Updates covering new legislation and court decisions, in particular as to:

The expansions of passages covering:

Further details about new additions and major updates to the guide can found on the CIPFA shop.

The Commissioning Joint Committee Guide to Environmental Sustainability (2009)

The Commissioning Joint Committee (CJC) has completed its guide to this complex and hugely important subject. It addresses all the main aspects of sustainability as they affect public bodies, including:

• emissions control and trading
• sustainable procurement
• sustainable energy sources
• sustainable construction methods and materials
• designing buildings for low energy consumption
• waste recycling and disposal.

Further details about the guide can be found on the CIPFA shop.

The CJC Guide to Choosing Partnership Vehicles (Fully Revised Second Edition 2008)

The CJC has just completed a comprehensive update of its best-selling and plain-speaking guide to this contentious subject. Besides the many types of partnership vehicles which local authorities may set up or join, it now also covers some of the main problem areas in partnership working, especially where the partners come from different sectors with different agendas, powers and duties. It is aimed at both corporate decision-makers and service practitioners.

A full table of contents for the guide can be found here: Word [137KB] PDF [39KB]

The CJC Guide to Service Sharing and Economies of Scale (2007)

The Commissioning Joint Committee has completed a detailed and searching guide to these closely related subjects.

It accepts that great economies have already been made, that more are available, and that advances in technology are increasing the scope for them further still.

The CJC Guide to Buying from the Third Sector (2006)

There is now intense pressure on local authorities to make much greater use of the third sector, both by giving financial support to third sector bodies to carry out work which authorities would otherwise have to do themselves, and by buying services from them. Greater use of the third sector, by every available means, figured strongly in the Labour Party election manifesto, and is clearly one of this government's ambitions.

The CJC has therefore completed a hard-hitting Guide to buying from the third sector. The Guide does not specifically address supporting, but it does explore the legal and practical differences between these two.

The CJC Guide to the Future of Local Authority Housing Stocks in England - The Options Available (2005)

Whether houses are fit to live in matters even more than who own them. But how can they all be made fit? And how can this be paid for? The Commissioning Joint Committee has published this astringent up-to-date plain English guide for decision-makers and practitioners. Click here to download a full table of contents.

The CJC Guide to the Commissioning of Social Care and the Requirement for Joint Commissioning (2003)

The CJC, the Association of Directors of Social Services (in England & Wales) and the Association of Directors of Work (in Scotland) have completed a joint guide to what they believe are the most critical aspects of commissioning social work. The Guide was drafted by the CJC's social care committee, to which both Associations appointed leading members with wide commissioning experience.

The CJC/ConfEd Guide to Education Partnerships and Contracting Out (2002)

Prepared by the CJC's education committee with the help of leading educationalists from ConfEd, this Guide spells out in plain English the key factors that prudent local education authorities (LEAs) need to keep firmly in mind if for any reason they are committed to, or are considering, any change of service provider.

Competitiveness and Competition: An Occasional Paper (2001)

An Occasional Paper by the CJC designed to assist your decision making process by identifying

• why work may need to be kept in house
• warning signs that work should be contracted out
• for all other work, what factors need to drive the decisions to make-or-buy.

PFI: Getting it Straight - An Occasional Paper by the Competitiveness Joint Committee (CJC) (2000)

• What is it?
• Why have successive governments encouraged it so forcefully?
• How do PFI contracts differ from all other types of contracts?
• Are these different features good procurement practice in their own right?
• If they are, why have they been used so little for other types of contract?
• What changes to the PFI would encourage more imitiation?

Making the Most of the Market: An Occasional Paper by the Competitiveness Joint Committee (CJC) (2000)

An Occasional Paper by the CJC. This new guide gives practical consideration to the following thorny questions:

• Is there any market at all?
• Is it fit to use?
• Are clients fit to use it?
• If one doesn't exist, can it be created?