By Richard Staines
03 September 2009
Public sector bodies have been urged to look at the lifetime cost of projects after a report criticised a ‘large inefficiency’ in spending caused by waste of resources.
Audit Commission chair Michael O’Higgins was responding to a review of public service regulators published by the Sustainable Development Commission on September 1. It investigated the progress made by the Audit Commission, Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission in promoting environmentally friendly public services.
Sustainable development will be one of the four underlying principles of the new Comprehensive Area Assessments of local services. The review highlighted the CAA ‘use of resources’ judgements, due to be published in December.
O’Higgins said: ‘The quest for efficiency savings must not undermine long-term economic, social and environmental goals. Value for money must be assessed over the whole lifetime of a project, estimating the costs and benefits to society as a whole.
‘Use of resources now looks beyond finance to encompass all the resources in an area. How much a council consumes cannot any longer be reserved for the finance director: it belongs firmly on the desks of the leader and chief executive.’
The report praised the commission for becoming a ‘leader among its peers’ on sustainable development. However, it recommended that all audit and assessment staff should receive basic training on the subject by October 2009.
The report singled out the CQC, which does not regulate sustainable development as the government did not include this in its remit.
Consequently, the use of resource judgements will apply only to primary care trusts, not to the NHS as a whole.
The report said that this represented a ‘missed opportunity’ to ensure sustainable development was included in the policies of organisations across the health service.
But CQC chair Barbara Young said the SDC had misunderstood its role.
‘We are the regulator for the quality of health and social care, and do not have a regulatory role in many issues that the NHS is charged with delivering, such as sustainable development, unless there is a central issue for the quality of care received by people,’ she said.
03 September 2009
Public sector bodies have been urged to look at the lifetime cost of projects after a report criticised a ‘large inefficiency’ in spending caused by waste of resources.
Audit Commission chair Michael O’Higgins was responding to a review of public service regulators published by the Sustainable Development Commission on September 1. It investigated the progress made by the Audit Commission, Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission in promoting environmentally friendly public services.
Sustainable development will be one of the four underlying principles of the new Comprehensive Area Assessments of local services. The review highlighted the CAA ‘use of resources’ judgements, due to be published in December.
O’Higgins said: ‘The quest for efficiency savings must not undermine long-term economic, social and environmental goals. Value for money must be assessed over the whole lifetime of a project, estimating the costs and benefits to society as a whole.
‘Use of resources now looks beyond finance to encompass all the resources in an area. How much a council consumes cannot any longer be reserved for the finance director: it belongs firmly on the desks of the leader and chief executive.’
The report praised the commission for becoming a ‘leader among its peers’ on sustainable development. However, it recommended that all audit and assessment staff should receive basic training on the subject by October 2009.
The report singled out the CQC, which does not regulate sustainable development as the government did not include this in its remit.
Consequently, the use of resource judgements will apply only to primary care trusts, not to the NHS as a whole.
The report said that this represented a ‘missed opportunity’ to ensure sustainable development was included in the policies of organisations across the health service.
But CQC chair Barbara Young said the SDC had misunderstood its role.
‘We are the regulator for the quality of health and social care, and do not have a regulatory role in many issues that the NHS is charged with delivering, such as sustainable development, unless there is a central issue for the quality of care received by people,’ she said.
