News Summary of Collaboration and Shared Services from 17th June 2015

Our colleague, Alasdair Robertson SSAf, who lectures on the Postgraduate Certificate in Collaborative Transformation, has been unpacking the stats in the 2015 LGA Map of Shared Services and they make compulsory reading for us all.

Alasdair tells me that, “Some authorities are achieving clear cost savings but this isn't the case for all. Some may be, to quote The Kinks, 'dedicated followers of fashion' and may be putting their efforts into areas that are less effective but more 'popular'.”. Click below to see Alasdair’s study:
Shared services are saving costs for Local Authorities, but not all are created equal
Shared services in Local Government is big news. But who is achieving best results and how are they doing it? The LGA have published the latest results showing the savings being achieved already. Read more >>>

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Welsh Local Government

If you are at the WLGA conference on Thursday, then please come over and say hello to me at the SSA stand. In Wales, the political dance continues around the merging of Welsh councils and it’s all in the language.

The Minister, Leighton Andrews, is applying logical, hierarchical leadership, focused on telling councils how to make £151m savings through process reform and redundancies. Leanne Wood of Plaid Cymru is evidencing nuanced collaborative leadership, by favouring regional combined authorities with no additional employees required to make it happen…

Welsh councils could save £151m on admin finds report

Councils in Wales could save £151m a year in administrative costs if they transformed back office services in line with English authorities, a new report has concluded. Read more >>>

Party of Wales in new push for combined authorities

Plaid Cymru is set to reject the proposed council mergers in Wales in favour of regional combined authorities. Read more >>>

Labour row breaks out over local council reorganisation

Senior Labour council figures have asked ministers to water down plans to slash the number of Welsh councils. Read more >>>

I will let the rest of the news speak for itself…

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Housing

Housing association merger talks enter next phase

Two housing associations have today confirmed their intention to continue talks about forming a new 56,000-home group. Read more >>>

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Local Government

Council rules out combined authority referendum

Coventry City Council has ruled out holding a referendum on its decision to consider joining the West Midlands combined authority, saying it would be too expensive and difficult to organise in the timeframe available. Read more >>>

South East councils make devolution bid

Three councils in the South East have presented the government with a list of ‘devolution offers’ to help mitigate the pressures of economic growth. Read more >>>

'City deal' for Cardiff is 'once in a generation opportunity'

A multimillion-pound "city deal" of major investment for Cardiff is a "once in a generation" opportunity, Welsh Secretary Stephen Crabb has said. Read more >>>

NSW government outsources shared services

The NSW Government has announced outsourcing the functions of shared service provider to over 6,000 public servants, ServiceFirst, which will transfer to Unisys and Infosys by the end of 2015. Read more >>>

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