Today sees the long awaited launch of the government’s public services White paper opening up of public services to private and third sector providers. For local government much of this will look familiar.

Around the country councils of all political persuasions have been looking at different ways of delivering services, but while some are leading the way with innovative new approaches others are struggling to look forward at the same time as managing huge budget cuts in year. This raises questions about how prepared the public sector is for this approach.