and in-depth analysis of a wider range of local authority activities. Legislation to be introduced shortly will, inter alia, place value for money audits on a statutory basis and, on foot of this, it is proposed that the VFM unit will publish full details of the results of its work. In addition, it is proposed to identify a range of financial performance indicators against which local authorities will be required to measure their performance and publish the results; the purpose will be to identify best practice and encourage individual local authorities to improve performance levels.