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Transforming council services
through efficiency
Showcasing good practice from
around the country
ency
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Impr
rcoe.gov.uk
Contents
01 Foreword
Showcasing good practice
02 Purchase cards in social care
04 Streamlining invoice processing
06 Decent Homes Programme purchasing consortium
08 Spend analysis highlights efficiency potential
10 Out of Authority teams revolutionise placement standards
12 E-procurement support programme
14 A public service village
16 Streamlining agency staff procurement
18 Supporting local businesses through strategic procurement
20 The first Materials Recovery Facility of its kind
22 Transforming the supply, installation and maintenance of heating systems
24 Efficiency through innovation: the Tameside Slipper
26 Customer Relations Management for planning applications
28 Regional collaboration brings spend clarity
30 Better Services, Better Systems for Social Services
32 Bringing a unique approach to efficiency and improvement
33 A time for delivery
A key role of the Regional Centres of Excellence The Regional Centres of Excellence wish to thank
is to capture, disseminate and celebrate good those staff in the local authorities and partners who
examples of efficiency and improvement in local have made these cases studies possible.
government, whether they have had a direct role
in a project or not. This document is published by the Programme
Management Team of the Regional Centres of
Excellence. For more information, please ring
020 7944 4145.
Foreword
Local government is being transformed but it Over the coming months, the Regional Centres of 01
01
continues to face huge challenges, not least the Excellence will be publishing many more case
drive to be more efficient. With expectations studies under the Gershon workstreams on their
rising, the pressure is on to deliver. websites. I hope that local government makes good
use of them by looking carefully at how the
That’s why I’m delighted to endorse this booklet. principles behind these success stories can be
Offering a selection of good practice from around applied in different circumstances.
the country, it celebrates the innovation and
imagination that local government is bringing to This booklet doesn’t pretend to paint an exhaustive
bear to improve services by becoming more picture but I know that local government is eager
efficient. to learn from good practice and I’m sure that it will
go some way to inspire others to take up the
For their part, the Regional Centres of Excellence challenge of transforming their services.
are playing a dynamic role in this agenda. With a
growing reputation for achievement through
collaboration and programme management, they
are helping councils throughout the country to
secure millions of pounds in efficiencies that are
being re-invested in front line services.
Tim Byles Chief Executive of Norfolk County Council
and Chair of the Chief Executives’ Task Force
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Showcasing good practice from around the country
ONE
Purchase cards in
social care
02 Kent County Council is the largest council in the What is TDM?
region and set out to radically change the way its TDM is an outsourced, automated payment and
care services were commissioned using purchase data matching solution to manage invoices from
card technology. care providers for the services that they provide to
individual clients. TDM works by electronically
The council is achieving cost and time savings matching data from the care providers’ systems and
which can benefit other council services with the paying the suppliers through the virtual Government
help of the Royal Bank of Scotland’s Transaction Purchasing Card Visa solution.
Data Matching system (TDM). More than £700,000
a year has been saved in the administration of The objectives
social care packages from a budget of £1.1 million. Enhance the quality of life for individuals
in the area.
The initial project in Kent has been to work with Streamline administrative processes.
over 70 suppliers providing 2.5 million hours of
domiciliary care to 36,000 adults, including 19,000 Ensure that everything is managed in the most
elderly people, to implement a genuine end to end cost effective manner.
enabled solution to make significant transactional Enable resources and money saved to be
savings. re-deployed into more critical work.
Whilst used for domiciliary care payments in Kent, “We needed to reduce bureaucracy and
a similar solution has been applied at Edinburgh back office procedures and improve levels
City Council for housing maintenance and other of control and checking in order to function
councils are looking at this solution for a range of efficiently and cater for an ever increasing
transaction types. demand on our services.”
Lynda McMullan County Finance Manager,
Kent County Council
The process
Kent County Council worked closely with RBS,
PCCL the outsourced provider, care managers and
care providers to produce a practical e-solution
to replace the 25,000 paper invoices which were
previously processed. The solution is based upon
the electronic matching of data from Kent CC and
care provider systems by PCCL to include all the
variables that apply specifically to domiciliary care.
For example, a facility was built into the system to
take into account work being billed by the hour
rather than a set price as there is for the purchase
of a product.
The process built reflects how Kent CC contracts “By significantly reducing the council’s 03
for care and can be customised to fit how other financial administration costs, more money
councils work. Flexibility was also built into the will be freed up to help provide more and
system to allow for specified tolerances where there better care. And naturally, the improved
were small inconsistencies between Kent CC and cash-flow for providers will help us run our
the care provider data. Some flexibility was also businesses ever more effectively and recruit
necessary in the system to cater for any anomalies. more front line staff.”
In response to any slight inconsistency, the TDM Norman Temple Director, Pro-Care
system will still complete the payment but produces
a ‘variance’ report which is e-mailed to care “It is initiatives such as TDM that will help
managers for attention. us to achieve huge efficiency savings across
local authorities in the region. Our aim is to
The results roll this system out regionally, creating an
“The TDM system removes the need for easily measured and managed service which
the time consuming activity of manually will succeed in achieving long-term
checking invoices, matching them with the improvement of public services to the benefit
numbers in order books and data inputting, of local people.”
thereby leaving administration staff free Andrew Larner Regional Director,
to concentrate on more crucial frontline South East Regional Centre of Excellence
care work.”
Jeremy Blackman Head of Contracting,
Planning and Resources, Kent County Council
The system guarantees payment for suppliers
within four days through a Visa badged To find out more, contact:
government purchasing card, as opposed to
the thirty day payment terms when invoices Andrew Larner or Alison Greer
were manually processed on a monthly basis. South East Regional Centre of Excellence
01622 696 317
Improved cash flow for suppliers while at andrew.larner@kent.gov.uk
the same time not impacting on the council’s alison.greer@kent.gov.uk
cash flow.
Crucial administration time savings.
Less bureaucracy.
Eliminates costly and time consuming manual
procedures and in so doing eliminates potentially
costly human error or fraud.
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Showcasing good practice from around the country
TWO
Streamlining invoice
processing
04 Despite processing more than 400,000 invoices Objectives
a year generated by more than 37,000 different Reduce the number of invoices, amount of
suppliers, Northamptonshire County Council paperwork and bureaucracy, so saving the
historically had no dedicated procurement team. authority money.
A little over a year ago, the authority launched a Introduce new corporate contracts to
far reaching procurement strategy. In addition to procurement processes through the creation of
the creation of a new, dedicated 13-strong team it a centrally administered system.
also formed a new ‘virtual procurement team’. Educate council employees as to best practice
Members of this virtual team are drawn from each and the importance and benefits a contract
department to act on behalf of senior officers as based procurement system brings.
ambassadors for the project in each area of service,
relaying policies, procedures and best practice to Progress so far: a targeted effort
members of their respective teams, spreading the The corporate procurement team is now
procurement ‘gospel’ right across the authority. addressing strategic spend while trying to move
away from every day procurement activity.
“A strategy cannot stand alone. It has been Effort is targeted on big strategic contracts like
vital to reinforce these changes with a change highways maintenance and social care rather
in culture. We are using efficient and than high-volume, but low-value areas of
user-friendly processes and, crucially, a telecomms, stationery and office equipment.
holistic package of education and training
enhanced by the ability to educate our key A Government procurement card (a charge card
players on a centrally funded CIPS Corporate used to buy low value goods and services
Award Training Programme.” directly from suppliers) has been launched and
Paul White Acting Head of Procurement, numerous corporate contracts have been let,
Northamptonshire County Council key of which are in telecommunications and the
provision of agency staff. Both contracts have
drastically reduced spend, managed the market
and reduced the number of invoices and
suppliers – both using reverse e-auctions.
