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 >>>
*************
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 >>>
No comments:
Post a Comment