The Office of Government Commerce has published a joint report with the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE), stating that overall standards of design in new public buildings, including schools and hospitals, must improve. The report makes eleven recommendations for change.The report and its recommendations have the support of all government departments, and are endorsed by the National Audit Office.

Forum Response: CABESir Stuart Lipton, chairman of CABE, said: "This report shows that government has accepted that all forms of procurement processes are not delivering high quality buildings on a consistent basis.

"These recommendations are a call for action across the public sector. We need to deliver a step change in quality in our new public buildings or we will be failing communities across the UK."

Forum Response: Construction Products Association

Rita Singh, policy development executive at the Construction Products Association, said: "If the mistakes of the past are to be avoided and the UK's new schools and hospitals are to be built on time, on budget and to a high standard, the government must take on board the importance of including design as a fundamental issue in the procurement process and ensure the involvement of manufacturers and suppliers at this design stage."Such involvement is integral to the Rethinking Construction agenda. Moreover the use of appropriate materials can have important consequences for the whole-life cost of a building by allowing for less repair and maintenance costs and longer life resilience. We are all fed up with poor quality public services and government must focus on the delivery of quality public buildings: on cost and on time."