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B: Doing more
with less: promoting efficiency
The Ministerial Conference concluded that the
squeeze on local budgets was likely to continue
for the foreseeable future, and that local
governments would be challenged to find
long-term ways of making resources go further in
the delivery of public services.
A number of contemporary approaches to
increasing efficiency were identified at
Utrecht, and experience in their application
will be discussed by the workshop. These
include:
Benchmarking, performance audit, value-for-money
review, performance budgeting, etc. How widely
are such processes used? How sensitive are they
to exogenous differences in needs and costs? How
and to what extent do they succeed in attracting
local officials?
Outsourcing. Is the crisis leading to an
increase in contracting private sector provision
of public services? Have cost savings been
achieved, and if so, through competition or
economies of scale? How can transparency be
ensured? Can the advantages of competition for
the initial award of contracts be safeguarded
against subsequent erosion when service
specifications require amendment?
Territorial reorganisation. Has there been any
acceleration of territorial amalgamation or
inter-municipal co-operation?
Are there significant differences between types
of local government in the adoption of
contemporary approaches? Which types act as
leaders of change?
Presentations and
accompanying texts
The City of Reyjavik's action plan
- presentation by Hanna Birna Krijánsdóttir,
President of the City Council of Reyjavik
People at the heart of local democracy
- presentation by Susanne Caarls, Council of
Europe
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Accompanying paper
Cost reduction - the Danish experience
- presentation by Peter Gorm Hansen, CEO of
Local Government Denmark
Seeking for cost reduction as local government
answer for economic downturn - presentation by
Pawel Swianiewicz, Chair of the Department of
Local Development and Policy, University of
Warsaw
The UK experience - mostly England - presentation by Tony
Travers, London School of Economics |