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

Here is another example of a public sector shared service failing to sell its services to others…

CoSocius shared service firm owned by Cheshire West and Chester Council to be shut

A council-owned company with a curious name is to close, putting an end to its ambition to save millions of pounds by sharing back office functions. Read more >>>

Almost all of the local authority shared services, who have attempted to sell to others, have found it very hard going. A key reason is that potential customers do not want the service delivered in the way that the seller wants to deliver it.

The result is that the seller would have to run two, or more, shared service systems; one for its established partners, and bespoke versions for the new customers. The cost of complexity then kicks in, employee numbers need to be increased to provide the bespoke services and profitability starts to go out of the window. Don’t avoid them, but be cautious of business cases that talk about selling the partners’ shared service provision to others but don’t take account of the cost of the complexity. Drop me a line if you would like to know more.

Here is the rest of this week’s news…

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Devolution and Combined Authorities

North east devolution deal set to be signed this week after fruitful talks

Devolution plans worth over £1bn for the north east region are expected to be signed this week, which will also see a metro-mayor elected in 2017. Read more >>>

Solihull signs up to combined authority

Solihull Council has voted in favour of joining the West Midlands Combined Authority as a constituent member. Read more >>>

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Local Government

VIDEO: East Lindsey District Council joins shared CCTV project

East Lindsey District Council has joined up with North Kesteven and South Holland District Councils to share a single CCTV control room in Boston. Read more >>>

Top officers could be shared as Great Yarmouth and North Norfolk councils eye savings

Talks over Great Yarmouth Borough Council and North Norfolk District Council sharing services have been going on for months. Read more >>>

County begins consultation on future of support services

Dorset County Council has started its consultation on how support services such as HR, IT and legal should be delivered in the future. Read more >>>

Management merger between Malvern Hills and Wychavon must be "watched like hawk", says councillor

Malvern Hills and Wychavon councils could save hundreds of thousands of pounds by merging senior management teams, say council leaders. Read more >>>

Shared waste solution agreed for Clyde Valley councils

A joint project run by five councils — including East Renfrewshire — has appointed Viridor Waste Management as the preferred bidder for a new way of processing household waste. Read more >>>

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Blue Light Transformation

Cambridgeshire police will explore sharing more services with neighbouring police forces in bid to save cash

The three forces will put together a business case for sharing custody, criminal justice and IT services, with the potential for jobs to be lost as departments’ services are shared across the forces. Read more >>>

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News Summary of Collaboration and Shared Services from 14th October 2015

If you would like to update your understanding of the implications of combined authority and devolution working, then the new Grant Thornton & Localis practical guide for leaders will interest you.

Making Devolution Work

To quote William Eichler’ article in LocalGov: The report does, however, bring to light several misunderstandings about what central government expects to see. While Whitehall wishes to see ‘innovation’, only one in every nine local government stakeholders interviewed thought local public sector innovation was a vital priority for the government.

Central government also wants to see a unity of purpose between public sector actors in the devolutionary process. But, according to Localis’ findings, less than one in seven survey respondents believe the government view ‘long term collaboration with other public sector bodies’ is of vital importance.

Another misunderstanding concerns fiscal devolution. Almost half (47%) of the survey respondents believe it will happen inside this parliament and a further 33% think it will happen within the next parliament. But the reality is, despite business rate devolution, further devolution of other taxes or tax raising powers is not on the agenda, and councils do not have autonomy to borrow money against anticipated tax receipts to invest in new infrastructure.

Here is the rest of this week’s news, collaborative leadership and transformation events and job vacancies…

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Local Government

District councils should lead the way in the new devolutionary landscape

District councils should lead the way in ensuring devolution delivers improved services and outcomes for people and places through better collaboration, according to a new report. Read more >>>

Cheshire councils take ICT services back in house

Cheshire East and Cheshire West and Chester councils have decided to take ICT, finance and HR services back in-house. Read more >>>

Council leaders welcome chancellors devolution revolution but problems remain

Local government leaders are positive about further devolution, but big challenges remain according to new research. Read more >>>

Associations should consider sharing CEOs, says Lewis

Speaking to Inside Housing at the Conservative Party conference on Tuesday, the housing minister signalled he believes the sector has too many chief executives. Read more >>>

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FE/HE

New 'group structure' proposed for universities and colleges in South-East Wales

Universities and colleges in South-East Wales have been asked to consider the development of a new ‘group structure’ bringing together further and higher education in the region. Read more >>>

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ICT

FIELD NATIONAL CONVENTION development company

Increase the efficiency of municipal operations through national cooperation. Get Access to pre-competed, operations support and enhance ICT solutions. Read more >>>

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News Summary of Collaboration and Shared Services from 7th October 2015

Devolution is getting a bit serious, now that the Sheffield agreement has been signed. The Chancellor’s agenda wanders into uncharted collaborative territory and there is huge responsibility sitting on the shoulders of the councillors and mayors who will be steering these multi-billion pound, combined authorities juggernauts.

Academic and practical experience indicate that it will be much easier for them to go wrong, than be successful if collaborative behaviours are not fostered.

That is why they will need you as a collaborative transformation professional. This could be the moment for you, as an SSA, or CTArc or CTPrac, to step forward and volunteer for a once in a lifetime, roller-coaster opportunity to lead, or work in, a collaboration project.

In that context, you may want to reflect on these news items…

New devolution deal for Sheffield

A new devolution deal has been signed with civic leaders from South Yorkshire as part of the government’s Northern Powerhouse plan. Read more >>>

Caring for Greater Manchester together - Power plan for Greater Manchester's health devolution

Major step forward for Devo Manc: Greater Manchester announces shared plan for £6 billion health and social care funding. Read more >>>

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Local Government

Tories call for referendums to decide council mergers

Councils would only be merged in Wales if residents approved plans in a local referendum, under plans launched by the Welsh Conservatives. Read more >>>

Report proposes shared commercial waste service to increase market share

A report to be considered at the city council’s Environment Scrutiny Committee on 6 October outlines how Cambridge City and South Cambridgeshire District working together could improve the service for recycling customers’ business waste and become more competitive to gain market share. Read more >>>

West Suffolk Councils outline savings to fill £2.96 million budget gaps

Two councils which have combined ‘usable reserves’ of £58.37 million have outlined savings to help meet their £2.96 million budget gaps for the next financial year. Read more >>>

 

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Blue Light Transformation

Assembly rings alarm bells over Met outsourcing

Metropolitan Police plans to contract out services to the private sector present huge risks, the London Assembly warned today. Read more >>>

Cheshire fire service to vote on police ICT link-up

Constabulary and fire and rescue bodies may approve full governance strategy for single back-office support functions including HR and ICT by year's end. Read more >>>

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