More than 60 council staff have undergone
training internally on awareness of the
procurement function, with a package designed
for chief officers and members too.
“By embracing modern procurement “Streamlining procurement has resulted in 05
practices, Northamptonshire County Council some impressive and tangible benefits for
is not only meeting Government requirements the council. It is exemplar activities like the
under the National Procurement Strategy, one illustrated here that the East Midlands
but is achieving value for money for the Regional Centre of Excellence will continue
taxpayers of the county, while maintaining to support across the region, offering
and enhancing front line services.” resources and guidance at ground level,
Paul White Acting Head of Procurement, and in so doing enabling local authorities
Northamptonshire County Council to achieve further efficiency targets.”
Andrew Foster Assistant Director (Procurement),
A new beginning: key benefits East Midlands Regional Centre of Excellence
The procurement team has achieved savings of
£1.1 million in year one and is on track to make
an additional £3 million of real savings this year,
with even more stringent efficiency targets set in
future years.
Developing an e-commerce programme has
reduced administration costs.
Departmental employees are now free to invest
their time in services rather than the procurement To find out more, contact:
process.
Paul White Acting Head of Procurement,
A single point of advice on the procurement Northamptonshire County Council
process means contracts meet legal and 01604 236 465
tendering requirements. pwhite@northamptonshire.gov.uk
The county council now has strong connections Andrew Foster
with the Regional Centre of Excellence and the East Midlands Regional Centre of Excellence
Northamptonshire Procurement Forum. While 0115 977 3875
retaining membership of the Central Buying andrew.foster@nottscc.gov.uk
Consortium, links have been forged with
like-minded authorities such as Surrey County
Council.
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THREE
Decent Homes Programme
purchasing consortium
06 The Gershon Efficiency Review proposes £835 The objectives of the South Yorkshire Decent
million of efficiency gains for social housing by Homes Forum
2007/8. Of this, a total of £340 million is expected Share knowledge and best practice.
to be from capital efficiencies. It is envisaged that
the bulk of this capital component, approximately Develop the capacity of the supply chain.
£200 to £300 million, should be delivered through Reduce and stabilise Decent Homes project costs.
long-term, supply chain partnering contracts. Improve employment and training opportunities
for the region.
Against this backdrop, the Yorkshire and the
Humber Regional Centre of Excellence has Create local employment.
facilitated the creation of the South Yorkshire Improve resident satisfaction.
Decent Homes Forum, a network of four local Secure substantial efficiency gains.
authorities in the region and their ALMOs* to form
a purchasing consortium. By combining purchasing A step by step guide
strengths and thereby rationalising the supply chain Step 1
and reducing project cost, the consortium aims to The South Yorkshire Chief Executives’ Forum, made
deliver nearly 120,000 decent homes across the up of the Chief Executives of four local authorities
region by 2010, so improving housing conditions in the region, was already working collaboratively.
for many thousands of residents. However this collaboration did not extend to
combining their purchasing power to enable
“Yorkshire and the Humber Regional Centre significant cost reductions. It became apparent that
of Excellence has been supporting the Forum, by unifying purchasing strengths, which totalled an
offering guidance at ground level and excess of £1.5 billion, it would be possible to
facilitating discussions, enabling those maximise the capacity of the supply chain, control
involved to operate together and combine costs and secure substantial efficiency gains in
purchasing strengths to achieve real line with the region’s Decent Homes Programme
efficiency gains.” of works.
Michelle van Toop Assistant Director,
Yorkshire and the Humber Regional Centre Step 2
of Excellence In order to create a successful purchasing
consortium the Chief Executives’ Forum needed
sufficient funds. The ODPM established that
*Arms Length Management Organisation – A not for profit organisation
significant efficiencies were available to local
run by an unpaid board of directors that takes over the day-to-day authorities who worked collaboratively and so made
running of a housing service. funding accessible through its National Efficiency
Challenge Fund. Funding was to support
‘trailblazer’ projects to help local authorities set
up successful consortiums. To apply for funding,
the project team carried out a feasibility study to
quantify the objectives of the new South Yorkshire
Decent Homes Forum.
Step 3 Challenge Identifying and measuring potential 07
The feasibility study was accepted by the ODPM. efficiency gains, taking into account different
In June 2005 the new South Yorkshire Decent contract structures and the aspirations of the
Homes Forum received funding to produce a contractors.
comprehensive business plan to detail the projected Solution Potential efficiency gains will be
efficiency savings over the lifetime of the project. measured from a recognised baseline.
Benchmarking in this way will make it possible to
Step 4 compare costs across the region to ensure further
The business plan, which is being drawn up with potential efficiencies can be identified and
the assistance of external property consultants performance measured.
Savills, has a robust prospect of delivering
efficiency gains in excess of £25 million by the time Challenge Achieve significant efficiency savings.
the Decent Homes Programme is completed in Solution Through active collaboration, sharing
2010. It is planned to deliver part of these savings best practice and the combined purchasing power
with the use of a large e-auction programme. of the South Yorkshire Decent Homes Forum, a
prospective £25 million of efficiency gains could
Working in partnership: challenges and be achieved by 2010.
solutions
Challenge The value of Decent Homes work in
the region is in excess of £1 billion. The volume of
work could lead to inflationary pressures in terms
of tender prices, supply chain under-capacity and
skills shortage.
Solution Rationalising the supply chain, and
working together to share knowledge and best To find out more, contact:
practice, the Forum can secure long-term, Michelle van Toop Yorkshire and the Humber
sustainable savings, fast delivery of projects Regional Centre of Excellence
and lower costs. 0113 395 1977
michelle.van.toop@leeds.gov.uk
Challenge Co-ordinating the collaborative
approach and combining the purchasing capacity
of the local authorities to achieve cost savings.
Solution Economies of scale will dictate the
councils’ ability to ‘volume purchase’ which will
lead to large cost reductions.
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FOUR
Spend analysis highlights
efficiency potential
08 In January 2005, North Tyneside Council launched “Understanding an authority’s spend is key
a comprehensive analysis of all its spending to identifying cashable and non-cashable
procedures and policies to highlight opportunities efficiencies. By using the spend analysis to
to introduce efficiencies and to understand how identify exactly how authorities procure their
authority spending impacted on the local economy. goods and services, and scaling that up to
a regional level, we have begun to review
Spending data had historically been stored on our policies and procedures to make
multiple and sometimes disparate systems, making significant efficiency gains.”
analysis difficult. In response the authority turned Duncan Olive Programme Manager, North East
to the private sector for a solution, investing in the Regional Centre of Excellence
business intelligence tool, Cognos Powerplay. This
allowed the council to bring new transparency to its Objectives of regional spend analysis at a local
procurement services identifying what was spent authority level
where, how and by whom. The authority has now Identify what the council procures.
been able to review its procurement procedures
and introduce new efficiencies. Identify who the council procures from.
Identify the amount of council spend which
The approach has been recognised at a regional is under contract.
level and task groups have been set up in other Identify the opportunities for procurement
local authorities to roll the project out across the savings and transactional efficiencies.
region, beginning in April 2005 and supported by
the North East Regional Centre of Excellence. Identify if procedures are compliant with
standing orders.
Measure impact and improvements.
At a regional level
Scale up the findings at a local level to the
regional level and support the drive for
efficiencies and collaborative opportunities.
Assess the economic impact of spending
and opportunities for economic development.
