Ministers should put their own house in order before telling councils to improve their efficiency, local government chiefs have warned.

Speaking to ePolitix.com, Local Government Association chairman Sir Sandy Bruce-Lockhart said town halls provide better value for money to the taxpayer and are more trusted by the public than Whitehall departments.

The comments came in an interview to mark the launch of ePolitixLocal, a range of new services from ePolitix.com aimed at meeting the needs of town halls.

Bruce-Lockhart's comments come as both major parties are calling for massive efficiency savings in the administration of councils in a bid to drive down the running costs of the public sector.

However the Conservative leader of Kent County Council says the government's own Gershon review of the civil service found that they should first look closer to home in order to find more money.

"Gershon has found twice the potential for savings within central government as he did in local government," he says.

"When he looked at the overall position in personnel, property, finance [he identified] exactly twice the potential for saving, and that's a clear recommendation."

Efficiency gains

Bruce-Lockhart adds that the Tories are calling for lower efficiency gains in local government than Labour, with the Opposition's David James review finding less scope for savings than Sir Peter Gershon.

"The Conservative savings, the James savings, as regards local government, are less than the Gershon report's current savings," he says.

"The Gershon report calls for £6.4 billion savings on local authorities, while David James is about £4.2 billion. So perhaps with my LGA hat on I should be rather more enthusiastic about the James savings."

Scottish view

Scottish local government leader Pat Watters backed the call, saying the Edinburgh executive should lay off local government.

"I think it would be foolish to say you can never improve, you can always improve," the COSLA president said.

"I personally feel, after discussion with leaders in Scotland, from our point of view just looking at efficiencies within one area of the public sector is really not the way to tackle local efficiencies.

"For instance, we have got a myriad of non-governmental bodies which are funded directly from the executive who deliver services within our communities. We believe we should use this opportunity to have a real look at the myriad of quangos. What is spent on their backroom services? Can we provide that for them? Can we provide the service?

"We believe in looking at rationalisation in that way, looking at efficiencies in the public sector in total, rather than looking at it as individual sections of the public sector as if they are not linked in any way."

Iniquities

Welsh Local Government Association chairman Alex Aldridge said councils offer good value despite the "iniquities" of council tax.

"If you think what you get for £1,000 in a year, its everything service-wise from the cradle to the grave," he told ePolitix.com.

"If you compare us to other countries where you pay for the services individually, we are still good value for money.

"But this doesn’t get away from the fact that a lot of people are disgruntled with the position of council tax."