Governance arrangements are working well

3.4  The arrangements for monitoring the long term contract and any changes to it are crucial if a partnership is to continue to deliver the services required. These arrangements, known as a governance system, usually comprise a number of groups of both authority and contract staff, with clear responsibilities for running the contract. The groups meet regularly to deal with issues relating to their area of responsibility. All authorities indicated that they employed a governance structure. Figure 23 shows what has been included within governance arrangements.

21

 

Roles and responsibilities have mostly been more than adequately set out

 

 

 

 

Source: National Audit Office survey of contractors

 

22

 

Clarity in roles or responsibilities helps a relationship

 

 

 

 

 

How clearly set out roles and responsibilities have helped the relationship

 

 

National Savings
'Clarity has reduced the incidences of conflict and misunderstanding.'

Computer Services for Academic Research
'The clarity in the roles has had a positive effect, there being little or no confusion over responsibilities between all the parties concerned.'

 

 

How unclearly set out roles and responsibilities hinder the relationship

 

 

National Insurance Recording System 2 (before contract addendum)
'Contractor's direct responsibilities were reasonably clear. What was not clear were responsibilities retained by the authority. This led to considerable confusion around business implementation and did not help the relationship.'

RAF Mail
'There has been continuous disagreement over roles and responsibilities and whether any costs are involved.'

 

 

Source: National Audit Office survey of contractors

3.5  67 per cent of authorities and 74 per cent of contractors consider that their project's governance arrangements are working well or better. Only four per cent of contractors thought they worked poorly. However, less than half of the governance arrangements considered business and strategic development. The business environment in contracts running for up to 30 years is unlikely to remain the same and there needs to be a forum in place to allow both parties to discuss business developments and to plan for future change.