A step by step guide Next steps 09
Step 1 Phase II is to be launched soon to consolidate the
Local visibility Provide each authority with the tools data into one regional view. Also discussions have
necessary to undertake spend analysis. been initiated with third party providers to examine
the feasibility of providing data feeds regarding
Step 2 suppliers and economic data.
Regional visibility Consolidate the views from each
authority into a regional view to better support the “By bringing new transparency to its
identification and measurement of collaborative procurement procedures and by developing
opportunities for efficiencies. a better understanding of its spend on
supplies, North Tyneside Council has
Step 3 identified opportunities for significant
Create a regional observatory Combine information efficiency gains and savings. Applied to the
on suppliers and economic data with regional wider regional spend analysis, this is creating
spend data to better analyse the impact of a host of new opportunities for partnership
procurement decisions on the local economy and working and through this more effective
define plans to support development. procurement within each partner authority.”
Andrew Lowe
Key benefits Procurement Manager, North Tyneside Council
North Tyneside Council now has a thorough
understanding of its spend on supplies and
services and the opportunities for cashable
and non-cashable savings.
A corporate contract programme has been
To find out more, contact:
defined from spend analysis, identifying more
than 60 opportunities to reduce costs by Duncan Olive
introducing new corporate contracts or by North East Regional Centre of Excellence
removing duplicate contracts. 0191 433 2262
At a regional level, 20 authorities now have duncanolive@gateshead.gov.uk
visibility of spend and are able to carry out
spend analysis.
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FIVE
Out of Authority teams revolutionise
placement standards
10 The Association of Greater Manchester Authorities Objectives of the Out of Authority Placements
(AGMA) represents 12 local authorities across the and Joint Commissioning Unit
region. Working together, these authorities are Undertake accreditation with all Out of Authority
revolutionising the standard of placements provided providers of residential care, residential care with
for children and young people. education, residential schools, educational day
placements and secure placements.
In April 2005, the AGMA set out to reduce the
number of distant placements made for children Continue to monitor all the accredited providers
and young people by establishing an Out of against pre-agreed standards contained within
Authority Placement and Joint Commissioning the Association’s accreditation documentation
Unit. By working with their providers and analysing and suite of contracts.
placement activity, the 12 participating Establish and maintain a web site containing all
authorities aim to increase quality standards, relevant documents and a register of provider
improve placement choice and agree fees. information that shows vacancies and allows for
Ultimately this will improve the efficiency and specific searches to be made for individual
effectiveness of commissioning and improve placements, within specified distances.
outcomes for children and young people across Review accreditation documentation on an
the region. annual basis and amend as appropriate having
taken into consideration the views of member
An out of authority placement is defined by a local authorities and providers.
authority placing a child or young person in an
establishment that is operated by anyone other than Manage and maintain a suite of contracts.
themselves. Prior to the establishment of the Support providers in holding regular provider
Placement and Commissioning Unit, local forums to ensure purchaser provider dialogue
authorities across Greater Manchester worked is carried out at a strategic level.
individually to secure placements for children and Work with member authorities and providers
young people, liaising with a number of providers. to bring about efficiencies in commissioning.
This was often costly and quality of the placements
was difficult to monitor. Work with member authorities and providers
to agree how outcomes for children should be
measured in future.
Act as a central source of support for individual
member authorities.
Collect information on an ongoing basis from
member authorities on all of their placement
activity.
Analyse the placement activity of member
authorities to support individual authority, sub
regional and regional commissioning.
“The case for partnership working was A web site has been established hosting useful 11
compelling, enabling us to create a strong information and guidance, as well as membership
team with an excellent combined knowledge access for AGMA accredited service providers.
base coming from a number of different Benefit An easily accessible, central hub of
authorities. The different service areas information has been created, facilitating
represented bring differing strengths to the collaborative working and reducing duplication.
unit and we can ensure that we are A suite of regional contracts has been
introducing quality procedures that are established.
making a real difference to both local Benefit Contracts listed are suitable for spot,
authority efficiency and to the children and block, cost and volume and pre-purchase use,
young people we are dealing with.” facilitating greater efficiency and quality of
Rosemary Cowgill Joint Unit Commissioning Manager, placements.
Out of Authority Placements and Joint Commissioning
Unit, Tameside MBC A standardised accreditation and monitoring
process has been established and feedback from
Working together, the unit has tackled a number partners and providers sought and incorporated.
of challenges to ensure that partner authorities Benefit Consistent quality standards across the
remain engaged, that strong communication board, improving outcomes for children and
channels are in place and that provision of data young people.
is accurate and timely.
Key milestones of the Unit include To find out more, contact:
A Central Unit has been established to support Rosemary Cowgill Joint Unit Commissioning
member authorities with out of authority Manager, Out of Authority and Joint
placements for children and young people. Commissioning Unit, Tameside MBC
A strong management team is also now in place. 0161 342 4259
Benefit Foundations are in place for partnership rosemary.cowgill@tameside.gov.uk
working and clear direction, ultimately ensuring Colin Cram
greater efficiency and improved outcomes. North West Regional Centre of Excellence
0161 342 4080
A clear definition of out of authority placements
colin.cram@tameside.gov.uk
has been agreed.
Benefit Flawed data collection is avoided,
ensuring accuracy of the central provider
database.
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SIX
E-procurement support programme
12 While local authorities across the South West have Aims and objectives
made significant steps forward in addressing the The e-procurement support programme was
e-procurement agenda, many were keen for created following extensive consultation and
additional support. In response, the South West workshops. Its aim is to complement existing
Regional Centre of Excellence, guided by its local achievements by assisting local authorities of every
authority Steering Group, identified e-procurement size in meeting National Procurement Strategy
as a key area of focus. In Spring 2005, following targets in a structured and collaborative fashion.
extensive consultation with local authorities, a There are a number of associated objectives:
programme of support was developed to meet Achieve efficiencies in the procure-to-pay cycle
e-procurement implementation requirements across including reduction in cycle time and reduction in
the region. transaction costs. This in turn will free resources
that can be directed into front line public services.
Prior to the support programme, local authorities
across the South West worked on their Assist local authorities in using e-marketplaces to
e-procurement projects largely independently of access framework agreements and contracts.
one another with limited partnership between Assist local authorities in achieving further
authorities. E-procurement was seen as the remit cashable and non-cashable efficiencies, in line
of individual departments, such as IT, procurement with Gershon Review targets.
or finance and many smaller authorities struggled Encourage collaboration between local
to translate their progress to date into the authorities thus reducing the financial and
formulation and implementation of appropriate resource demand for e-procurement planning.
strategies and business plans.
Provide greater clarity to suppliers and rationalise
the supply chain.
A step by step guide
Step 1 Encourage collaboration
Development of collaborative strategies for
procurement and e-procurement was promoted
on very much a sub-regional basis.
Step 2 Bring in additional support
A number of key consultants assisted the Centre
of Excellence in identifying current processes and
areas of overlap where greater efficiencies could
be achieved.
Step 3 Assessment of needs and barriers to change
The Centre of Excellence brought together local
authorities from across the region to identify and
assess the issues they are facing in implementing
e-procurement.
Achievements to date “E-procurement is an essential part of the 13
The South West Regional Centre of Excellence Government’s National Procurement Strategy
has acted on the support requirements identified and is key in helping to achieve efficiency
through early workshop activity to provide: targets. Many local authorities understood the
An e-procurement helpdesk to provide support need for e-procurement implementation but
for South West local authorities with any lacked the skills, resources and support to go
e-procurement issues. forward. Ultimately, by providing the support
identified by the local authorities themselves,
Templates for the e-procurement strategy and and assisting with collaborative projects, we
business case. aim to support the achievement of
Links to useful e-procurement information, efficiencies across the board.”
including FAQs from the helpline. Gillian Brindle
An @UKplc project group to ensure local South West Regional Centre of Excellence
authorities using this marketplace solution can
be involved in product development and can
share best practice in implementation.
