Many eyes were on Suffolk County Council, as it announced plans last autumn to withdraw from either directly providing services or even managing them.
This was going further than traditional and tried-and-tested outsourcings of services such as highways, in which councils still invest lots of money in big teams of people to manage the activities of their contractors. The council would 'divest' services altogether, seeking other bodies to take on this role instead - be it private companies, social enterprises, or parish councils.
The new Conservative leader in Suffolk's decision to order "a period of reflection" has signalled that such far-reaching changes might be politically unpalatable, whatever the hue of the administration.
Other authorities, such as West Sussex County Council, have not been ashamed to say that “there just wasn’t the need to change things too radically" as they re-let contracts that, while building on experience, essentially do not change the role of the council.
It is true that history is littered with examples of change that was subsequently regretted - with the full-blown outsourcing of highways services by Somerset County Council in the 90s just one instance of this.
But while change must be well thought-through, and there are risks in any fundamental change, what about the dangers of not challenging the status quo of how things are done? There is more than one way to 'divest' services, with many authorities in northern England settling on joint ventures, but others, such as Cheshire East, exploring a move to a more strategic 'thin client'.
There is also the option of sharing front-line service delivery. All options must be looked at and considered, to find new ways of making the available money go further and also maintaining or even improving service delivery. http://www.efficiencynetwork.co.uk/
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