Plan for task force to champion change in LAs

Chief executives and senior officials of local authorities are being asked to spearhead a Local Authorities Task Force which will be set up in the autumn to provide better value in construction procurement.

Announcing the new scheme at the Movement for Innovation conference on Monday, Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott said the aim was to ensure that the people at the helm of the task force had the right degree of punch.

Construction minister Nick Raynsford and Sir Jeremy Beecham, chairman of the Local Government Association have written to all the council leaders and chief executives urging them to get involved and to provide demonstration projects of best practice which can be used to accelerate the public sector's learning curve.

The letter follows a strongly-worded one from local government and housing minister Hilary Armstrong, pressing local authorities to change the way they procure construction projects or be held accountable under the Local Government Bill which becomes law next year.

The public sector spents over £16 billion a year on the construction industry, double central government's spend.