A provider to service a number of Regional
Centre of Excellence funded collaborative
e-auctions.
Access to various sources of funding and
additional support such as ODPM, OGC
and NePP.
Sub-regional e-procurement strategy and
business case workshops across the South To find out more, contact:
West supported by the Regional Centre of Julian Morley
Excellence and the Steering Group. South West Regional Centre of Excellence
Regional workshops on p-cards, e-sourcing, 01305 757 230
marketplace integration and e-auctions, j.morley@dorsetcc.gov.uk
supported by the NePP.
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SEVEN
A public service village
14 St Edmundsbury Borough Council and Suffolk Objectives
County Council are rising to the challenge to Improve customer access to services.
improve their back-office, customer focussed
efficiency by jointly reviewing service delivery and Create a one stop shop for customer services.
identifying areas for improvement through the Increase efficiency savings which can then
‘Public Service Village Partnership’. With support be translated into other service areas.
from the East of England Regional Centre of Take advantage of the joint procurement
Excellence, the partnership has instigated the first power of the organisations involved.
collaborative ownership project of its kind in the UK.
Rationalise customer services.
The partnership involves a number of other partner Reduce accommodation and other central
organisations including Suffolk Police, West Suffolk administrative costs.
College, the West Suffolk NHS Primary Care Trust
and Suffolk Magistrates Courts. “A key element of the Gershon efficiency
agenda sets out the benefits potential of
Established in 2004, the partnership’s aim is to relocation and rationalisation of local
deliver a custom built, service-focussed suite of authority services and other public sector
offices to unify the range of local customer services bodies. This was the key driver behind this
offered by those organisations involved. By sharing project from the beginning. The partners can
premises in this way, the partners aim to transform benefit from sharing strategic expertise,
the way each separate organisation delivers sharing assets and their unified procurement
customer services in the area to benefit the public power. This will ensure achievement of
and other organisations who use them. Sharing maximum efficiencies and the rationalisation
ownership of the premises will also mean the of utility charges, IT systems and even
partnership can benefit from joint procurement furniture, thus creating financial headroom,
power that will result in a variety of efficiency which can be translated into other
savings, which can then be translated into other council/public sector services/priorities.
services. Ultimately the aim is to manage resources
more effectively in order to raise performance
and drive down unit cost.”
Mike Worron Assistant Director, Improvement
and Collaboration, East of England Regional Centre
of Excellence
A step by step guide Achievements to date include 15
Step 1 Create a business case Business plan completed and agreed.
Each of those organisations involved in the Stakeholder commitment re-inforced.
partnership, with support from the Regional Centre
of Excellence, contributed funding for an outline Governance arrangements addressed.
business plan, to research the potential business Gateway review level one (business justification)
case for the project and identify strategic actions completed.
to secure its success.
“St Edmundsbury and its partners should be
Step 2 Agree actions commended for their focus on improving
The outline business plan was produced and services and their commitment to securing
subjected to a successful level one (business real efficiency gains. Service improvement,
justification) gateway review by the 4Ps. Gateway effectiveness and efficiency will ultimately
reviews are undertaken by a team of independent deliver sustainable benefits for service users
professionals at critical points in the project’s and the wider community. The East of
development and at key decision stages. This England Regional Centre of Excellence will
ensures more effective identification of benefits with continue to support and promote exciting
more predictable costs and outcomes. The gateway projects of this nature, which are capable of
review of this project identified a range of strategic changing the face of local authority services
actions to secure a stronger business case, for the future and for the better.”
including: Mike Worron
Strategic and customer case – 13 prioritised Assistant Director, Improvement and Collaboration,
strategic objectives and success factors have East of England Regional Centre of Excellence
been agreed by the partners including
affordability, operational efficiency and risk
management. These objectives relate to To find out more, contact:
improving property resources and facilitating Dr Carlton Brand Corporate Director,
people/process improvements. St Edmundsbury Borough Council
Master planning, planning and transport – A key 01284 757 201
element of the business plan was evaluation of carlton.brand@stedsbc.gov.uk
the effect of the project on the surrounding Mike Worron
infrastructure. East of England Regional Centre of Excellence
01603 704 010
Overall value for money assessment – Evaluating mike.worron@norfolk.gov.uk
customer benefits, financial profile, planning and
transport information and other key factors.
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EIGHT
Streamlining agency staff
procurement
16 Northamptonshire County Council uses more than The council produced three options to move the
250,000 hours of agency resource and spends over provision of agency staff forward in response to its
£4 million a year on the provision of temporary set objectives:
labour across a wide span of disciplines. With Option 1 Put in place a recruitment agency to
more than 100 suppliers on the books, the authority manage the sourcing of all agencies and the
needed to develop an innovative agency staff procurement of agency staff.
procurement strategy to reduce the number of Advantage Creating a ‘one stop shop’ for the
weekly invoices and achieve the effective delivery council cutting down on duplication and saving
of its agency recruitment programme. time and cost.
Challenge Losing control over the supplier
In 2005, under the umbrella of its continuing selection process that could result in the use of
Procurement Improvement Programme, the council lower quality staff and covering the cost of the
set out to reduce the time and cost associated with agent’s fees and mark up.
its procurement of temporary agency staff and to
streamline the agency staff recruitment process. It Option 2 Create a preferred supplier list.
also set out to achieve more control over the Advantage An easily accessible list of specified
numbers and quality of staff procured. suppliers in each area would ensure time savings
for the council and would also help increase the
Objectives provision of high quality staff.
Maintain and improve the quality of agency staff. Challenge The management of a number of
Streamline the process of acquiring agency staff. suppliers at one time and the potential for staff
shortage issues, if preferred suppliers were unable
Reduce the number of invoices. to fulfil requirements.
Improve management information.
Improve control. Option 3 The solution An amalgamation of
options 1 and 2.
Reduce the overall cost of securing agency staff. Select a recruitment agency with a pre-selected first
Reduce the employment-related risk to the tier of preferred suppliers. The managing supplier
council. filters the council’s recruitment requests through to
the first tier of preferred council suppliers. If the
suppliers in the first tier cannot fulfil the council’s
needs within an agreed time, the managing supplier
can open out the request to a wider base of other
suppliers.
Advantage The council can procure high quality
agency staff from preferred suppliers it can trust
at a competitive rate. Recruitment agencies on the
first tier suppliers list are guaranteed a steady
stream of work.
“We wanted to retain some control over the Next steps 17
suppliers who were appointed to first tier All of the council’s service users are trained on the
status and secure the best commercial deal new recruitment system. Current temporary staff
without incurring the significant costs of can transfer to preferred suppliers so that the
completely outsourcing the arrangement.” council can benefit from the first tier suppliers’ rates.
Paul White Acting Head of Procurement, Ultimately, it is expected that all services under the
Northamptonshire County Council council umbrella will benefit from the new agency
staff procurement contract awarded to Comensura.
Following the decision that Option 3 would offer
the best efficiency savings, Northamptonshire “The procurement of agency staff is a large
County Council ran a reverse e-auction based on expenditure for local authorities across the
quality of staff and cost. From the e-auction, the UK. Streamlining staff procurement through
council picked a list of first tier suppliers. one central point has delivered impressive
results for Northamptonshire County Council.
Benefits The East Midlands Regional Centre of
The council now receives one consolidated Excellence is supporting programmes such as
invoice per week for its agency recruitment this one across the region, offering resources
staff instead of hundreds from various different and guidance at ground level and in so doing
suppliers. is enabling local authorities to achieve
efficiency targets.”
