CIPFA - Performance in Public Services: Property

Asset Management Consultancy

The way in which public services manage their assets both strategically and operationally directly affects their ability to deliver value for money and so deliver better outcomes for their citizens. The need for effective asset management within the public sector has been realised for some time, recently illustrated by the Audit Commission which stated that 'managing public assets effectively provides value for money, enhances public services and delivers wider economic, environmental and social outcomes for local communities.'

Effective asset management planning has been put more and more under the spotlight in recent years due to factors including:

  • The linkages to robust financial planning and opportunities presented by the Prudential Code
  • The Lyon's Review 'Towards Better Management of Public Sector Assets'
  • The Quirk Review 'Making Assets Work'
  • The emphasis on asset management planning within the Audit Commission's 'Use of Resources' element of the former Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA) and the new Comprehensive Area Assessment (CAA)
  • The focus on asset management as a key area for generating efficiencies as part of the Comprehensive Spending Review and the Operational Efficiency Programme.

CIPFA Property is able to provide practical advice, support and training to help you understand the part that your property assets play in the overall performance of your organisation and how you can ensure that you are using your assets to best effect.

We are able to provide a full and varied consultancy support service for the public sector, drawing on other specialists from within the wider CIPFA organisation as required. The range of services we are most commonly asked to provide include:

  • high level asset management 'Health Checks' - undertaking an audit of existing asset management policies and practices, identifying areas of strength and weakness and providing an improvement plan.
  • strategic asset management planning - providing advice and support to ensure the requirements of audit and good practice are understood and appropriately embedded within the authority.
  • corporate asset management plans - providing additional resource and challenge to produce or update corporate asset management plans.
  • property strategies - providing support in the production and implementation of a focused corporate Property Strategy, relevant to the needs of the particular organisation.
  • service asset management planning - advising on the format and content of effective service asset management plans and how they should link with the corporate Property Strategy.
  • option appraisals - providing an understanding of the principles behind option appraisals, how to apply these principles in the corporate decision making process and how to ensure consistency across the organisation.
  • property reviews - providing support in the development of a review methodology, ensuring it includes appropraite levels of challenge and consultation, and is applicable to different property portfolios.
  • portfolio performance - reviewing the availability of property data and how this can be used effectively to measure and monitor the performance of the property portfolio.

We are continually working with a wide range of public sector clients, the most recent of which include:

  • Cornwall Council
  • Sunderland City Council
  • London Borough of Enfield
  • Bournemouth Borough Council
  • Aberdeen City Council
  • Ashford Borough Council
  • Swale Borough Council
  • Leicester City Council
  • Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council
  • Nottinghamshire County Council
  • Mansfield District Council
  • Halton Borough Council
  • Communities and Local Government
  • RICS
  • Wales Audit Office
  • Development Trusts Association
  • Audit Scotland
  • Federation of Property Societies
  • Octopus Benchmarking Group
  • DCSF

Training Courses

We also provide bespoke and focused in-house training sessions and workshops for organisations seeking to develop skills and understanding of specific asset management related topics. Training courses we are most commonly asked to run cover topics such as:

  • whole life appraisal techniques -providing training to help staff understand the principles of whole life appraisal, how these can be used to ensure authorities are aware of long-term future based costs when making decisions and how these can be embedded into the orgainsation's procurement strategy to optimise cost management and value and to optimise capital investment.
  • option appraisal principles and evaluation techniques - providing training to illustrate the purpose and principles of option appraisal, how these can be developed and used for different workplace scenarios, how option appraisal works alongside corporate prioritisation and what techniques are available to measure and compare outputs.
  • development and implementation of asset management processes - providing support and advice for both property and non-property staff to understand the principles of effective asset management, what is deemed to be best practice and what are the government and audit expectations in this area. This area can encompass a very wide range of topics and each training session will focus on the specific needs of the organisation.

Our Team is at the forefront of public sector asset management and will always provide advice which encompasses and reflects current government and professional guidance and recognised best practice.

Back To Top