IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

Fujitsu was originally appointed four years ago to deliver an ERP shared services platform based on Oracle e-Business Suite, which included financials, procurement and payroll functions.

The new contract will see Fujitsu provide shared application hosting, support, and development services.

Glasgow City Council is in the process of introducing multi-agency shared services for citizens, two years after installing a Shared Service Centre to handle its own back-office functions.

The council has an annual budget of £2.2bn and employs more than 30,000 staff who cater to the needs of more than 630,000 people. In March last year, the organisation set up a shared services project board with representatives from Greater Glasgow Health Board, JobCentre Plus, Scottish Enterprise Glasgow and Strathclyde Police to try to to make provision more effective.

Industry onlookers have reacted positively to yesterday's Comprehensive Spending Review, seeing the cuts as a chance to push shared services and innovation.

Across all departments, budgets are to be cut by an average of 19 per cent over four years. The Home Office, Justice Department and Police Force are all facing tough cutbacks, while the budget for health escaped lightly.

City of Westminster CIO David Wilde is making something of a name for himself on the CIO circuit in that – in a high-profile role that is often cautious – he is an unashamed proponent of such hot topics as shared services and cloud computing.

“In the public sector there’s been talk for a number of years about shared services but not a lot happened,” he says. “There were counties or districts and maybe schools administration shared services but not at the level of finance teams, for example. Because of the financial constraints we’ll drive that harder. Rather than having silos, it will be ERPs and sharing teams.”

Caroline Stanger, who is directing the programme for both councils, said the project will initially focus on sharing transaction services. She confirmed the councils were hoping to create a formal joint venture with a commercial body to develop a programme that could eventually be used by other public bodies. Cambridgeshire County Council has budgeted to save £1 million through the project in 2008-09, she added.

Under a £1.5 million contract announced today, the council, Herefordshire primary care trust (PCT) and Hereford Hospitals trust are to implement a suite of ERP systems from UNIT4. According to the announcement, the organisations plan to save £2.7m a year by sharing services.

The authorities will work together to offer more shared services to other authorities such as health agencies, fire and police services and to support the delivery of lower-cost public services.

The initiative forms part of wider efficiency measures by both councils, which aim to reduce overall IT costs. Over the next three years the colla-boration is expected to save a total of between £2million and £5million in combined IT costs alone.

The two authorities have agreed to pool administrative functions, including human resources, payroll and finance services, in the first step of a new East Midlands Shared Services centre, which could attract other authorities.

It is believed to be the first such deal involving a county council and a city council from another area.

During a cabinet meeting, John Fuller, leader of South Norfolk Council, was told a possible merger with Great Yarmouth Borough Council would be welcomed by workers like a “hole in the head” following an 15pc reduction in staff.

But Mr Fuller said the council would “fall off the cliff” if it did not make moves to share its services and reduce its overheads in reaction to cuts in central government funding.

The decision is seen as one that could open the door for other councils to use outsourcing, turning local authorities from providers of public services, to enabling councils that commission others to carry out services.

Dave Prentis, Unison general secretary, said: "This is not the way to run council services. There will be no democratic accountability. It is a disgrace that the council has not asked the public, or council workers, what they think."

Wealden District Council and Rother District Council are set to explore ways of sharing working arrangements to ‘deliver greater value for money to their residents’, according to a council spokesperson.

Rother District Council leader Cllr Carl Maynard said, “It means Rother and Wealden will be the ‘first port of call’ for each other when looking to share the delivery of council services.

The Clyde Valley Community Planning Partnership (CVCPP) project would see the participating councils prioritise shared services in four areas. Business cases are being prepared to find savings of between 10-20% of existing expenditure, totalling up to £70m over the next five years.

The eight councils – West Dunbartonshire, East Dunbartonshire, Inverclyde, East Renfrewshire, Renfrewshire, Glasgow, North Lanarkshire and South Lanarkshire – have been investigating which areas they could collaborate on since an independent review on shared services recently identified significant opportunities.

The new venture, set up to conservatively save £25million over the next 10 years, has just announced its senior team and that it will share its finance, human resources, procurement and legal services.

"We’re the first two county councils to share our back-end services," says Reed, who was previously head of organisational development and human resources for Northamptonshire County Council.

Local authorities are lukewarm about central government plans to develop shared administration systems to cut costs.

Shared services are integral to plans to improve efficiency across the public sector and meet public spending commitments without raising taxes. But council IT leaders claim that time constraints and organisational complexity stand in the way of progress.

Labour-controlled Lewisham says it will save £1.5m a year by adopting a common set of standards; Copnservative-controlled Bromley £500,000. In a joint statement, the councils said the venture would be the starting point for further joint projects.

The department has just seen a change of leadership and, Ellis said, "It has offered an opportunity to really look at how we can use support services and address business outcomes."

Councillors backed the creation of a business plan for a shared Revenues and Benefits System following a successful trial of a shared IT service between the two councils.

Eden's IT Manager was officially appointed as the shared IT Services Manager earlier this month in a move that will save SLDC £54,000 per year.

The full shared IT service will officially launch on 1 April 2011 saving an estimated £378,000 over the next seven years.

Northern Ireland is planning to deploy seven shared services projects to transform their civil service. One of those projects, HR Connect, which should modernise personnel functions, had an original cost of £328m. A report from Northern Ireland's chief auditor said it will now cost £465m. The reasons behind the price rise included changes in procurement and an extension to the contract period.

The proposals could see police force fleets merged into regional operations similar to the country’s ambulance fleets, which are now operated as 11 regional fleets.

However, the plans will still allow for a force’s fleet autonomy while merging back-office fleet requirements and operations.