UK Communities Secretary proposes local authorities share procurement

15 Dec 2010

Source:  Supply Management
UK Councils should be sharing purchasing departments, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Eric Pickles said this week.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Pickles said local authorities in England could respond to a reduction in their budgets - to be announced this afternoon - by sharing functions with other councils. He said: “There is going to be reduction in the amount of spending that local authorities have. We are suggesting local authorities look towards sharing chief executives, sharing back offices including procurement.

“I believe it’s possible to take significant sums out of local authorities by improving the way in which local authorities operate. They’ve simply got to wake up to the fact that it’s no longer viable to have their own legal departments, their own education departments, their own planning departments.”

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