Ministers were very keen on finding the best ways to give customers what they wanted, Whittaker told a seminar examining the onset of the Best Value regime.
He acknowledged that a major problem with CCT had been the lack of a market in which to tender out services.
But he said: "Where there are markets readily available it would be perverse if local authorities did not utilise those markets. Where markets are underdeveloped, authorities need to be liaising with providers to see if that situation may change."
He said councils had to demonstrate to auditors and inspectors that there were no reasonable alternatives for running the housing service. This meant they also had to show they had been unable to "generate reasonable alternatives for service delivery".
Matthew Warburton, head of strategy at the Local Government Association, said authorities should not rule out any options for ideological reasons. Their decisions should be consistent, reasonable and transparent.
But this could include transferring part of the housing stock to a tenant management organisation, for example. "It might not be the most competitive option, and you might not be able to demonstrate it's the choice that minimised cost and maximised performance," he admitted.
"But it still might be the Best Value option in terms of what tenants want and the broader local authority objectives for community empowerment."
He added: "It is not just about competitiveness but the whole of the evidence you draw on in conducting the Best Value review."
Whittaker warned that the overall state of readiness for the new regime was "fairly patchy". "Some authorities have done an awful lot of work, others still have much more to do."
He said authorities should have their performance review methods agreed and their review pilots underway. All the work authorities did now would pay back many times over.
"My message is a stitch in time saves nine - the work you do now will reap dividends."
Source
Housing Today
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