Grant under the Tithe Rentcharge (Rates) Act, 1899, and the Tithe Act, 1925. By section 7 (3) of the Tithe Act, 1925, the amount which would have been appropriated under the Tithe Rentcharge (Rates) Act, 1899, out of the Estate Duty Grant, and paid by the Commissioners of Inland Revenue under the provisions of that Act, in respect of a moiety of certain rates otherwise payable by beneficed owners of tithe rentcharges, continues to be appropriated from the Estate Duty Grant and diverted from the Local Taxation Account; but the application of that amount was altered as from the 1st October, 1926. The amount estimated to have been appropriated during the year ended on the 31st March, 1928, namely, £396,842, together with the amounts for earlier years, is set out in column 12 of the table on page 271. The foregoing entries on pages 126 to 128 are restricted to sums distributed, through the Local Taxation Account and otherwise, in respect of the revenues assigned to Local Authorities by the Local Government Act, 1888, and the other Acts there mentioned. The entries do not include any grants borne on annual votes of Parliament. LOCAL FINANCIAL STATISTICS. Statistics for the Year 1925-26. A statement of the sums expended and received by all the Local Authorities in England and Wales during the year 1925-26, and of their outstanding external loan debt at the end of that year, is printed in Appendix XV (pages 272 and 273 below). The Local Authorities whose financial transactions are summarized in the statement include all County Councils, Councils of Municipal Boroughs, Councils of Metropolitan Boroughs, Councils of Urban Districts other than Boroughs, Rural District Councils, Boards of Guardians, the Managers of the Metropolitan Asylum District, the Receiver for the Metropolitan Police District, Burial Boards, the Port of London Authority and other Harbour Authorities not being commercial companies or private owners, the Metropolitan Water Board and other Water Boards, Parish Councils. Overseers, and ali other Local Authorities authorized to levy, or order to be levied, rates, taxes, tolls, or dues within the meaning of the Local Taxation Returns Acts, 1860 and 1877. The number of such Authorities having financial transactions during the year 1925-26 was 25,334. The amounts expended and received by the Local Authorities during the year 1925-26, and the amount of their outstanding external loan debt at the end of that year, were as follows: 93,407,434 372,150,451 5,805,750 (b) 99,213,184 Total receipts, other than from loans 350,783,646 21,366,805 These sums (a) Excluding sums, totalling to about £50,000, allocated by local authorities during the year out of sums received by them in earlier years. are included in the Appendix. (b) In addition there were sums which had been borrowed before the end of the year and at that date were awaiting allocation to specific services. (c) Excluding the amounts outstanding in respect of the sums mentioned in note (b). The average amounts, per pound of assessable value and per head of estimated population, of the rates and Government grants received by Local Authorities during the year 1925-26 were as follows: : 1970 £ 2 11 101 3 16 11 14 91 39 01 12 01 3 16 5 Average amount of Government grants 6 8 6101 2 3 61 The percentages of the total amount of rates received in the year 1925-26 which were applied in meeting expenditure on each of the principal groups of local services were approximately as follows: Education (including public libraries) Highways and bridges (maintenance, repair, improve- : Per cent. of total rates. 20.9 19.6 1.3 ... ... 3.6 20.3 1.1 19.3 7.3 3.6 Relief of the poor (excluding maintenance of lunatics in county and borough asylums Items common to two or more of the above-mentioned The Local Taxation Returns for England and Wales are now published annually in three Parts by H.M. Stationery Office. The financial statistics which are presented in a summary form in Appendix XV to this Report (pages 272 and 273 below) will be shown in those Returns in more detail for each of the more important Local Authorities, and as totals for each of the different classes of other Local Authorities. Part I relates to Poor Law Authorities, Part II to the London County Council, Metropolitan Borough Councils, the Metropolitan Police, the Metropolitan Water Board, and County Borough Councils, and Part III to County Councils (other than the London County Council), and the remaining Local Authorities, including the Councils of Non-County Boroughs, other Urban District Councils, and Rural District Councils. The general plan of the volumes is to give full particulars, in comparative form, of the expenditure, income, and outstanding loan debt, for each of the principal Local Authorities. In the case