6th April 2011, 10:20 PM
P Prentice Wrote:perhaps one of the assembled luminaries could explain just how a local authority contractor can have an unfair advantage over a private contractor?
Sorry about the lack of lumination, but I'll give it a shot. Some (please note some, not all) LA units have access to storage, office and other such facilities at reduced rates, thus reducing their overheads. However, the fact that they may be required to conform to LA spinal pay points and any pension committments which they may be liable for (depending on their strucure and association to the LA) can reduce any advantage of this. And its all irrelevant considering that any council is unlikely to want to have anything 'unneccessary' or otherwise costly linked to it right now. The result? Unless a council unit is making a significant profit for the council, its unlikely to remain under LA ownership for much longer. Ditto university units.