4.23 The following are suggested as principles of efficient management of property across the public sector:
• at the most senior and strategic level, management should provide effective challenge to their organisation's use of and demand for property, supported by appropriate expertise;
• organisations should have strong incentives and controls so that they fully recognise the costs associated with property, and treat it appropriately as part of their strategic planning process, ensuring that property use is aligned with business objectives;
• there should be good data and guidance to allow the costs and use of property to be quantified and understood, to ensure that property use is in accordance with best practice standards; and
• organisations should work collaboratively, managing and sharing property across organisational boundaries, and achieving economies of scale to the fullest extent possible. Where operations are dispersed across the country, "hubs" at regional and local level - where different parts of the public sector could share property - would maximise the efficient use of property and enhance the delivery of joined up public services.
4.24 Although these principles are common to all organisations, and certain actions will be required centrally to raise standards across the country, this workstrand does not seek to impose uniform solutions across the public sector. The nature of the mechanisms by which these common principles are applied may differ to take account of the diversity of the public sector and the fact that local bodies will be best placed to decide how to optimise implementation locally.