It is one of the biggest changes in local government in recent years, but has gone largely unnoticed.
It is one of the biggest changes in local government in recent years, but has gone largely unnoticed.
In Glasgow, culture and leisure services, home helps, school janitors and school caterers, car parking, markets, IT, refuse collection and even cemeteries are being, or will soon be, run not by the council but by "arm's length" companies.
Sometimes in partnership with private firms, these are self- contained units outside the council, but under its control and direction. The latest move has seen around 9000 staff in direct and care services transferred to an arms-length body, the biggest transfer of public sector staff in the UK.
For Glasgow City Council leader Steven Purcell and those driving "the agenda for change" in Glasgow, these decisions are about getting the best value for the public's pound. They also insist that in a number of instances the council has had little choice, as departments were operating on a rolling deficit and could have had privatisation forced upon them.
Their opponents insist they leaves core public services susceptible to the vagaries of the market, or worse - a halfway house to privatisation. There is also the question of the democratic accountability, an issue which would intensify should other authorities request Glasgow-run services on a large scale, while unions have ongoing issues about the employment status of employees. The approach, Mr Purcell admits, is radical but is improving efficiency and the services remain accountable.
Circumstances and reactions have been different for the various deals. Companies created to run municipal car parks created little stir, but last year's 10-year agreement with Serco to run property and IT services - valued at £265m with savings of £70m - raised concerns with unions, while the opposition fear the tail will wag the dog with Serco setting the agenda.
Culture and Sport Glasgow was the most contentious. With Bridget McConnell at the helm, it is being run by an individual who is public sector to the core. What happens, opponents ask, when she leaves? Will her replacement have the same ethos?
The same can be said of City Building. With around 2300 employees, it is headed by former council stalwart Willie Doherty. It had a turnover of around £5m, mostly from private sector contracts. It remains to be seen how healthy it is deep in a recession.
Mr Purcell, however, believes the arm's-length bodies have helped the council weather some of the worst aspects of the downturn.
He said: "Take City Building. It's carrying out work for Edinburgh council, something it could never do if it was still a council department. We've also been involved in discussions with other authorities about loaning some of our civic arts collection. It seems easier to get an exhibition of Glasgow's art works in the US than in other Scottish council areas.
"You've got to go back as to why we created them. During the equal pay dispute I was very clear with the unions. I said way back that the boom in public spending would not continue. We've been working on getting the structures and the governance right, but I'm satisfied we've done that now."
But his opponents claim that matters like social care need to be client-centred and not contract-centred, with Glasgow's LibDems insisting that if people want more from local government they have to wake up to the fact that low tax means worse services.
