The Local Government, Planning and Land Act 1980 provided for a tendering requirement in relation to construction and building maintenance work contracts,[3] and the Local Government Act 1988 provided for the following activities to be subject to CCT:[4] CCT was later extended to other activities such as housing management.
The purpose of the pilots was to "test elements of the best value framework, and assess the extent to which actual improvements in service quality and efficiency have flowed from the new approach".
[9] The rationale for the introduction of Best Value was summarised as follows: Under Compulsory Competitive Tendering service quality has often been neglected and efficiency gains have been uneven and uncertain, and it has proved inflexible in practice.
There have been significant costs for employees, often leading to high staff turnover and the demoralisation of those expected to provide quality services.
Compulsion has also bred antagonism, so that neither local authorities nor private sector suppliers have been able to realise the benefits that flow from a healthy partnership.
[citation needed] This led to an uncomfortable stand-off between the two, with CCT regulations being produced in increasing detail, and sometimes extending further than would have been the case in the private sector.
The answer to the question of what method of service delivery, precisely, the government expected to arise from Best Value seemed to centre on local interpretation as satisfactory.
A "short statutory guidance" document was issued in September 2011, dealing with certain "reasonable expectations of the way authorities should work with voluntary and community groups and small businesses when facing difficult funding decisions".
[13]: Ministerial foreword Revised best value statutory guidance on working with voluntary and community groups and small businesses was issued in 2015.
In practice, the Secretary of State can direct the council to take specific action to secure improvement, or, in extreme cases, remove the functions concerned from its control altogether.
Elsewhere in the public sector it is a formal duty placed on Accountable Officers, such as the chief executives of NHS bodies and further education colleges.