The report entitled “Shared Services: a Strategic Vision”, the Cabinet Office called for a standardisation of back-office services and functions to cut the estimated £2.5 billion (US $4 billion) spend on HR, finance and procurement in Whitehall last year.
According to the document, the Department for Work and Pensions, the Home Office and the Ministry of Justice have already made respective savings of GBP£35 million (US$55.9 million) per year, GBP£13 million (US$20.8 million) and GBP£20m (US$32 million) through their back-office shared services centre.
“To ensure we maintain our trajectory to reduce the deficit, by achieving sustainable savings and making government efficient, we must simplify and standardise back office services and functions,” the Cabinet Office says in an introduction to the strategy.
The report said a move to shared services would merge with a number of departments due to upgrade their supporting IT systems for back-office corporate services in the coming years.
The vision statement follows an announcement from the Department for Transport to spend GBP£750 million (US$1.2 billion) on a shared services centre.
The Cabinet Office Efficiency and Reform Group will be conducting a due diligence exercise to develop a shared services migration plan, and a cost and benefits analysis. This work will be reported in November.
Speaking to delegates at the FutureGov Summit in Kota Kinabalu last year, Westminster City Council CIO, David Wilde, said that London was considering more collaboration in the shape of shared services and the merging of council management teams.
“The view across London and the rest of the UK is recognition of IT as a key enabler for any consolidation and any shared services activity,” he said.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Pia Rufino
Quelle/Source: futureGov, 11.09.2011
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