08 October 2004
Councils and registered social landlords are being urged to set up local consortiums to reduce procurement costs.
Housing minister Keith Hill launched a £33m fund to encourage greater efficiency among landlords on October 6 during a visit to Peterborough, where the council is transferring nearly 10,000 homes to a housing association.
Procurement consortiums, including arm's-length management organisations, were identified as a way to reduce costs in the Gershon review of public sector efficiency.
'Gershon made several recommendations for housing,' Hill said. 'The new loan fund will help ensure social landlords and Almos can respond fully to this initiative.'
Hill also announced allocations worth £453m for 13 Almos that won places in the fourth round programme. In addition, another 13 Almos from earlier rounds are to receive nearly £480m to supplement their initial allocations.
Following the 2004 Spending Review, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister plans to spend more than £2.5bn on Almos over the next three years. A total of £1.22bn will go towards housing schemes funded through the Private Finance Initiative.
'We have invested £18bn of private and public money since 1997,' Hill said. 'We need to ensure this will deliver improved services to tenants as well as decent homes.'
PFoct2004
