Thursday 23 October 2014

News Summary of Collaboration and Shared Services from 22nd October 2014



Money, Money, Money, it must be funny…

It has started to rain collaboration money again with the announcement that Fire & Rescue have been given £75m for mainly collaborative transformation programmes in the blue light sector…

 

Fire services improvement fund - public get a win-win: better local services and at lower cost

Fire Minister, Penny Mordaunt, today (17 October 2014) announced the winners of a £75 million fund which will improve frontline services and save taxpayers over £300 million. Read more >>>


Back in July, the Police Innovation Fund released £50m, of which the majority involved collaborative working across the blue light sector. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/home-office-rewards-police-innovation-with-50-million
 
Back in April, Eric Pickles announced the 2014-16 £400m Transformation Challenge awards, much of which calls for blurring of boundaries, joint management and collaborative working by councils to redesign public services. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/410-million-for-council-services-that-put-people-first
 
Just how much of that money will be wasted?
As a result of this funding, managers and project leads, with no formal training in collaborative working, will stumble their way through the mistakes and down the blind alleys that are already well catalogued and easily avoided. It will cost tax payers, and the partnerships, millions in lost opportunity, cost of delay and partnership disagreements.

Yet the skills and knowledge to be effective are available to be learned through programmes such as CFOA’s Shared Service Practitioner programme and CIPFA’s equivalent programme. Both offer open sessions and in-house delivery.

If the leadership of these partnerships are unsure how to approach them, then the Collaborative Leadership Programme can accelerate joint working there too. Almost 200 leaders and senior managers have attended one or more of the three sessions, since their launch in spring this year. 

And for those who see their future as working in collaborative transformation, and want to be taken seriously by employers, there is the six month Postgraduate Certificate in Shared Services at Canterbury Christ Church University. A new cohort starts in London in February 2015 – email me if you would like to know more.

One of the senior council managers on the current cohort of the postgrad that started two weeks ago, sighed at the end of the taught sessions saying, “I wish I’d done this course a year ago – we have wasted so much time and effort, when the tools and techniques to make this work are all here!”.

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Local Government

There are success stories of where collaborative working is having an impact. This is a useful report to add to your Highway Code folder. It comes from Zurich Municipal and the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives and Senior Managers …

 

Councils more innovative than at any time since WWII finds report

Councils don’t work in isolation and increasingly work with a range of public, private and community sector partners to achieve their aims. The variety that this brings is one of the key strengths of local government. Read more >>>

 

Trading standards and environmental health do have elements that will lend themselves to collaborative working. One of our past postgrad-students has been working on this shared service in Wales that is waiting to be voted through by Members…

 

Three councils could share services to help save £1.3m

A money-saving merger of three councils’ trading standards, environmental health and licensing services is set to move a step closer. Read more >>>

 

Finally, maybe you can correct me, but is this the 33rd shared CEO in local government...?

 

Wychavon top man set to be appointed to joint council chief executive post

The managing director of Wychavon District Council is set to be appointed next week to the newly-created joint chief executive post for Wychavon and Malvern Hills. Read more >>>




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News Summary of Collaboration and Shared Services from 15th October 2014



Cohort 11 of the Postgrad Cert in Shared Services started last week. I was teaching the first two days and asked the students why they had joined the six-month, part-time programme.

They saw collaborative transformation, and a shrinking workforce, as the future for the UK public sector and as a result wanted a qualification that clearly gave them advantage, and distinguished them, at their next job interview.

If you feel the same way, Cohort 12 will start in Feb 2015 and you can find more details here http://www.sharedservicearchitects.co.uk/Find-Out-More-About-Canterbury-Christ-Church-University-Postgraduate-Certificate-In-Shared-Services

 

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Local Government

Shared services is only one of the solutions that can help organisations to make savings and improvements. Redditch and Bromsgrove Councils have created a number of valuable shared services but it doesn’t seem to be sufficient…

Council has ‘no clear plan to balance books’

Redditch Borough Council bosses have been slammed for failing to have a clear plan on how to balance the books in future years….auditors say further significant savings are not expected from shared services while the council has struggled to demonstrate the level of savings transformation has and can achieve.  Read more >>>

 

When there are two of you in a marriage, what happens when you add a new partner? Weymouth and Portland Borough Council are in discussions about adding North Dorset District Council to the shared services partnership it has with West Dorset – is this the first ‘super district’ in the UK?…

 

First ever tri-council merger could get green light

The first tri-council partnership in the country could be set to get the green light from one of the authorities involved. Read more >>>

 

…and what might happen when you create ‘super districts’ through merger? Northern Ireland's 26 district councils will be replaced by 11 larger councils next year and apparently some residents’ council tax may have to go up…

 

NI super councils: 300,000 householders face rise due to changes

At least 300,000 householders in Northern Ireland will face rate rises as a result of moving into the new so-called super councils, according to figures from the Department of Finance. Read more >>>

 

Back in 2011/12, St Edmundsbury and Forest Heath District Councils put 30 of their senior staff through the Shared Service Practitioner programme. Feedback from staff in the following months showed it helped them to lay the foundations of the journey that has enabled savings of £3.5m since then …

 

 

West Suffolk councils share ERP platform

An ERP system shared by two West Suffolk councils went live today as the authorities look to cut costs by sharing resources. Read more >>>

 

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Welsh Local Government

 

What happens when you want to go out with your neighbour, but they clearly don’t want to go out with you? In a vote two weeks ago, Anglesey Council made it clear they were not up for merger with next door Gwynedd. Here is the response from Gwynedd…

 

Gwynedd councillors vote to consider Anglesey merger

Councillors in Gwynedd have voted overwhelmingly to further consider a merger with Anglesey council. Read more >>>

On the basis that you don’t have to marry the council next door, (for example Surrey and East Sussex) maybe we should let Rhondda Cynon Taf Council know that Gwynedd (lively, fun, looking for soul mate with a view to long-term relationship) is available…

Welsh council considers merger options

Rhondda Cynon Taf is to investigate the pros and cons of merging with neighbouring authorities. The council said its response to the Welsh Government’s consultation on voluntary mergers must be based on a strong business case. Read more >>>



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