The Scottish Government needs to increase the transparency of its financial reporting on non-domestic rates, says the Auditor General.
Non-domestic rates (NDR) are collected by councils and pooled by the Scottish Government before being redistributed back to local authorities through the Scottish budget.
A series of governance failings and the poor use of public money at the Scottish Police Authority are unacceptable, says the Auditor General.
Caroline Gardner says ensuring the SPA operates more effectively and transparently must be an immediate priority for its new leadership team, following a critical report.
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Our report on Local government in Scotland: Financial overview 2016/17 was published in November 2017. The Tableau visualisation below illustrates councils' income, reserves and revenue costs of general fund borrowing.
Councils are showing increasing signs of financial stress and face even tougher challenges ahead, says the Accounts Commission.
In its annual financial overview published today the local authority watchdog says funding has reduced while costs and demands have increased, and more councils are using reserves to fund services.
The Scottish Government provides around two thirds of council budgets. This fell by 5.2 per cent in 2016/17 to £9.7 billion.
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