Transparency International’s report ‘Corruption in Local Government: The Mounting Risks’ warns that an unintended consequence of recent changes, such as those made in the Localism Act and the Local Audit and Accountability Act, may be the creation of an enabling environment for corruption.

The report notes that experts hold widely different views about the scale and prevalence of corruption in local government, but there was general consensus that recent changes would increase the risk of corruption happening in future.

It identifies sixteen recent legislative changes which increase the risks, as well as other trends such as the decline in scrutiny by local press and the move to more private sector out-sourcing. This report includes twenty-two recommendations, including that the Government should conduct a corruption risk assessment and strengthen whistleblowing procedures.

For a visualisation of some of the statistics, please visit our Pinterest page here.

For the TI-UK Report Corrigendum please click here.