Local Government - Best Value needs co-operation

Local authorities must drop their confrontational approach to the private sector if the government?s Best Value scheme is to work, according to a KPMG report published today.

?The KPMG Public Private Partnerships Report?, co-written with the New Local Government Network, examines how the controversial Best Value scheme can be a viable replacement for compulsory competitive tendering.

?CCT was based on an adversarial approach, but authorities will need to develop ways of working with Best Value in order for both the public and private sectors to mutually benefit from it,? said Mark Campbell, KPMG?s director of management consulting.

But Amanda McIntyre, senior policy adviser of the Confederation of British Industry, said the report failed to address the key issues.

?The issues which we want addressed are those which give local government and private-sector partners the flexibility to respond to the changing demand over the lifetime of a contract,? she said.