Council chiefs claim a group of top MPs have ‘fundamentally misunderstood' the concept of a sector-led approach to improvement and ensuring value for money.

The Commons select committee studying the draft Local Audit Bill last week (see The MJ 17 January) issued a report welcoming the progress made by the Local Government Association (LGA) in monitoring continued council development, but voiced concern there was a vacuum in assessing value for money for individual local bodies.