Publications/Guidance: Putting The Frontline First, smarter government, HM Government


This document is an Action Plan for reforming government. Its aims are to:


● Deliver better public services at lower cost ● Improve public service outcomes ● Achieve fiscal consolidation ● Help the economy grow


Its recommendations include:


● Performance Management across Local Government ● Data Sharing ● Collaborative Procurement ● Recommendations for Total Place ● Relocation outside London and the South East ● New Ways of Working and Service Delivery


Smarter Government also has an Action Plan that deals with:


● Three Central Actions ● Strengthening the role of citizens and civic society


● Free up public services by recasting the relationship with the centre and frontline


● Streamline the centre of government


Publications/Guidance: Room for Improvement, Audit Commission, June 2009


Room for Improvement deals with strategic asset management in local government and some of its key findings are:


● 7% of councils are exemplary managers of property


● Since 2000 £1.2 billion more has been spent on buying or refurbishing offices than sales


● In 2007/08 the asset management performance of 46 councils deteriorated


● One-third of councils do not yet share assets with other public services


Given these findings perhaps the title is about right and there really is still room for improvement. This report also made a number of recommendations for authorities, and I will deal with three of them.


Improve their knowledge of their estates and their partners’ estates by:


● Collecting data on size, use, occupancy, condition, running, costs. This is essentially performance data and I will deal further with this topic later in the paper.


● Having an eye to the open market value (at realistic alternative uses). Not, you will note, existing use value, EUV. The vast majority of your estate may be valued using


10 Mark O’Brien


the DRC (Depreciated Replacement Cost) approach to arrive at the EUV. There is a big difference.


This is an achievable recommendation for public sector organisations including local authorities.


● Ensure that asset management plans include:


● Quantification of the potential costs and benefits of proposals


● Sharing information with other local bodies providing public services


● Publishing maps or details of the properties held by the public sector in local areas, and inviting proposals for alternative use of them


This is another recommendation that should be achievable right across the public sector.


● Review property holdings and reduce them where possible by:


● Identifying and disposing of surplus or under-utilised property


● Reconfiguring services and administration so that they occupy less space


● Consider tenure other than ownership, for example lease, rent or leaseback where that gives demonstrably better value.


You are probably aware that there can be a lot of negativity around property and property disposals when the market is difficult, or not as we expect or are used to. However, that should not stop you getting ready for when there is a change in the market. If you can get your plans and strategies into place, you can front-end the work that you want to deliver as part of those plans and strategies, and be ready to react when the opportunity presents itself. There is also a concern that in disposing of assets in a difficult market it is more difficult to demonstrate that you have achieved best value and thus avoid future criticism. Always, in these circumstances, think through more carefully your disposal processes and consider the use of clawback clauses.


Publications/Guidance: Hot Property, getting the best value from local authority assets, Audit Commission April 2000


This publication, about 10 years old now, advocates a strategic approach to property management. Its main conclusions - that a lack of attention to asset management results in wasted money, authorities need to view property as a joint strategic resource and authorities should strengthen asset management planning and adopt modern methods of service delivery - all still ring true today.


Hot Property was also asking these questions 10 years ago:


● Do support staff need to be in expensive town centre accommodation?


● Could police officers share office space with the local authority?


ASSET - Liverpool-10


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