News Summary of Collaboration and Shared Services from 24th February 2015

The big news on the streets is that Greater Manchester Council is to control the £6bn NHS budget in the devolution of powers to localities. This BBC news report states that it will include decision-making for spending on hospitals, GPs surgeries and drop-in centres to local politicians. The devil will be in the detail; however, the new Mayor or the council will have to make a key decision over the coming years.

Do they run two separate organisations: council and health, or do they look for duplication of effort and any economies of scale through collaborative working or shared services? Where on the “collaboration arrow”, from your Highway Code sessions, will this project sit?

The Manchester experiment will certainly be one to watch, or get involved with.

Greater Manchester 'to control £6bn NHS budget'

The £6bn health and social care budget for Greater Manchester is to be taken over by the region's councils and health groups, it is understood. Read more >>>

If you want to get involved in collaborative working then Shared Service Practitioner™ recognition could be very helpful. So, it is timely to offer welcome and congratulations to almost 40 new SS(PRAC)s from councils, police, CIPFA members and the private sector, who completed the three day programme in the last couple of weeks. There are another 20 booked on our March and April programmes. Click here for more details. By the end of March almost 200 people will have attended SSA sessions and programmes in 2015.

Maybe there is some learning in this new report here for Manchester…

Getting localism right

Paul Connolly, director of the Management Consultancies Association Think Tank, discusses its new report, ‘Local Government – Time for Reinvention’, based on the views of the UK’s leading consultants – experts in local government – working with councils the length and breadth of the country. Read more >>>

Here are other news items on collaborative working that may inform your thinking in your work…

Local Government

What do you do when you have a nice shared service going really well, and then others want to steal it off you for their own plans…and don’t even discuss it with you? Here is an example...

Bromsgrove Councillors rubbish county council's refuse collection claims

Responsibility for collecting household rubbish would be stripped from the district council under an ambitious cost cutting proposal. Read more >>>

Here is one to watch too. What will happen in Northants CC’s plans to have only 150 employees and devolve/outsource service provision to four new “bodies”. Will each of those bodies have separate corporate services, or will they share with each other? Answers please…

Northamptonshire County Council outsources services and redeploys staff

Plans to outsource all services and make cuts of £68m have been approved by Northamptonshire County Council. A plan to move the vast majority of the council's 4,000 staff to four new bodies - leaving just 150 employed by the authority - was also approved. Read more >>>

Two other collaborations released more news of their progress this week…

Plan to save £12.6m taxpayers' money

North Lincolnshire Council will team up with a neighbouring authority to share "back office services" in a bid to save cash. Read more >>>

New ‘groundbreaking’ tri-council partnership for Dorset

North Dorset District Council has agreed to establish a 'tri-council' partnership with two neighbouring authorities. Read more >>>

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International

It is worth remembering there are others across the world sharing our pain, and making the same mistakes the academics have predicted…

Council amalgamations on the agenda for Oberon meeting

Some of the Central West's smaller councils will meet later this week to discuss amalgamations and sharing services. Read more >>>

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News Summary of Collaboration and Shared Services from 11th February 2015

There has been plenty of food for thought on collaborative working across sectors this week. One element of that relates to the King’s Fund report that suggests the re-organisation of the NHS in 2010 is failing to deliver on a number of its promised outcomes.

Some of it is effective, but as we have discovered in our Collaborative Leadership work with CCGs, they are piecing back together parts of the structure swept away in 2010.

