[Peter Marrington]

This post couldn't be more timely as one of our Boards iyesterday expressed an interest in doing something on shared services. I haven't given it too much thought yet but like you, would be very interested to hear from anyone.

If I get any ideas I will pass them on!

[Michael Chard]

Hi Dave,

Here in Buckinghamshire our former Performance and Resources Committee examined the Shared Support Services element of our Pathfinder project (also fallen by the way-side) in January 2009.

One main difficulty is that as the documents were confidential, including the business case, I am unable to give you any paperwork to support what I will say below!

In terms of simple advice, the following hopefully will be useful:

• Ensure that you get the papers early (we received ours a couple of days before and this gave Members very little time to examine them in any depth)
• Ensure that you have access to legal staff, especially as documents relating to these types of projects tend to be full of legal jargon
• If you can try and get some Members with some type of business/contractual experience so that all Members are not starting from a point of no knowledge
• Try and visit another Shared Services operation, especially if you know the shortlisted bidders
• One of the main outcomes from the review was an agreement to build further democratic accountability into the process, such as all key documents coming to scrutiny before being signed off by Cabinet
• One proposal that did not go forward, which looking back I now agree with, was that of having a joint scrutiny committee during the development of proposals. I see a role for joint scrutiny (whether with other local authorities or public sector partners) for monitoring the implementation of the project, not during the procurement phase. It would have been very difficult to put recommendations forward that safeguard the County Council's interests if there was representation on the committee from other bodies
  

I hope this is useful, apologies for not being able to share more detailed information and documents with you.

Mike

[William Wade]

Malvern Hills, Worcester City and Wychavon District Council recently undertook a joint scrutiny review of the South Worcestershire Revenues and Benefits Shared Service. We published our findings in February this year and I am more than happy to send you a copy of the report if you wish or discuss our review with you.

Alternatively it is in the CfPS library under Policy and Resources on page 4 (as they don't have a space for Shared Services... yet!), I have also noticed Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire County Council's have also posted something on Shared Services Business Case.

My email is william.wade@wychavon.gov.uk

Cheers Will

[William Wade]

Malvern Hills, Worcester City and Wychavon District Council recently undertook a joint scrutiny review of the South Worcestershire Revenues and Benefits Shared Service. We published our findings in February this year and I am more than happy to send you a copy of the report if you wish or discuss our review with you.

Alternatively it is in the CfPS library under Policy and Resources on page 4 (as they don't have a space for Shared Services... yet!), I have also noticed Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire County Council's have also posted something on Shared Services Business Case.

My email is william.wade@wychavon.gov.uk

Cheers Will

[Mark Lowe]

Adur and Worthing Councils have been pioneers in the area of joint scrutiny.

In 2007 the Councils created a JOSC, the first of its kind, with specific remit to scrutinise issues relating to the development of shared services. Both Councils now provide shared services and have a shared workforce. The JOSC has been a key strand in the process of developing the provision of services for Adur and Worthing residents under the shared services umbrella with the aim also of making savings for both Councils. The JOSC has worked closely with the Joint Strategic Committee (Joint Cabinets) in formulating policy.

I can provide detailed background information on this shared services scrutiny and if you need further information you can contact me at mark.lowe@worthing.gov.uk

Regards,

Mark Lowe

Adur and Worthing Councils

[Ed Hammond]

Can I ask those of you who have looked at this issue - has shared services in your authority actually saved money?

I ask because there is this trope that, apparently, there is not a single instance in this country of shared services having delivered the savings that were promised at the beginning of the process.

Did your reviews look at this issue?

I suppose it can be difficult to tell simply by the number of externalities involved - and that probably most savings are realised when arrangements have had an opportunity to bed down.

[Tim Bowers]

Ehammond Wrote:Can I ask those of you who have looked at this issue - has shared services in your authority actually saved money?

I ask because there is this trope that, apparently, there is not a single instance in this country of shared services having delivered the savings that were promised at the beginning of the process.

Did your reviews look at this issue?

I suppose it can be difficult to tell simply by the number of externalities involved - and that probably most savings are realised when arrangements have had an opportunity to bed down.

Cambridgeshire CC and Northamptonshire CC currently share use of ORACLE software and I recently supported a review of a business case to significantly expand these arrangements (its in the library). The group were advised that by upgrading ORACLE together, they would avoid approximately 300K in costs. I know that there have been savings (or strictly speaking, cost avoidance) in the past from this sort of arrangement but don't have the specific figure to hand. However, I imagine it is difficult to identify the net saving in most circumstances as, for example, the salaries of the officers involved would come from mainstream budgets and isolating the cost of their involvement would be hard to quantify.

I think it is also necessary to define 'shared services'. Does, for example, sharing staff count? If so, there are many examples of senior officers being shared between Councils and the NHS, all of which must count as savings that have been delivered (albeit performance should clearly also be considered).

[Michael Carr]

WE have shared services review on our work programme too - but no plans for how and when yet i'm afraid. But we will be devleoping this.

M

[Ed Hammond]

Rather usefully for those of you who are carrying out work into this issue at the moment, the IDeA (now called LGID) have just published a slew of documents relating to the integration of local public services.

It's here -

http://www.idea.gov.uk/idk/core/page.do?pageId=19823160

[Dave Mckenna]

I just wanted to update on this - I've realised that I haven't thanked people for the replies on here - they were all very useful. Thanks also if you replied by email - if I haven't got back to you I plan to!

You can find details of how we are approaching the review here. You can also find an initial literature review in this agenda pack if you are interested. I think I'm right in saying we are the only ones looking at shared services from a general perspective rather than looking at a specific project - I'd love to be corrected on this -it may well have changed.

We are still in the process of collecting evidence and aim to have a final report by the beginning of April.

Would welcome any further suggestions or comments on our apporach more generally - it's clearly a very live issue.