News Summary of Collaboration and Shared Services from 21st January 2015

There were only three collaboration items on the newswires this week – but all goodies.

Over in Oxfordshire the county seems to have upset CLG by wheeling out the unitary argument to bring the five District Councils and the County Council under one umbrella to shelter from the predicted 60% cuts…

Oxfordshire unitary would save £33m a year finds report

A single unitary council in Oxfordshire would save the county £33m a year, according to an independent report. Read more >>>

The Oxford Mail reports that CLG Minister Kris Hopkins, and the District Councils, are not happy…

Government opposes Oxfordshire switch to super-council

The creation of a single super-council in Oxfordshire would be "expensive and disruptive" according to a government minister. Read more >>>

However look more closely at the Minster’s language in the quote in the Oxford Mail’s article: “One of the first acts of the coalition Government was to legislate to scrap the last administration's plans for top-down unitary local government restructuring, through the Local Government Act 2010.
Such top-down upheavals would have been expensive and disruptive, distracting from the need to promote growth and to tackle the deficit left by the last administration.”

As the words “top-down” are repeated, are we to conclude that if it is not “top-down” then it’s OK? That may be a rhetorical question, if the independent report on unitary status for Oxfordshire is heading for the shredder.

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FE

Our cousins over in Ireland have had a very severe time over the last few years and their public sector has been developing collaborative working. In the UK there has been flirting in the FE sector over collaborative working but nothing quite as substantial as this proposal in Irish FE…

College staff face shared payroll

A shared payroll system for over 60,000 third-level workers is being considered to help colleges focus more on teaching and research. Read more >>>

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Setting up Local Authority Trading Companies

If you are tasked with looking at a multi-partner trading company for a local authority, have a look at this website. It provides guidance and a timeframe that may prove useful to you…

Local Authority Trading Company (LATC) - Overview
Read more about the forthcoming Local Authority Trading Company and what it means for adult and community services in Dorset. Read more >>>

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