Sector commentators so regularly trot out the line ‘local government is the most efficient part of the public sector', that it has become received wisdom. But I have never once seen any evidence to support this assertion – if anyone has, please send it on to me.

The assertion may be derived from the fact local government received the highest level of budget cuts of all public service sectors during the first decade of austerity, forcing most councils to find ways to be more efficient.