Bridging the accountability gap - Audit Commission

8
Governing partnerships | Introduction
23 These initiatives promote greater integration in the way that public organisations plan,
commission and increasingly deliver public services through partnerships. It is therefore
timely for the Commission to revisit this important topic, and to draw on its experience
and learning to identify good practice. This will be important in helping public bodies and
policymakers to solve common problems and, in particular, to help them address two
important questions that so far have proved surprisingly difficult to answer:
a) How do partnerships add value
There are frequent claims that partnerships contribute to improving the quality of local
public services and to residents’ quality of life. However, there are few indicators of
partnership performance to show whether this is the case and, if so, to what extent.
There is little information to show whether the added value that partnerships produce
outweighs their operating costs.
b) Who is in charge of partnerships
Governance arrangements for partnerships are much less prescriptive than those for
corporate bodies in the public sector. As a result, different governance arrangements
have evolved for different forms of partnership; there is no consensus on the best way
of governing partnerships.
24 This report excludes consideration of public private partnerships (PPP), procurement
partnerships (strategic partnering through long-term contracts) and the private finance
initiative (PFI). We intend to conduct a separate study on the specific issues arising from
these collaborations for public bodies.
Who is this report for
25 We have produced this report for everyone who is responsible for the governance of
organisations that plan, commission and deliver local public services through
partnerships. Our report is relevant to all public sector chief executives and executive
directors, executive and non-executive elected members, non-executive directors and
community representatives. Middle and senior managers who are responsible for the
operational delivery of services within partnerships, and who sometimes struggle to cope
with the complexity of managing relationships in partnerships, will also find this report of
interest.
26 The report also contains messages for central government policymakers; and for all
regulators as they seek to bridge the regulatory gap in partnership working.