Six councils in the south-east of Scotland have set up a forum to explore closer joint working, including pooling of resources.
The Edinburgh, Lothians, Borders and Fife Forum, made up of Edinburgh, East Lothian, Midlothian, West Lothian, Fife and Scottish Borders councils, has identified five areas that offer potential for shared services. Early work has focused on payroll and purchasing, but the councils also see opportunities in roads maintenance, mobile working and integrated audit functions.
Detailed proposals will be considered by the Forum in early 2010. Cllr Peter Grant, Leader of Fife Council said: "We have been planning for some time ways to improve services and reduce the costs to residents, but the financial pressures on us in the next few years mean that this work has to be brought forward more quickly."
The plans emerge ahead of the report by Sir John Arbuthnott into how the eight Clyde Valley authorities can transform front line service delivery by pooling resources. This report is due for publication later this month.
Sir John Arbuthnott is a keynote speaker at Scotland's Shared Services Conference on 24 November 2009. Supported by the Improvement Service, the conference will look at how shared services can benefit working lives and public services in recession and provide practical case studies that other councils can we learn from and implement in their own organisations.