of the minor Local Authorities particulars similar to those mentioned above are given for each class of Authority. AUDIT. GENERAL. The work of district audit has for the time being been increased to a considerable extent through the coming into operation of the Rating and Valuation Act, 1925. Under that Act Overseers of the Poor ceased to exist as from the 1st April, 1927, and consequently their final accounts fell to be dealt with, and in view of the transfer of the powers of the Overseers to the new Rating Authorities, District Auditors have had to ascertain and certify to the Rating Authorities and the Guardians the sums of which account has to be taken for the assessment of parochial balances, liabilities, etc., under Article 5 of the 7th Schedule of the Act. Moreover, 344 Assessment Committees set up under the Act have come under district audit for the first time. It is anticipated that, when the adjustments under the Act have been completed, the work of the District Auditors will be lessened owing to the reduction effected by the Act in the number of Local Authorities whose accounts have to be audited. By the operation of the general law the accounts of several new Joint Authorities constituted for various purposes were submitted for audit during the year, and the general accounts of one Municipal Borough were made subject to district audit by a Provisional Order confirmed by Parliament. During the year over 2,600 reports were made by District Auditors on the accounts audited by them, in which attention was drawn to points arising in connection with the accounts and other matters which required the attention of the Local Authorities and in some cases to irregularities of a more or less serious nature. The number of the reports in the previous year was 3,250. The decrease is largely due to the fact that, since Overseers had ceased to function, it was not considered necessary to deal by way of 1970 E 3 report with many of the matters which would ordinarily have had to be brought to the notice of the Minister. 66 officers ceased during the year to hold office owing to misconduct or defalcation in their accounts, and in 15 cases prosecutions against offending officers were instituted by the Local Authorities concerned. Extraordinary audits were held in 66 cases in which there was ground for suspecting irregularities in the accounts. The Orders made under the Rating and Valuation Act, 1925, in respect of the Rate Accounts of Boroughs and Urban District Councils and of Rural District Councils came into operation on the 1st April, 1927. In order to facilitate the bringing into operation of the Orders, the Councils were given the option of retaining certain of the forms of account hitherto in use until the first new valuation list under the Act comes into operation, i.e., on the 1st April, 1928. or the 1st April, 1929. The more important provisions, however, such as those directed to securing adequate supervision and control of the accounts of collecting officers, were in operation during the year. Advice has been sought and given on a number of points arising out of the Orders, and sympathetic consideration has been accorded to applications involving adjustment of the requirements of the Orders to particular circumstances Applications were received during the year from several Authorities for approval to the modification of prescribed forms in order to facilitate the use of machines such as addressographs, cash registers and receipting machines. These machines, which have long been in use in industry, are now in process of adaptation to the special needs of Local Authorities, and the Minister is very willing, when satisfied that essential safeguards are provided, to agree to such modification of prescribed forms, etc., as may be necessary to enable these labour-saving devices to be used. An Order has been issued consolidating and amending earlier Orders applying to District Councils and certain other Authorities, and relating to the notice of audit, the abstract of accounts, and the report of the Auditor. Under previous Orders District Auditors were required to report to the Minister upon the audit of the accounts of Rural District Councils and not to the Councils themselves. In view of the important duties which Rural District Councils now carry out under the Rating and Valuation Act, 1925, it was thought desirable to take the opportunity afforded by the issue of the new Order to put Rural District Councils in the same position as Urban District Councils in the matter of the District Auditor's report. AUDIT (LOCAL AUTHORITIES) ACT, 1927. During the year the Audit (Local Authorities) Act, 1927, was passed, involving considerable alterations in the law and procedure relating to appeals from decisions of District Auditors. |