The likes of the Private Finance Initiative (PFI), Procure 21, LIFT, Building Schools for the Future and a host of other acronyms that can be bagged up as public private partnership (PPP), are government initiatives designed to renew the fabric of society and lever in a lot of help – technical, physical and, most important, financial – from the private sector.
These initiatives are not a bad thing, but they are a bit of a double-edged sword, because with each new initiative comes a mountain of new responsibility, not to mention guidance notes and, collectively, a demand for skills and techniques that weren't originally part of the job description– or "skillset" – of the public sector manager.
Help has been available for a while. On the one hand, the organisation known as 4Ps was established as long ago as 1996 to help local authorities improve efficiency. It provided project management support, as well as advice and guidance.
Originally established by the English and Welsh local authority associations, 4Ps then came under the umbrella of the Local Government Association, formed in 1997 as a voluntary lobbying organisation that represents 424 local authorities, metropolitan transport, police and fire authorities.
For other public sector bodies there was the colourfully-coined PUK or Partnerships UK. PUK was established in 2000 as a commercial, but not-for-maximising-profit organisation and is 51% owned by the private sector and 49% owned by the Treasury and Scottish Executive. It was conceived to help the public sector to get the best out of PPP.
Clearly, there was overlap here and that has now been addressed. In August 4Ps took on some of PUK's responsibilities and a new organisation was born, Local Partnerships.
The two organisations had already collaborated on the Waste Infrastructure Delivery and Building Schools for the Future programmes. PUK chief executive James Stewart says that as increased decentralisation to local bodies has been signalled by all political parties, "the local public arena is going to be a crucial place for change over the next decade".
Local Partnerships has been established as a single source of expertise for all local public bodies, not just local authorities, on PFI, PPP and other funding methods as well as on the delivery of larger local projects.
The organisation, which will be owned jointly by the LGA and PUK, will thus cater for local authorities, primary care trusts, probation boards, police authorities and third sector organisations. Its aim is to "improve their ability to source and deliver high quality, cost effective public services and infrastructure," according to Local Partnerships chairman, councillor Edward Lord, who is an elected member of the City of London Corporation and City of London Police Authority.
The blend of private and public sector know how that Local Partnerships will make available was signalled in the selection of Richard Buxton, the interim chief executive appointed to bed in the new organisation. Buxton's previous appointments include directorships of Capita Management Consultancy, housing at Westminster council and operations at the Legal Services Commission. He's also been chief executive of the National Lottery Charities Board and business redesign director at Essex county council.
Richard Buxton, interim chief executive of Local Partnerships
• Public interviewed Buxton for Leading Questions, published in Society Guardian on 9 September. Here's what he said:
Q What is Local Partnerships?
A Local Partnerships is a joint venture between the Local Government Association (LGA) and Partnerships UK (PUK), incorporating 4Ps and all its current services. There are two converging trends here: one is about the interface between local authorities and the market, and the other is about joining up across government. It made sense to join up with PUK.
Q What's its status?
A Local Partnerships sits at the interface of the public and private sectors. It's profit-making, but not profit-maximising. We have a significant public service ethos. We are very much part of the LGA family, but through PUK we have access to risk capital that we would never had if we had remained part of LGA alone.
Q How many people work for you?
A We have about 60 permanent staff, most of whom are home-based.
Q Why did you want this job?
A It was felt that someone was needed from outside and I'm a professional public sector interim manager. I have a background in management consultancy and in managing significant change in complex public sector organisations. Before this, I merged Help the Aged with Age Concern. The honest truth is that I'm incredibly excited when I start a new job - I work incredibly hard and have lots of fun - but I'm not so good at sustaining that performance over the longer term and that's been clear to me for about the past 20 years.
Q What's the secret of good interim management?
A The key is always to establish a clear vision of where you're going and communicate that vision. I'm not someone who engages in the management of detail, especially in an organisation like this. A lot of our project directors are late career professionals; they've been there, done it, got the T-shirt. They don't anyone peering over their shoulder, they just need to know what direction we're going in, so they know which assignments to focus on.
Q What makes you cross?
A I don't get cross with someone who says they've got us into a real hole; I do get those with those who get into a hole and keep digging. If things go wrong, I expect to know at once.
Interview by Jane Dudman
From Bubb's Blog
From Whitehall Watch
