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Healthy competition 

How councils can use competition and contestability to improve services
Released  27 November 2007

Price: £25 | ISBN: 1-86240-536-0 | Stock code: LNR3411

Summary [Download full report below this summary]

Healthy competition report cover

This report considers the potential for councils to use competition and contestability to generate cost savings and service improvements, including practical examples of councils successfully using competition and contestability, and explores the pre-conditions that councils must have in place to make effective use of these mechanisms.

Successful councils are pragmatic in their use of competition and contestability. But the pre-conditions for using competition and contestability most effectively are not widely in place. Included in the report are recommendations for local councils, local government bodies and central government.

Case studies

  1. East Cambridgeshire District Council: Improving the revenues and benefits service
  2. Norfolk County Council: Home care
 

Get the full study 

Download the full national study in PDF format below. This study contains all our findings and recommendations.

Summary ( PDF, 68kb ) Summary (opens in a new window)
National report ( PDF, 474kb ) Download National report (opens in a new window)
Making and managing markets: Contestability, competition and improvement in local government ( PDF, 814kb ) Making and managing markets: Contestability, competition and improvement in local government (opens in a new window)

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If you require a copy of this document in large print, in Braille, on tape, or in a language other than English, please call: 0844 798 7070.

To order hard copies of this report, please call 0800 50 20 30 or email ac-orders@audit-commission.gov.uk