Second, in pursuit of its 'lean sta

Second, in pursuit of its 'lean state' policy and its resolve to trim the scope of local government ( given the background of the existing quasi-monopoly of the local authorities in the delivery of public services) the Conservative government, after 1980,passed legislation to oblige the local authorities to expose service delivery to 'market-testing' through competition (Compulsory Competitive Tendering, CCT). While the Conservatives government refrained from expressly extending CCT to social services ( see Munday,2000:270),significant sections of it have in practice also fallen under it. (For instance, by early 2001 ,out of 255,000 persons who lived in publicly supported residential and nursing places only 17 per cent were placed in local authority-run homes,see Hill,2002:186)