Recommendation 16

The Department told the NAO that sharing information on the number of authorities interested in exceptional financial support or at risk more generally would invite public speculation on the identity of the authorities affected. However, the information the Department does not share is valuable for assessing the level of financial stress in the sector and therefore how well the Department’s other measures have served to deal with the burdens the pandemic has placed on local authorities. This information is needed to support Parliamentary scrutiny: the NAO told us it was not possible for it to get a full picture of the financial stress in the sector or evaluate how effectively the Department had addressed any issues without knowing the level of demand for exceptional support or the Department’s view on financial risk more generally.39