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Parliament's select committee system could be extended to monitor more local spending, if ministers roll out plans for ‘place-based' budgeting, it has been revealed. Delegates in Bournemouth last week heard LGA chiefs were in talks with Whitehall which could see MPs assume responsibility for monitoring any future Total Place-style spending programmes across England. Place-based budgeting is becoming an increasingly- popular policy option within Whitehall, as ministers seek to reduce duplication and cut the cost of delivering public services across local government, health, criminal justice, and other agencies. The initiative could see budgets for a range of services merged, and decisions over how cash is spent devolved to local officials, including town hall chiefs. But The MJ understands senior ministers are keen to ensure any future system – which would be part of the coalition government's wider devolution programme and accompany a reduction in public sector targets and regulation – is effectively policed. David Parsons, head of the LGA's improvement board, told a fringe meeting: ‘At the LGA, we're working on direct accountability to parliament for public spending.' Privately, Whitehall sources said the plan could involve beefed-up powers for parliament's select committees – or the introduction of new panels designed to monitor how councils and other local bodies performed under the system. Meanwhile, Mr Parsons, who is also leader of Leicestershire CC, said Whitehall's welfare department, and not NHS bodies, was emerging as the biggest threat to place-based public spending. In recent weeks, some council chiefs have expressed concern that health bodies could hinder any shared arrangements because they had traditionally worked in silos, and to separate regulatory frameworks and targets. But Mr Parsons, whose authority successfully joined forces with NHS bodies in a local Total Place pilot to tackle alcohol abuse, said he was more concerned about the DWP's national approach to welfare delivery. ‘If I could criticise our own arrangements, it's that the biggest single spender in a place – the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) – is not fully on board. ‘If we don't have a DWP actively engaged… then we're not going to tackle worklessness in any meaningful way,' he said.

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WHITEHALL

MPs' watchdog may check local budgets

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