Following the reverse e-auction special rates Andrew Foster Assistant Director (Procurement),
have been agreed between the suppliers and East Midlands Regional Centre of Excellence
the council.
Based on the e-auction savings and the
management fee from the managing agent, it is To find out more, contact:
estimated that the council will save £500K per
year on its recruitment procurement. Paul White Acting Head of Procurement,
Northamptonshire County Council
Large efficiency savings have been made in 01604 236 465
terms of council time for procuring staff. pwhite@northamptonshire.gov.uk
With a preferred first tier list of suppliers the Andrew Foster
council has improved and maintained the East Midlands Regional Centre of Excellence
quality of agency staff procured. 0115 977 3875
The council’s staffing issues can always be dealt andrew.foster@nottscc.gov.uk
with quickly and easily.
The first tier suppliers are guaranteed a
consistent workload from the council.
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Showcasing good practice from around the country
NINE
Supporting local businesses through
strategic procurement
18 In partnership with the New Economics Foundation Key benefits delivered through LM3
(NEF), Northumberland County Council used ‘LM3 Objective measurement of value for money.
local multiplier tool’ to carry out a benchmarking
exercise to show how the authority’s procurement Effective tool for demonstrating financial impact
strategies could impact on the local economy. on the community.
As a catalyst for policy change and process
Its findings have been used to introduce change to change.
the authority’s procurement procedures and policies As a means of highlighting and achieving
to make it easier for smaller and local businesses to efficiency gains.
become part of the authority’s supply chain and
compete on a level playing field. Mechanism for community engagement, in
particular through work with social enterprise
“We used LM3 as a benchmarking exercise and service delivery sectors.
to establish the extent of local spend, its Agendas spread between both public and private
current impact on the local economy and as sectors and local and national agendas.
a catalyst to improve and increase that local Relationship of a local public sector organisation
spend. It was a crucial starting point which with a national policy and research based
allowed us to examine not only the information organisation.
procurement procedures but our policies
and to bring about positive change.” Clear opportunities for the future have been
Barry Mitchell Project Manager LM3, identified and are in the process of being
Northumberland County Council prioritised.
Objectives of LM3 A step change
Create a benchmark to secure an evaluation and The exercise was launched in early 2004 and
a target against which the authority can be revealed that, of monies recieved from
measured for future effectiveness. Northumberland County Council, local suppliers
spent 76% locally while non-local suppliers spent
Highlight how money leaks from the local just 36% locally.
economy and how it can be addressed.
Based on these findings, and with an annual
Make it easier for SMEs and local suppliers to be spend of £245 million, it found that if the county
part of the council supply chain, whether directly were to increase that proportion expended locally
or as a sub-contractor. by 10%, then it would result in an extra
Introduce new efficiencies to the supply chain. £34 million to the local economy and community
and incorporate a £9.5 million annual efficiency
gain.
19
In response to the findings of LM3, “Northumberland County Council is to be
Northumberland County Council carried out a commended for its research into the impact
review of its procurement procedures and of authority spending on the local economy.
policies with the aim of making it easier for local Its subsequent work to review its procedures,
businesses to become part of its supply process practices and policies has made it easier for
and compete on an even playing field. This smaller and local companies to become part
included partnership working with business of the council’s supply process and thereby
organisations including Business Link and other increase the positive impact the authority has
umbrella agencies to support businesses through on the area’s economy. Meanwhile the
the bid process. process itself has illustrated how new links
An awareness campaign was launched to make can be built with partner organisations in
businesses aware of the opportunities to tender the business community for the benefit of
and support available to them. The authority’s the area as a whole. The North East Regional
web site was also continually updated to simplify Centre of Excellence and the Regional
the tendering process and give exemplified Development Agency are now funding the
tender documents. roll out of this project to all local authorities
across the region.”
Tenders are now reviewed and repackaged to David Wright North East Regional Centre of Excellence
encourage and stimulate the market and increase
competitiveness. This may involve breaking the
contract into lots giving tenderers the opportunity
to tender for all or part of a contract.
To find out more, contact:
“LM3 was a catalyst for change, not just
procedures but policies to make it clear to the Barry Mitchell Project Manager LM3,
whole authority what we are trying to achieve. Northumberland County Council
It means that our policies have been refined 01670 534 145
so that we are no longer just thinking about bamitchell@northumberland.gov.uk
spending more locally, but have stated that David Wright
we will and are actively attempting to achieve North East Regional Centre of Excellence
our targets.” 0191 433 2257
Barry Mitchell Project Manager LM3, davidwright@gateshead.gov.uk
Northumberland County Council
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Showcasing good practice from around the country
TEN
The first Materials Recovery
Facility of its kind
20 Three years ago, Mole Valley District Council began Project objectives
work on a project that would revolutionise the way Create a modern facility capable of sorting
the council managed waste in the area. In line with mixed recyclable materials.
the principles of Rethinking Construction, it
developed and built a £4 million materials recovery Reshape the waste management processes
facility (MRF) capable of sorting mixed recyclable in the area.
materials. The council worked with partner Improve the percentage recycling rate on all
organisation Grundon Waste Management to meet waste produced.
the long-term recycling needs of the district and Achieve best value for client and contractor.
surrounding authorities.
Decrease the total waste volume collected.
Project inception
At project specification stage, Mole Valley DC The partnering route
engaged with a number of key players in the UK The council acknowledged that it did not have the
waste industry to gather information on the best experience to handle the complex project alone and
way to strategise the project. A number of that a partner was needed to give access to the
benchmarking exercises were also carried out to required specialist construction and operation
gauge current recycling performance and best expertise necessary for a successful project. It was
practice amongst local authorities in the UK and agreed that a waste management contractor would
abroad. The council planned to then use these be best placed to work directly with the council to
results to identify the requirements and targets develop the project.
for the new facility.
The council selected its partner through the EU
“It was important that we fully understood Negotiated Procedure following open
exactly what was achievable with the new advertisement. A number of contractors expressed
facility. For this reason we did a lot of useful an interest in the project, including companies
research into what everyone else is currently from Europe, USA and Australia. Grundon Waste
doing in terms of recycling. Benchmarking Management was eventually selected due to the
recycling performance amongst local company’s experience in the construction and
authorities threw up some very interesting operation of new recycling plants.
results and helped us move our project
forward in the right direction.” “It is important to us to work with like-minded
Heather Kerswell Chief Executive, clients that share our enthusiasm. The
Mole Valley District Council partnership worked well together for this
reason and ensured we were continually
focussed on the delivery of the best project
solution possible.”
Grundon Waste Management
Focus on risk Working in partnership = beneficial results 21
“A strong focus on risk assessment helped to The project has taken just three years to build.
define the structure of the project and from
the start we aimed to avoid a risk averse and The project is the first major recycling facility
regulation dependent culture within the of its kind.
partnership agreement. Project risk was The introduction of wheeled bins and alternate
positioned amongst the partners where it weekly collection together with the MRF is
could best be managed and the contract delivering a recycling rate well in excess of 30%.
ensured that risk equalled reward.” Following this activity there has been a decrease
Heather Kerswell Chief Executive, in the total waste volume collected.
