Outcomes of the 2020 report by the National Audit Office.
In February 2020, the National Audit Office published a critical report on the Ministry of Housing, Communities, and Local Government’s (MHCLG) awareness of local authority investment in commercial property.
The report found that the MHCLG’s data had limited value for monitoring commercial activity and assessing potential risks. In a 2020 press release, the UK’s independent public spending watchdog noted:
*Source: https://www.nao.org.uk/press-release/local-authority-investment-in-commercial-property/
To complete its report effectively, the NAO needed access to better data than the MHCLG were able to offer. The data they selected was CoStar.
The below transcript is taken from a Public Accounts Committee meeting in the House of Commons from May 2020:
Evidently, the NAO required CoStar data to give them the commercial property information they needed to effectively prepare their report.
Keep reading to see why that's so important for local authorities.
