Just two out of 28 recommendations for bolstering local councils’ IT systems were fully taken on board over the past three years, according to a new report published by the National Audit Office on Monday.

The remaining 26 recommendations were either partially implemented or not implemented at all.

“Clearly more work needs to be done to implement our recommendations”, the report concludes while acknowledging the “complexities involved in this particular sector”.

The NAO’s investigation is a follow-up to a similar audit into the ICT systems and capabilities of local councils carried out in 2020.

In that report, the Auditor General flagged several shortcomings, including the lack of centralised software for basic tasks such as payroll and accounting, poor or non-existent live streams of council meetings, and infrequent backing of data.

It also found local councils’ online communications to be poor and confusing, with some councils’ social media pages named in Maltese and others in English, and many of them posting erratically.

The follow-up report found that some initial steps had been taken to address many of these shortcomings, with half the recommendations being marked as partially implemented. However, little or nothing had been done to implement 12 of the recommendations.

These include developing an ICT strategy with a dedicated budget, providing employees with adequate training on how to use software, improving the Local Government Division's website, and beefing up councils’ live streaming capabilities.

On the other hand, one of the measures that was fully implemented was the introduction of an online system through which people can request and pay for a permit to close a road, use a crane, or block a parking space. This system was implemented in May of last year.