Last updated 19:41, Thursday, 17 April 2008

LOCAL authorities in Cumbria could save money and provide better services if only they worked together more, an official report says.

The government’s Audit Commission has criticised the county council and Cumbria’s six district councils, including Allerdale and Copeland, for lack of co-operation.

It suggested four years ago that there was scope for efficiency savings if councils shared buildings and so-called “back-office” functions such as accounts and IT.

But a recent inspection showed that little progress has been made.

The Audit Commission’s report says: “Overall the councils have made limited progress since 2004.

“They have failed to implement many of the recommendations made following the previous inspections.

“In particular, the opportunities for joint working and the potential for efficiency and quality improvements have yet to be fully explored.”

The report calls on the councils to share public buildings “to provide seamless local-government services”.

The county council has been at loggerheads with the districts – Allerdale, Copeland, Carlisle, Eden, Barrow and South Lakeland – over its plans for local government reform.

The county wanted to create a single local authority for Cumbria replacing all seven existing councils.

The government threw out the plan last year but told the seven that it expected them to deliver the same level of efficiency savings that a single council would have achieved.

Since then, county council chief executive Peter Stybelski has drawn up plans for all public sector organisations in Cumbria to share buildings and back-office functions.

But there is, as yet, no sign that district councils are ready to sign up to his proposals.

Meanwhile, the Audit Commission has highlighted other areas where Cumbrian local authorities need to improve.

It says they should publicise “clear and comprehensive” service standards, implement diversity and equality policies and boost performance-management arrangements.

Inspectors also found “material errors” in the county council’s accounts for 2006-7.

These have been corrected and the council has since introduced a new accounting system designed to improve the quality of financial and management information.