Mole Valley District Council
“It is projects such as this that will help us
The council provided the land for the project, succeed in achieving greater efficiency and
funded the construction of the building and shared improvements for local authorities across the
the cost of project development. Grundon did all South East region. This project from a small
the design, obtained consents, constructed and local authority is a good example of a
kitted out the building and project managed, all of significant sized project that is having a real
which worked well and made the process quicker. impact. It illustrates how partnership between
local authorities can be facilitated through
The council has preferential access to the plant public private partnership.”
and receives a royalty on every tonne of material Andrew Larner Regional Director,
processed in addition to rent for use of the land and South East Regional Centre of Excellence
building. Mole Valley DC developed the contract
with Grundon with a 'right of access' for other local
authorities, at the going rate, to take up surplus To find out more, contact:
capacity ahead of other potential customers. Since
Mole Valley DC takes about 25% of the MRF, it can Andrew Larner
provide for three other councils as well. South East Regional Centre of Excellence
01622 696 317
Grundon Waste Management provided the andrew.larner@kent.gov.uk
processing plant and has the flexibility to operate
the plant as appropriate. Grundon also takes
ownership of the materials processed and has the
right to market the surplus capacity of the facility on
the open market as the company carries a greater
proportion of the overall risk.
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Showcasing good practice from around the country
ELEVEN
Transforming the supply, installation and
maintenance of heating systems
22 With over 10,100 council houses in North “Strategic procurement has helped us to
Lincolnshire, the supply, installation, servicing and transform our service in a very real and
maintenance of heating systems is the Housing visible way for tenants. The savings achieved
Service’s largest area of procurement spend, with have released significant resources which we
work coming in at £2.5 million of which £1.5 million are now investing back into the service to
is capital funding. further improve the quality of tenants’ homes.
Strategic procurement will continue to
Historically, the council procured heating works as underpin our efforts in delivering a first class
part of an annual tendering process, with contracts service to tenants.”
often awarded on a lowest cost basis. Specifications Mark Robinson Head of Operations/Housing,
were prescriptive and evaluations were often carried North Lincolnshire Council
out service by service, resulting in multiple contracts
with varying costs and quality. Responsibility for Streamlining procurement
servicing and solid fuel work was split between a North Lincolnshire Council’s Housing Service
number of contractors making administration and procurement processes have changed dramatically.
supervision of contracts both difficult and They now use an output based specification with
expensive. an emphasis on quality. Contract periods have been
lengthened in order to ensure greater sustainability
Against the backdrop of the Housing Improvement and partnership working.
Plan, the council met with a number of contractors
working in the heating industry in order to assess Continuous improvement
how best to co-ordinate future working. Combining This way of working has been so successful that it
the information gathered with advice from Corgi, the has been replicated across the council’s housing
council was able to make a more informed decision, service and is soon to be introduced to the estates
splitting works into two separate streams: service team working on council buildings. The Housing
and maintenance, and installation. The council now Service team has been able to release four officers
procures its heating works on best practice criteria, from the gas servicing section to other duties within
and has implemented a number of measures to the service and a similar saving is expected in the
ensure increased efficiency and the highest possible electrical team, making a significant contribution
level of service delivery for the end-user. towards Gershon efficiency targets.
A step by step guide “As tenants we have seen a very real 23
Step 1 improvement in service, quality and overall
Rationalise the number of suppliers to one supplier satisfaction. It is tremendous that the
per area of work. significant savings and efficiencies that have
Benefit A leaner team with greater emphasis on been achieved through these new contracts
contract management. This has resulted in greater can be invested back into further improving
efficiency in administration and supervision of tenants’ homes.”
projects. Colin Boyce Senior Tenant Representative to
North Lincolnshire Housing Service
Step 2
Incorporate cross-functional evaluation panels with “North Lincolnshire Council is to be
tenant representatives. commended for their focus on and continued
Benefit More stringent quality assessments and a commitment to best practice. By changing
feeling of inclusion for residents. the way that they procure heating works they
Step 3 have not only achieved greater efficiency in
Work with contractors that are CCL accredited. this area but have also improved tenant
Benefit Improved quality of service on installation satisfaction levels. It is this focus on the end-
works, increasing tenant satisfaction. Savings of user and improvement of public services that
£320,000 a year on heating installations has meant improving efficiency is all about.”
that full systems can be replaced rather than just Michelle van Toop Assistant Director,
boilers. Yorkshire and the Humber Regional Centre of Excellence
Step 4
Build in quality to procurement process and
requirements. To find out more, contact:
Benefit Reduced defects on projects and higher
levels of service, heightening end-user satisfaction. Michelle van Toop Assistant Director,
Yorkshire and the Humber Regional Centre
Step 5 of Excellence
Introduce longer term contracts, with a focus on 0113 395 1977
partnering. michelle.van.toop@leeds.gov.uk
Benefit Better working relationships, resulting in
100% access for 2004/5 and far greater efficiency.
Step 6
Improve and extend warranty over five years, using
a different brand of boiler.
Benefit A reduced need for responsive repairs which
is expected to result in a £100,000 efficiency gain.
The tenant is also provided with peace of mind for
a five-year period. cy
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Showcasing good practice from around the country
TWELVE
Efficiency through innovation:
the Tameside Slipper
24 Replacing worn-out concrete lamp-post or lighting Objectives
columns poses a major financial headache for Replace old lighting columns.
councils. With over 750,000 in urgent need of
replacement the subject is of increasing concern Cut down on installation time.
for local authorities across the UK. Tameside Reduce costs of installation.
Metropolitan Borough Council has invented a Eliminate involvement of an electricity
revolutionary new type of lamp-post that has so company.
far resulted in savings of £750,000.
Secure annual efficiency savings that can
In the Borough of Tameside in Greater Manchester, be translated into other council services.
there are 16,000 side-road street lamps in need of
replacement, at an approximate cost of £10 million. “Although the new slipper cannot yet be used
Given the general shortage of funds with which to on main roads, it is perfect for side roads
pay for the work, even marginal reductions in the where existing spacings are adequate for its
cost of replacing old lighting columns would mean use. At a conservative estimate, this equates
very significant savings. Tameside MBC has to around 20% of the total stock. It is a good
developed a cheaper and more efficient solution example of using innovation to create major
with a new slipper column, a revolutionary new efficiencies for the council, which can then
type of lamp-post. be translated into other council services.”
Councillor Roy Oldham
What is the slipper? Executive Leader of Tameside MBC
The new steel lamp-post simply slips over the
one metre stump of an old column which has been Success factors
cut off to just above the electricity connection box, Efficiency savings To date, Tameside MBC
preventing the need for an entirely new unit. The has installed over 3,000 units, saving more than
new slipper is cheaper than conventional £750,000. It is thought that this sum will increase
methods, quicker to install and eliminates the need as the use of the new innovation becomes more
for an electrician to re-install necessary wiring. widespread. The slipper can result in savings of
With support from the North West Regional Centre up to 40% in comparison to traditional methods
of Excellence, over 50 local authorities have now of lighting column replacement. On a national
begun to use the innovation after recognising the level this could amount to efficiencies of up to
impressive results achieved by Tameside MBC. £360 million per year.
