Computer Weekly.com - 23 January 2007
Minority of councils have set up Shared Services projects
A recent survey of nearly 3,000 senior council officers and elected members has revealed that shared service projects are still in the minority.
These results formed part of the survey that Public Technology, the public sector website, conducted in November and December 2006 where they interviewed 2, 853 senior local government workers.
A third of respondents said their councils had implemented shared contact centres and 27% said their councils had shared services for customer relationship management applications, back-office procurement systems and e-payment from citizens.
Less than a quarter of those surveyed said their councils share payroll services, and about 14% said that traditional finance roles, such as accounting purchasing and accounts payable were shared.
Geoff Connell, deputy head of IT for the London Borough of Newham said, ‘The best savings councils can make are by sharing services within their own organisations.
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Computer Weekly.com - 23 January 2007
Lincolnshire councils share content management system and cut costs
Three councils in Lincolnshire have deployed the content management as the first in a series of planned shared service projects. Lincolnshire County Council, North Kesteven Council and West Lindsey Council deployed the system so that they could benefit from shared content, while continuing to retail individual content over what appeared on their websites.
The partnership began in November 2006, after the chief executives of the local authorities in Lincolnshire agreed that they needed to begin sharing services in order to meet central government cost-saving targets.
Under the partnership, the eight councils in the county will put systems in place to increase capacity, share services and transform the services that they provide directly to the public.
To read the full article, click here.
Public Technology.net - 22 January 2007
Local Authority National Survey identifies councils' plans for 2007-2008
A national snapshot of Local Authority views was unveiled last week through the publication of the annual Local Authority National Survey. The survey, the largest scale survey of Local Authorities since publication of the Local Government White Paper, attracted 2853 responses from Local Authority CEOs, heads of service and Councillors. The survey highlights that Shared services are a reality, are widespread, and about to become a cornerstone for future local government in the UK.
To read the full article, click here.
Computer Weekly.com - 17 January 2007
Newham Council anticipates sharing it’s network to host the Olympics datacentre
Newham Council has made preparations for the capital’s hosting of the 2012 Olympic Games by building a network with enough spare capacity to host the Olympics data centre.
Newham hopes that the Olympics, most of which will take place within its geographical boundaries, will use the network, thereby generating funds for the council.
Newham, along with Redbridge and Tower Hamlets, belongs to the North East London Partnership of councils. The councils are looking to set up shared services to help them meet central government targets for cutting their running costs before 2008, as required by the Gershon efficiency review.
Councils will be tasked with finding new ways of achieving cost savings, such as sharing services with other public sector agencies.
To read the full article, click here.
Computing - 16 January 2007
Joint procurement project saves local Warwickshire authorities over £700,000
A customer relationship management (CRM) system jointly procured and shared by six local authority councils participating in the Warwickshire Direct Partnership, has yielded over £700,000 in savings including joint procurement of site licenses and connectors in the region of £80,000 and savings of £50,000 per annum, following the introduction of debit cards for service payments.
Apart from savings, the councils report improved customer service. They can now deal with enquiries and complaints, such as reports of broken street lights, on behalf of other Partnership members, providing a seamless service to residents.
Tony Isaacs, programme manager at Warwickshire Direct Partnership, said: ‘The Warwickshire Direct Partnership is delivering effective and efficient services to residents through a truly collaborative approach. Each council has an equal say in the development of its work, and takes an equal share of the benefit.’
To read the full article, click here.
Public Technology.net - 15 January 2007
Online School admission service proves beneficial
Early results for the London’s eAdmissions system have been very positive. Launched in September 2006, the system was developed to allow the 33 London Boroughs to offer online school admissions for parents wishing to enrol their children in a primary or secondary school.
Parents are able to access useful online services, such as Ofsted reports and school prospectuses, thereby assisting their decision when choosing a school.
The online system has delivered significant benefits to school administration teams. Administration and stationery costs are reduced, and results from an early feasibility study estimated that the co-ordinated online service will have reduced overall costs by more than 50% when compared to each borough procuring and implementing their own local system.
To read the full article, click here.
Silicon.com - 12 January 2007
The shift to Shared Services in the public sector will result in an increase in spending
The shift to shared services in the public sector will drive an increase in tech spending, predicts. analyst Pierre Audoin Consultants (PAC). He predicts that with the government pushing for increased sharing of IT systems, spending on areas such as IT consulting and training will grow.
Whitehall is looking for public sector organizations to share core tasks, such as HR, finance, IT and procurement, to reduce costs and promote the distribution of information across departments.
Cost savings targets were set by the government following the Gershon Review of efficiency in the public sector in 2004.
The emphasis on shared services was confirmed in the Transformational Government Annual Report 2006 published yesterday, which also names the biggest public spenders in 2005/06.
However, once the majority of shared services have been adopted in the public sector in 2007, the spending growth is predicted to stabilise.
To read the full article, click here.
Silicon.com - 5 January 2007
Shared Services is one of the methods identified to by local authorities to close the budget IT gap.
According to local research by government IT user group Socitm, council technology spending is predicted at £2.7bn for 2006/07, just below 2004 levels. Growth in IT staffing has also come to an ‘abrupt end’ with reduction in the number of consultants employed accounting for most of the change.
As a result authorities are looking at getting more out of their budgets, including using shared services to boost efficiency.
But, because local authorities need to squeeze the ROI out of their existing infrastructure before moving to a shared environment, this is unlikely to happen overnight. Sharing staff resources between authorities may also offer further large savings, as well as building a system and sharing the knowledge with the whole of the government sector, the report said.
To read the full article, click here.
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