11.2 Purpose of Council-controlled Organisations
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A CCO’s main purpose is to help achieve the council’s objectives. When a council decides to deliver public services through a CCO, it effectively transfers responsibility to a board of directors or trustees. This is common practice internationally and is often referred to as delivering services at arm’s-length.
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Auckland Council commissioned an independent review of its CCO model in 2020 to ensure it was working for our city and our people. The review considered criteria for deciding whether or not to deliver activities through CCOs. These include whether activities:
• require the commercial disciplines and specialist expertise of professional directors
• require people with strong technical and industry knowledge and rely on the ability to recruit and retain highly skilled staff with private sector skills
• require fast decision-making, innovative thinking and the application of relevant commercial disciplines, including those relating to risk management
• can be made more efficient by aligning the CCO’s systems and processes to its specific business needs
• lend themselves to achieving economies of scale
• are not duplicated by other CCOs or the council.