Cost reduction Damaged lamp-posts can “In Tameside we had approximately 16,000 25
typically cost councils up to £1,300 to replace. street lamps on side roads which needed
Using the slipper will reduce the costs of renewal and of these 80% were suitable for
replacement by almost two thirds to only £500. replacement with the slipper. We have
Maintenance costs are also reduced because the replaced around 6,000 so far and we are on
new innovation utilises more energy efficient target to replace all 13,000 over a ten year
electronic ballasts that can lead to a reduction in period. The use of this innovation will equate
electricity use of around 13%. to large time and cost savings for the council
Time savings The slipper column allows a lamp that can then be translated to benefit other
post to be replaced by an engineer in under an council services.”
hour. This is a huge reduction on the Mark Brody Consultant Lighting Engineer,
conventional replacement process where Tameside MBC
separate contractors for each stage of the work
would spread the job over eight to ten weeks. “The new innovation currently in use at
Tameside has proven extremely successful in
Care of the environment Green policies are terms of delivering efficiencies in time and
extremely important to Tameside MBC. The use costs. It is activity such as this illustrated by
of the slipper has meant a significant reduction Tameside, that the North West Regional
in the amount of rubble sent to the ever Centre of Excellence is supporting across the
decreasing number of land fill sites in the UK. region, offering guidance and funding to
More light therefore more security The slipper ensure other councils in the area can follow
column allows for a major improvement on in Tameside’s successful footsteps.”
existing lighting levels. This, coupled with the Colin Cram Regional Director,
repair of lamp-posts on more secluded streets, North West Regional Centre of Excellence
means a greater sense of security for
pedestrians.
Adaptability The innovation does not only work To find out more, contact:
with redundant lamp-posts but can also be used Mark Brody
to renew illuminated street signs. A hinged Consultant Lighting Engineer, Tameside MBC
version allows maintenance to be carried out 0161 342 2946
without the use of ladders or where columns are mark.brody@tameside.gov.uk
located in areas where it is not possible to get a Colin Cram
maintenance vehicle to. North West Regional Centre of Excellence
0161 342 4080
colin.cram@tameside.gov.uk
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Showcasing good practice from around the country
THIRTEEN
Customer Relations Management
for planning applications
26 Staffordshire Moorlands District Council handles How gains were made and how they were
1,200 planning applications per year and is measured
responsible for controlling development within some The council recruited a business improvement
of the most beautiful countryside and market towns manager who was customer service focussed and
in the West Midlands. highly experienced in private sector financial
services. Consultants were employed to formulate
Before the review took place, the average time to an approach through the Staffordshire Partnership.
validate and register a planning application was
between five and 20 working days. Each application This project was just one part of a complete
was handled by up to ten different people and it transformation programme which involved a full
was common practice to find specialists being business process re-engineering exercise and the
involved in non-specialist tasks. Some 15% of implementation of a new Customer Relations
applications were invalid but were not discovered Management system (CRM).
to be until the end of the process.
Current methods of work were identified and
Headline efficiency gains analysed, new links from front to back office were
The council has streamlined the process to such established and processes are being integrated
an extent that staff are now able to register and with ICT systems. Service managers now have real
validate a planning application within half a day, time management information on workload
with some applications taking just 90 minutes. All planning and service level agreements.
registration and validation is now being handled by
one person. The council has added a ‘service completion’
level to all processes: for example, every 100
Performance management information for applications dealt with can automatically generate
December 2005 showed that the service area now a customer satisfaction survey being sent out.
handles 100% of planning applications on time. All responses are monitored real time in the CRM
database.
This exercise has freed up more time for specialist
skills to concentrate on caseloads and has created Key to the success of the project was employing
more time to negotiate with applicants for better a transition and process champion who was a
quality development. Efficiencies far exceed the member of staff from the service area, responsible
totals required under the Gershon review. for understanding the processes, carrying out
business as usual and managing the transition.
Lessons learned Next steps 27
Staffordshire Moorlands District Council highlights The council has continued its customer centric
several key points: approach and will shortly have a new call centre
Not to underestimate the training and internal operational. The call centre aims to handle all first
communication resources that will be needed. line and general enquiries, with 80% of all calls
handled at this first point of contact.
Change management is an enormous challenge.
Success breeds success, so look for the quick
wins that can easily be implemented.
Metrics are key. You can’t manage what you
don’t control and you can’t control what you
don’t measure!
Transferability
The council took this template and used it across
other areas of the council’s services with slight
modifications. As it stands it could easily be
transferred to other councils who wish to focus
on customer service and deliver quick wins and
sustainable efficiencies.
The technology used in this programme has been To find out more, contact:
purchased in partnership with other authorities in
Staffordshire to achieve economies of scale. The Iain Badger Business Improvement Manager,
council has been a lead authority on this project Staffordshire Moorlands District Council
and will transfer all experiences to its partners so 01538 483 705
they may learn first hand. iain.badger@staffsmoorlands.gov.uk
Andy Hancox
The council has been involved in the national CRM West Midlands Regional Centre of Excellence
project and has been recognised for its work in 01527 839 200
efficiency monitoring. ahancox@wmcoe.gov.uk
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Showcasing good practice from around the country
FOURTEEN
Regional collaboration brings
spend clarity
28 The 51 local authorities in the South West are Objectives
collectively responsible for several billion pounds Whilst spend analysis is not a new concept,
worth of spend. Many of these authorities are this particular analysis is unique in its scale and
already successfully analysing their spend and collaboration. Its overall aim is clear: to achieve
achieving significant efficiencies. But while wider efficiencies through greater collaboration.
achievements are being made on an individual There were a number of associated objectives:
basis, even greater benefits could be generated Complement existing efficiency achievements
from providing opportunities for collaboration with by allowing greater and more structured
other authorities in a structured way. collaboration between local authorities.
In 2005, the South West Steering Group and the Provide a region-wide picture of spend to ensure
Regional Centre of Excellence undertook a spend even greater efficiencies can be made both within
analysis that was ground-breaking in its collaboration and between local authorities.
and structure. The analysis has since gone on to Provide greater foresight for local authorities,
provide greater clarity and add to existing allowing them to plan their resources.
efficiencies for local authorities across the regions.
The online database now contains spend analysis of A step-by-step guide
33 South West and 20 South East local authorities. Step 1 Identify a need
Twelve months ago the South West Steering Group
Prior to the analysis, local authority spending in the and the Regional Centre of Excellence met with
South West mirrored that of many other regions local authorities from across the region to identify
across the UK. There was no overall picture of priority areas for the coming year. It was clear that
spend across the region and, in rare cases, no clear greater clarity and vision regarding both local
indication of spend for individual authorities. By authority and cross-regional spend was needed,
providing the necessary research and data, the and the Regional Centre of Excellence engaged
South West Steering Group and the Regional Centre Exor Management Services to carry out an analysis.
of Excellence aimed to allow local authorities to
easily identify opportunities for structured Step 2 Provide a blueprint
collaboration, adding to and complementing The Regional Centre of Excellence worked with
achievements already made on an individual basis. Exor to identify a mix of 12 county councils,
district and unitary authorities from across the
region for whom a 12 month spend analysis could
be undertaken.
Step 3 Regional roll-out
Once the analysis had been successfully undertaken
with a select number of local authorities, it was
made available through an on-line browser
database and the opportunity to participate was
opened out to all authorities in the region.
“As a snap-shot this analysis gives greater Over 10,000 suppliers account for the other 29
visibility than we’ve ever had before. It also 90% of spend.
gives a better benchmark for levels of local 650,000 transactions cost councils £6-£12 million
trade with SMEs than we’ve ever had before. a year. £3 million of this could be saved by
Members see this analysis as pivotal in making transaction processes more efficient.
directing future work streams.”
Clare Dunwell Procurement Manager, Next steps
Salisbury District Council The South West Steering Group, the Regional
Centre of Excellence and local authorities are
Benefits and achievements committed to translating the data that they have
Although still in its early stages, the analysis has collated into real efficiencies on the ground.
already assisted in a number of regional
achievements: E-procurement workshops are underway across
34 out of the 51 local authorities in the region the region which are making full use of the
have already signed up to the system and are spend analysis data to make a business case
benefiting from the clarity that it provides. for change.
