Plugged in

摘要

What do we mean by efficiency? It seems like a straightforward question, but as we found at a recent Localis and Capita Symonds roundta-ble discussion, the answer is not as obvious as one might think. The term, it seems, can mean different things to different people or even political parties. The discussion, which included council leaders and chief executives from across the country, highlighted several factors underpinning the apparent complexity. Firstly, as was made clear in the discussion, the different approaches to efficiency broadly shifted in line with changes in Government over time. The Compulsory Competitive Tendering era of the 1980s and early 1990s led to a predominant focus on cost, often to the detriment of wider social or environmental considerations. The 'Best Value' regime, brought in by Labour, moved the debate away from cost alone. However, it was arguably too ambiguous, and left councils vulnerable to central Government's interpretation and implementation of'value'.