Local Government Services

(asked on 10th July 2014) - View Source

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many times the Community Right to Challenge has been used since it came into force on 27 June 2012; how many such challenges have been against a private contractor; and what proportion of all claims have been unsuccessful.


Answered by
 Portrait
Stephen Williams
This question was answered on 17th July 2014

The Department does not collate information on the number of Expressions of Interest submitted to local authorities to take over council run services or the number of service contracts won as a result of a procurement exercise under Right to Challenge provisions. Therefore we are unable to say how many Challenges have been made against a private contractor; or what proportion of all claims have been unsuccessful.

Right to Challenge enables community groups to exercise their powers to submit challenges to councils on current contracted services that they manage but may be delivered through a third party. The Challenge powers cannot force breaks in contracts but it does enable community organisations to submit Expressions of Interest bids for council services when contracts are due to expire.

We are aware of 37 Expressions of Interest submissions to councils however this is not a comprehensive figure. This soft intelligence has been collected through conversations with individual local authorities and community groups who have accessed the Challenge support programme.

Our support has helped a number of groups looking to or thinking about taking on service delivery. We have supported 316 groups through specialist referrals and 212 went on to access financial assistance through the grants programme. We understand 40 groups were intending to approach their council with a service proposition. A further 55 groups were expecting to bid in procurement rounds and another 11 wanted support with their bids.

The Community Right to Challenge is also recognised by the voluntary and community and parish sectors as being helpful in opening up relationships with local authorities. A survey of 188 enquirers to the advice service indicated that 25% were in negotiation with their council on potential commissioning and said negotiation had come about as a direct result of the Challenge legislation and 48% felt that their local authority was more open to contracting with eligible bodies than before the legislation came into force.

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