Local government has more than met its Gershon targets, but the next set will be tougher. Plainly, ministers have decided there are more pips to be squeezed. Local government is on a hiding to nothing with the efficiency agenda. If it does too well, then the assumption is the targets were too lax and need to be raised. If they fail to deliver savings, then they are lambasted for being inefficient. As always, the truth is in between. Some councils are extremely efficient. Others are quite inefficient. But most senior managers across all councils know that, given members' support, they could identify further savings in their organisations without cutting frontline services. The problem is, who wants to admit they could be more efficient if it only means further cuts in government grants? This sensitivity is reflected in the report produced by the Regional Centres of Excellence (see page 9). Naturally, the RCEs want to show how well they have done by saving some £1.2bn across 400 projects over the next five years. They also suggest that councils could do a lot more, if only they were more savvy when negotiating with private suppliers. One region estimates it could save a further £90m a year on its external contracts. We know there's more. Resistance to cross-boundary working remains an obstacle to sharing overheads, while near-shoring – the use of call centres and back-office suppliers outside a client council's boundaries – is still taboo in certain quarters. Don't even mention off-shoring. Poor procurement skills, naivity about market rates and lack of commercial sense are also problems for many authorities. Private companies are having a field day with naïve council negotiators. But, stating there are squillions more to be saved hardly helps the LGA with its lobbying campaign for a better grant settlement from the Treasury. If anything, it will only convince Treasury mandarins – as if they needed convincing – that there is plenty of fat still on the bone, and councils should just get on and shed it. Somehow, there needs to be a middle way in which councils which make genuine efficiency savings should be encouraged, not penalised. Michael Burton, Editor, The MJ
