The Queen's Speech announced 8 May 2013 contained a slew of Bills which will have a major impact on local government - across audit and accountability, social care and anti-social behaviour.

Responding to the Local Audit and Accountability Bill, Ian Carruthers, CIPFA's Director of Policy and Technical, said: ‘We are pleased to see that the Queen's speech announced a bill which we hope will provide welcome clarity on the overall shape of the future local public audit regime, as well as the role of qualified professionals within this.

‘It is incredibly important that the Bill maintains the unique characteristics of public audit including value for money, the independence of auditors from those they are auditing and the comparability of different public sector bodies. We will therefore be studying the draft bill closely when it is published to assess whether it meets these requirements.'

Sir Merrick Cockell, chair of the Local Government Association, said: ‘The Government's commitment to cutting back on external inspection and assessment has undoubtedly helped cut red-tape and saved money, while also providing an opportunity for local government to drive its own improvement free of bureaucratic inspections.

‘Abolishing the Audit Commission was therefore clearly the right move. However, we know that centralised purchasing of audit helped councils secure a 40%reduction in audit fees last time the contracts were negotiated, saving over £250mover five years.

'National procurement of external audit is the most efficient way of procuring audit at the best possible cost to councils. It is vital that the Bill allows councils the flexibility to explore both national and local options for procuring audit in the future. It would simply be short-sighted to rule out either option at this stage.

'On a broader note, we are pleased that the success of sector-led improvement has been so widely recognised across Whitehall and that the Government has consistently rejected proposals for the NAO to take on a role overseeing the approach."

 
Social Care

Mayor Jules Pipe, Chair of London Councils, said: ‘London boroughs are keen to take on the new leadership role in working with delivery partners and integrating health and care services.

‘However, we are concerned that the financial implications of the proposed legislation have not been fully-costed. This is particularly concerning, given the wider financial pressures facing adult services as result of the combination of reduced funding and the growing pressures of an ageing population.

"Boroughs are working hard to create efficiencies within social care services, but earlier this year, we calculated that London boroughs will face a funding gap of £907 million by 2017 to fund their social care obligations.  The government needs to ensure its plans are fully-costed and that councils are not left short-changed by any reforms.'

Andrea Sutcliffe, chief executive for the Social Care Institute for Excellence said: ‘The State Opening of Parliament is a grand setting for the Government to announce the most significant overhaul of social care legislation in 65 years – a proper recognition of the importance and value of social care for people using services, their families and carers and the thousands of people working in the sector.

Michelle Mitchell, Charity director general at Age UK said: ‘The legislation announced today in the Queen's Speech has the potential to transform our crumbling, unfair social care system for current and future generations of older people but to have any chance in succeeding we need to see the legislation twinned with a commitment in the spending review for increased spending on social care.

‘In the vast majority of councils now only those assessed as having substantial care needs are able to access the current system and unless the Government sets the proposed national eligibility criteria at the equivalent of moderate, hundreds of thousands of people who cannot carry out everyday tasks such as washing, getting dressed, preparing food and laundry will be left without help.'

Anti-social behaviour

Responding to the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Bill announced in the Queen's Speech, Cllr Mehboob Khan, chair of the Local Government Association's safer and stronger communities board, said:

‘Councils know the most effective way of tackling anti-social behaviour is to stop it happening in the first place by working in partnership with health agencies, the police, fire service, schools and probation officers.

‘We are pleased that the Bill includes flexibility for local authorities to decide how to use tools such as the community protection measures and the public space protection order, which allow local circumstances to be taken into account.

‘Community trigger proposals and a national threshold may not be the best ways of ensuring victims receive the assistance they need and could impact on the ability of local partnerships to respond to differing local circumstances.

‘We would urge the Government to consider the evaluation of the community trigger pilots, which has yet to be published, before finalising these proposals.'

Gavin Smart, director of policy and practice at the Chartered Institute for Housing, said: ‘We worked very closely with the government to ensure that housing had a voice in the creation of the Bills on care and anti-social behaviour.

‘The Bills will simplify complicated structures and will help housing professionals to focus on prevention and effective resolution of social problems.'