Local authorities could save between 10 and 20 per cent of their expenditure on energy, telephony and solicitors simply by procuring differently. This is the conclusion of a White Paper released by Opera Solutions last Friday.

I was initially sceptical about the papers focus, though the figure for savings seemed very accurate. I am very much a believer that councils need to be focusing on redesigning their services and making choices about what they provide. The fear is that if councils just concentrate on how they can provide the same service for less they will miss a big opportunity to reform public services.