Improvement Service

This report presents the findings of a survey of 150 senior local authority managers in England on issues around shared services, budget cuts and the drive for efficiency savings. It looks at: sharing of back office and front line services between councils; partnerships with the private sector; outsourcing; and barriers to sharing services and partnerships, such as public reputation, accountability, workforce and union opposition, integration and resilience.

Through combining dispersed human resources (HR) administrative activities, shared services can deliver cost and quality benefits for councils. This guide, produced by the Improvement Development Agency (IDeA) and the Institute for Employment Studies (IES), examines some of the key issues councils should consider when introducing HR shared services. It presents possible options, offers the big questions to ask – for councillors and senior managers – and provides some practical suggestions on where to start.

This report from CIPFA examines the opportunities offered by shared services and collaborative working for creating efficiencies in front line services. The guidance has been written to help local public service bodies understand and take advantage of collaborative working opportunities. Together with its online appendices, it provides a range of advice and supporting tools intended to help manage the whole lifecycle of developing and running shared public services. Although this work has had a particular focus on smaller public bodies (especially district councils), it is written for all organisations – including private sector companies – that have an interest in partnership working for the delivery of public services.

In 2009 Scottish local authorities were asked to provide a list of shared service projects that they were involved in. Details of around 2000 projects were submitted and these were grouped under seven themes. This spreadsheet contains details of the projects under the 'Training' theme.

In 2009 Scottish local authorities were asked to provide a list of shared service projects that they were involved in. Details of more than 2000 projects were submitted and these were grouped under seven themes. This spreadsheet contains details of the projects under the 'Process simplification or standardisation' theme which covers organisations working together to streamline or simplify processes.

In 2009 Scottish local authorities were asked to provide a list of shared service projects that they were involved in. Details of around 2000 projects were submitted and these were grouped into seven themes. This spreadsheet contains details of projects under the 'Cross public sector provision' theme which covers services provided to community planning partnerships or other public sector organisations within spare capacity of the lead organisations.

In 2009 Scottish local authorities were asked to provide a list of shared service project they were involved in. Details of around 2000 projects were submitted and these were grouped into seven themes. This spreadsheets contains details of projects under the 'Provision of emergency or out of hours cover'.

In 2009 Scottish local authorities were asked to provide a list of shared service projects that they were involved in. Details of around 2000 projects were submitted and these were grouped into seven themes. This spreadsheet contains details of the projects under the 'Provision of specialist services' theme where specialist services are provided either more effectively across a larger geographic area or where scarce skills and resources are used to cover service provision in a wider area.

In 2009 Scottish councils were asked to provide a list of shared service projects they were involved in. Details of around 2000 projects were submitted and these were grouped into seven themes. This spreadsheet contains details of the projects under the 'Joint provision of services' theme which includes those projects where services are provided jointly by two or more organisations or through a separate new organisation, e.g. Community Health and Care Partnerships.

In 2009 Scottish local authorities were asked to provide a list of shared service projects which they were involved in. Details of around 2000 projects were submitted, and these were grouped into seven general themes. This spreadsheet outlines the projects in the 'Co-location of Services' theme which covers joint use of assets but separate service provision, e.g. social work office located within health centre.

(Warning: Large file size (5.05Mb)) Sir John Arbuthnott's report on shared services and joint working amongst the Clyde Valley authorities. The review examines existing shared services initiatives and identifies opportunities for further development of shared and joint working. Key recommendations include: closer working between local authorities and health boards to create an integrated health and community care service in each local authority area; an integrated approach to waste management; a single social transport solution; a joint and streamlined approach to fleet management and maintenance; a shared roads maintenance programme; property sharing and management in local hubs; a joint approach to "back office" services; joint workforce planning; and a common charging framework.

With the increasing pressures on local government finances, many councils are looking at developing closer partnerships and collaborative ways of working in order to secure greater levels of efficiencies. A growing number of councils have chosen to deepen their partnership working by sharing their chief executive and management teams. The 2008 IDeA publication ‘Shared chief executives: the lessons’ considered some of the early developments in sharing chief executives, highlighting the reasons for the joint arrangements. In this report, the IDeA's Stephen Fletcher and Eamon Lally explore the impact of sharing chief executives on councils’ integration, particularly in terms of efficiency savings and the shared services agenda.  

In early 2009, building on one of the themes arising from the Diagnostic Pathway in Scotland, the Improvement Service commissioned CapGemini to provide research on best practice examples of mobile and flexible working. The research focuses on specific benefits and improvements plus gives comment around key issues which organisations may face in undertaking and implementing such projects. This paper summarises this research and illustrates these with case studies.  In addition to the CapGemini research, Appendix F presents a summary of those business cases submitted by Scottish councils to the Improvement Service up to December 2008 which the IS believes show intention to implement aspects of flexible and mobile working (please note that some of these were not specifically identified by the councils themselves as flexible and mobile working, but we believe that, when viewed in context, these business cases show a potential benefit in this area).The business case summaries in Appendix F are grouped according to the four elements of flexible and mobile working as identified through the CapGemini research: People, Process, Property and Technology. All these business cases can be found on the Mobile and Flexible Working in Scotland Community of Practice collaboration space at http://www.communities.idea.gov.uk/c/1339395/home.do.All business cases (not only the mobile and flexible working ones) submitted to the IS can be found on the Diagnostic Pathway Toolkit at http://member.goodpractice.net/DiagnosticPathwayToolkit/Login.gp

The third in a series of annual reports by the Local Government Delivery Council which draws on its research into front office shared services (FOSS) and presents an overview of key trends and themes in service transformation. This year's report demonstrates that integrated, locally focused and efficient public services are increasingly becoming the norm, but even more importantly that there has been a real step-change in the pace of transformation. The report also features detailed case studies of ten individual projects together with a separate study that addresses how to develop a business case for FOSS initiatives. Please note that while the report refers to shared services projects in England and Wales, the report is of value to those implementing shared services projects in Scotland.

A number of local authorities across the UK have entered into arrangements to share a single chief executive, often to manage the authority during a state of flux, but sometimes as a permanent fixture. This document helps to list the learning from the chief executives who have worked in the shared chief executive role. The report is intended to be used by chief executives considering a shared arrangement, giving them a strong insight into what to expect, and how to handle it. Please note that this report was produced by the Improvement Development Agency (IDeA) and as such focuses solely on England and Wales.