Seán Haughey (Dublin North Central, Fianna Fail)
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Question 507: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the way in which he proposes to monitor the efficiency of local authorities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36416/05]

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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While local authorities have primary responsibility for ensuring efficiency and value for money in their activities, my Department is actively involved on a range of fronts to ensure that this is achieved and monitored. Some key initiatives in this regard include the following.

The first report on service indicators in local authorities, published in July 2005, details the performance of local authorities in 2004 with regard to 42 indicators of service. This is a significant innovation for the local government sector which has taken a lead in accounting publicly for the quality, including efficiency, of services it provides to its customers. The 2004 data provide a valuable baseline against which future performance can be assessed. I have asked each authority to review its own performance across the range of indicators and in the light of performance by other authorities, and to put in place a strategy for continued improvement.

Full implementation in 2004, in co-operation with local authorities, of new financial management systems based on accrual accounting principles and incorporating balance sheets is designed to deliver better management information and more enhanced management capacity and to facilitate improved efficiency and value for money measurement. My Department is building on this work by developing a standard costing system for the sector to deliver a more detailed level of information in relation to services particularly in relation to unit costs. This new system will facilitate local authorities in comparing their costs over time and with other local authorities.

The value for money unit in my Department undertakes in-depth analyses of local authority activities, identifies best practice, and measures economy and efficiency in the use of resources in individual local authorities. Value for money audits will be carried out by local government auditors in addition to their normal regulatory audits of local authorities.

In so far as efficiency in the management of individual capital projects is concerned, local authorities are expected to comply fully with, inter alia, the value for money considerations set out in the following standard Government procurement guidance: The Department of Finance's guidelines of capital expenditure proposals in the public sector; where appropriate, requirements for undertaking public private partnerships as set down by the Department of Finance; and public procurement procedures, both national and EU.

The introduction of five-year multi-annual capital investment programmes provides a structured basis for the planning and delivery of all capital programmes in a way that enhances efficiency.