The focus will be on improving external scrutiny of local public spending through reforms to the local audit system, and to local government standards and oversight.

It will also create a new ‘body’ to oversee local audit, although further details are not yet available as to whether this will be fully fledged regulatory body as proposed in 2020.

The government stressed that it will ‘not return to a bloated Audit Commission or allow mission creep to expand the remit of government bodies in the sector’.

There will be consultation on these plans and a detailed white paper will be published in due course.