The NHS under the coalition government - The King's Fund

This report concludes that the coalition government’s reforms have resulted in greater marketisation of the NHS, but that claims of mass privatisation are exaggerated… that the top-down reorganisation of the NHS has been distracting and damaging… new systems of governance and accountability resulting from the reforms are complex and confusing and the absence of system leadership is increasingly problematic when the NHS needs to undertake major service changes… The Care Act has created a legal framework for introducing a fairer system of funding of long-term care. Read more >>>

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Local Government

Richmond and Wandsworth agree shared services deal

The Conservative leaders of Wandsworth and Richmond have announced plans for a “shared staffing structure”. Read more >>>

Newcastle City Council being urged to provide shared services to cope with cuts

Liberal Democrat councillor Robin Ashby called on the council’s leadership to consider the prospect of providing services alongside other authorities. Read more >>>

Shared chief chosen for tri-council partnership

Matt Posser has been chosen as the new shared chief executive for the Dorset tri-council partnership. The appointment is the first stage in amalgamating the three districts into a single administrative organisation with a joint management team, as proposed earlier this month. Read more >>>

£6.4m of taxpayers' money towards putting all council services online

The costs of pushing people towards using council services online has been revealed - up to a whopping £6.4 million. Read more >>>

St Edmundsbury Borough Council calls on communities to be ‘self reliant’ following budget announcement

Families are being urged to "take ownership" of their communities for the future. This is the message from St Edmundsbury Borough Council, following the announcement of its budget for the forthcoming financial year. Read more >>>

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Police

Police forces agree to share services

Talks for a ‘strategic alliance’ between Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) and Chief Constables at Avon and Somerset Constabulary and Wiltshire Police began in December. Read more >>>

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Housing

Landlords in merger talks to create largest landlord in north west

Two landlords have agreed to enter talks about a merger deal which would create a mammoth 56,000-home landlord in the north west. Read more >>>

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International

I have included this USA news, just to remind ourselves that collaborative working is not just a UK approach to reducing duplication of effort and costs…

Time for serious discussion of shared services in N.J.

The small towns of Greenwich, Hopewell, Shiloh and Stow Creek in Cumberland County are considering the idea of sharing one municipal building. Nothing's set in stone, but there's discussion and that's a good thing. A county planning official recently met with them to review advantages of government sharing. Read more >>>

Will three become one? Orange councillors to discuss merging options

Despite attempts from surrounding councils to maintain their independence, Orange City Council will discuss options for a merger on Tuesday night as part of a statewide effort to improve local government sustainability. Read more >>>

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News Summary of Collaboration and Shared Services from 4th February 2015

I will let the articles in this week’s news speak for themselves.

However, an indirect piece of news is that a consortium of senior researchers and academics from Skills for Justice (Research), University of Nottingham, University of Birmingham and the University of the West of Scotland, have been commissioned by the Emergency Services Collaboration Working Group, through the Home Office, to evaluate existing and emerging emergency service collaboration.

The outcome is to establish an evidence base for greater cooperation across the emergency services. Currently they are gathering the perspectives of Chief Constables, Police and Crime Commissioners, Chairs of Fire Authorities, Chief Fire Officers and ambulance Chief Executives.

Any research into how we can all accelerate shared service working is very welcome. I wonder if they will come out with the same conclusion as the academics in the 60 year old academic field of Inter-organisational Relationships: That collaborative working success comes through focusing 75% on the relationships between the decision makers, and only 25% on the deal.

Here is this week’s news…

Local Government

Leader rejects plans for Bolton and Bury councils to share chief executive

The leader of Bolton Council has dismissed calls by the Conservative party in Bury that the two local authorities could share a chief executive to save money. Read more >>>

Lord True speaks out about Richmond and Wandsworth councils' merger

The quality of services offered by Richmond Council will not be affected by a merger with Wandsworth, said council leader Lord True. Read more >>>

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Police

Police job losses "inevitable" as forces seek to save cash with back-office merger

Job losses are looming as Wiltshire Police looks to save money by sharing services with a neighbouring force. Talks have begun with Avon and Somerset Police about forming a “strategic alliance” as both forces seek to drastically cut costs. Read more >>>

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Health

Nottingham integrated care programme becomes a pioneer

Health and social care organisations working in Nottingham to provide innovative, joined-up care for citizens are being invited to join the national Integrated Care Pioneers initiative, it has emerged. Read more >>>

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