Parliament's influential spending watchdog this week warned the roll out of the coalition's localism agenda across the public services had been marred by a lack of probity and value for money.

In a progress report into accountability for public money, issued on 17 April, the influential public accounts committee (PAC) claims there is a lack of coherence and clarity in the coalition's overall approach to localised services – such as academies and free schools, elected police authorities and NHS foundation trusts.