Exposing the crisis in local democracy; Revealing Labour’s privatisation programme; Disclosing the impact on services, jobs and communities.

The Centre has worked closely with Newcastle UNISON in their highly successful campaign to get the Information Technology and Related Services contract awarded in-house instead of establishing a £250m joint venture with BT.

DEMAND FOR END OF PRIVATISATION OF JUSTICE SYSTEM A report commissioned by the Justice Forum demands an immediate end to all Private Finance Initiative and Public Private Partnerships projects and a substantial increase in public sector capital investment in the Criminal Justice System.

The Centre has been commissioned by the North West Regional Assembly to undertake a three year social and economic audit of the North West.

Equality Impact Assessment for Department of Health, Social Services & Public Safety, Northern Ireland.

The Centre acted as an “external challenger” to Darlington Council’s Best Value review on regeneration services.

The Centre is the procurement and contracts adviser to the Stonebridge Tenants Advancement Committee (STAC) for the regeneration of the Stonebridge Housing Action Trust.

The Centre has commenced a national two year research project of strategic partnerships in local government. It will focus on eight case study authorities – six which have outsourced services and two which have developed in-house improvement programnmes.

In autumn 2000, Salford City Council considered the possible outsourcing of financial and legal services. Although the Cabinet concluded that much of the potential savings from outsourcing financial services could be achieved by reorganisation, further work was carried out on four options.