Local authority leaders are calling for any fines imposed on construction companies found to have been involved in rigging bids for contracts to be given to councils rather than going into central government coffers. Construction workers’ leaders, meanwhile, have claimed the price fixing uncovered by the Office of Fair Trading is an inevitable result of privatising and outsourcing of public sector building work. 

Birmingham City Council believes it is on course to having the best customer services of any local authority in the country. The council says dramatic improvements have taken a big step forward after members of its Cabinet Procurement Sub Committee considered the full business case for its package Customer First plan.
Customer First is one of nine programmes in an ambitious Business Transformation programme. 

By Sandra Nutley
The clamour for evidenced based policy can be heard world wide. In the UK policies emerging from departments must have an evidence base. The author describes how a better understanding about social programme implementation, client experiences of those programmes, and the sources and causes of implementation failure are having an impact.