Bridging the accountability gap - Audit Commission

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Governing partnerships | Partnerships and value for money – the costs and benefits
59 But there are also practical problems. It is very difficult for public bodies to assess
accurately the costs of shared activity because:
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corporate accounting frameworks do not offer the facilities needed for public bodies
to record the full costs of partnership activities – opportunity costs and staff costs, as
well as direct expenditure;
although there are clear accounting streams for centrally funded partnership activity
costs, many partnerships exist without dedicated external funding; and
there is no common accounting framework across public bodies (still less voluntary
and private sector partners).
60 Partnership governance arrangements can nonetheless set out clearly how funding is
accounted for. Even where the partnership does not spend money directly, it will need to
influence how partner bodies spend and it must be able to judge the impact of this
funding in helping to achieve shared objectives.
Sharing services
61 The need to improve value for money drives strategic procurement partnerships: shared
service delivery partnerships, PFI and PPP. Some audited and inspected bodies have
paid little attention to value for money in other forms of partnership. They have focused on
improving partnership processes rather than attempting to calculate the cost-tooutcomes
relationship. This is because:
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partnerships often work towards long-term objectives;
some people believe that it is only possible to show improvements from partnership
working qualitatively; or
public bodies generally are wary of trying to quantify value for money.
62 The Strategic Partnering Taskforce pathfinder projects have yet to be evaluated.
However, they clearly aimed to bring about significant efficiency savings through strategic
partnerships between local authorities for the provision of ICT, benefits administration and
call centres and between education and social care agencies and PCTs.
63 On a smaller scale, there is scope for some local bodies to streamline their functions in
order to achieve savings.