The analysis has provided a real tool for A best practice procurement programme is being
collaborative working with access to shared started to examine the value in a strategic
suppliers and spend. approach in managing long-term, cross-authority
All sizes and scale of authority are benefiting suppliers.
from the analysis as it has been funded by the
South West Steering Group and the Regional
Centre of Excellence and provided free of charge.
The analysis has provided the necessary data To find out more, contact:
to form a strong business case for change, Julian Morley
encouraging top-tier authorities to look at the South West Regional Centre of Excellence
collaborative opportunities. 01305 757 230
j.morley@dorsetcc.gov.uk
Greater data clarity
89% of the South West supply base are SMEs.
62% of the South West spend is with SMEs.
10% (£120 million) is spent with 22 large suppliers.
1-2% savings could be gained through
collaborative relationship management.
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How gains were made and how they
Showcasing good practice from around the country
were measured
A Better Services, Better Systems Team was set up,
FIFTEEN seconding people from across social care and
recruiting specialists from outside social care. The
team worked with existing service users, carers and
staff to identify the processes that service users had
to go through to obtain social care services, then
worked with other councils to identify best practice.
Focus groups with partners aimed to see what
information both obtained from service users that
could be shared to reduce bureaucracy.
The team aimed to reduce accommodation running
costs and unnecessary administrative processes to
enable social workers to be more mobile and
flexible with their work. They worked to reduce the
Better Services, need for manual filing and making information
available to professionals at the point they need it,
Better Systems thus reducing bureaucracy and improving service
delivery. Improvement targets included increasing
for Social Services the number of processes that could be carried out
electronically, increasing the number of customers
that had their problems resolved at first point of
30 Two years ago, 60% of calls made to contact and reducing the time staff spent on
Worcestershire County Council’s Social Services paperwork.
were nothing to do with social care and there were
over 40 different access points to Social Services ICT and accommodation
leading to inconsistency for service users. And not The team is reducing the number of physical
to mention 19 IT systems. Social workers spent less locations into three larger bases, supported by more
time with the service user and more time on flexible and mobile ways of working. The team also
paperwork. introduced hand held PCs which allow managers
access to wireless email, internet access and
The Better Services, Better Systems programme mobile phone calls, as well as ‘real time’
was set up to examine the way the infrastructure for synchronisation with the user’s desk top PC.
social care was delivered. The programme covered
several projects with the common goal ‘to begin These changes have reduced the costs of
and end with an understanding of what matters to accommodation and created a better working
service users and carers.’ environment for staff. Use of the hand held
technology has saved managers considerable
“As far as joint working is concerned, I think amounts of time during the working day. In order
that it would be a good idea if we could have to prepare staff for increased use of computers the
just one universal claim form to complete. department implemented an extensive IT training
I get writer’s cramp filling in the client’s name programme in conjunction with LearnDirect, leading
and address as many as 18 times in one visit to the delivery of over 900 courses.
and the clients think that it is bureaucracy
gone mad!” Blue badge service
Finance and Benefits Officer The blue badge service had been operated by two
separate teams, each operating different systems.
Headline efficiency gain For automatic qualification the badges were sent
The Better Services, Better Systems programme out within two to three weeks of receiving the
overall has made savings in excess of £5 million forms, and if the application was discretionary
while improving the quality of services delivered to customers had to attend a clinic to be assessed,
service users. One project, the improvements to the which could take up to eight weeks.
blue badge service, has planned gains of £195,200
for 2005/06 and for 2006/07, as well as reducing In April 2005, the blue badge service was integrated
processing time from several weeks to just 30 into the Worcestershire Hub – a partnership
minutes, thereby giving applicants a much better between the County Council and the District and
service. Borough Councils, which has service centres in
all the districts. A training programme for the 100
advisers in the service centres has ensured a Next steps 31
consistent level of service. Customers can walk As with many large programmes, most of the
into the centres and walk out with their blue badge. benefits will only be realised after the final ICT
Forms and guidelines are available on line and initiatives are delivered as social care staff get used
customers can also get their identification to new ways of working and more electronic means
photographs taken in the centre ensuring that for delivering services and information. The
everything can be handled in one place. challenge is to ensure those benefits are maximised
in the shortest possible time.
Results
Service users have one telephone number to call, Transferability
no matter where they live in the county. They can Worcestershire County Council has recognised
visit their local One Stop Shop if they want their that the outcomes from the programme could be
enquiry to be dealt with in person. applied across a lot more areas within and outside
the council and is actively looking to develop some
Only calls relating to social care get through to of the initiatives in other areas and in partnership
the department and currently 29% of calls are with other agencies.
resolved at the first point of contact.
Service users provide information once and that
is distributed to the relevant people, thereby
speeding up the process.
To find out more, contact:
Redirected administrative duties and a reduction
in paper-based systems enable social workers Charles Huntington Programme Manager,
to spend more time with the service user. Better Services, Better Systems
The blue badge service is dealt within 30 01905 728 674
minutes at the One Stop Shop and the customer chuntington@worcestershire.gov.uk
service officers complete the forms. Katie Collins Project Manager,
Better Services, Better Systems
Lessons learned 01905 728 584
No matter how much time is spent consulting kcollins@worcestershire.gov.uk
and communicating with colleagues, change Andy Hancox
management and communication are the keys to West Midlands Regional Centre of Excellence
successful delivery of any business transformation 01527 839 200
programme and the effort should not be ahancox@wmcoe.gov.uk
underestimated. It is also essential to have
committed and strong leadership and support
throughout the department.
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Bringing a unique approach to efficiency
and improvement
The Regional Centres
of Excellence
32 The nine Regional Centres of Excellence are the
lead change agents for local government efficiency.
What sets them apart from other agencies are four
invaluable attributes.
Collaboration
They are uniquely placed to bring together local
authorities, the wider public sector and other
partners to develop shared working.
Accountable governance
They are owned by, hosted by and run for local
government.
Programme management expertise
They complement existing capacity where it exists
and can add new capacity where it doesn’t.
Results focussed
Outcomes are what matters, not reports.
It’s these qualities that are giving the Regional
Centres of Excellence a growing reputation for
success. They are working with councils throughout
the country to secure millions of pounds in
efficiencies that are being re-invested in better
front line services.
A time for delivery
Regional Centres of Excellence:
strategic priorities
East of England Regional Centre of Excellence East Midlands Regional Centre of Excellence 33
www.eastspace.net/eecpe www.emce.gov.uk
01603 704 010 0115 977 3875
Regional Director Steve Holland Regional Director Chris Allison
steve.holland@norfolk.gov.uk chris.allison@nottscc.gov.uk
Establish a Market Intelligence Service as part Focus on the delivery of the priority workstreams,
of the National Market Intelligence Service which namely procurement, social care (adults’ and
will result in specific proposals for all 54 local childrens’ services), environmental services,
authorities in the Eastern Region on how to corporate and transactional services and
achieve cash efficiency in commodities, goods construction.
and services procurement.
Complete the substantial majority of existing
Offer an efficiency review service for large projects.
authorities in the region setting out specific
proposals for efficiency gain. Approve sub-regional block grant projects
and roll out across the region.
Complete the work already started on the
childrens’ and adults’ care markets, putting Roll out research findings, showcase good
forward specific proposals for achieving practice and promote innovative thinking.
efficiency gain.
Revisit project benefits and savings using the
Support the implementation of new ways of RSe return on investment model.
delivering revenues and benefits services
Complete phase 1 of the national construction
following the region’s major revenues and
project and seek agreement to roll out phase 2.
benefits project.
Improve marketing and communications.
As part of the national programme, promote
and deliver e-auctions and the uptake of p-cards Implement arrangements for the East Midlands
and electronic P2P (procure to pay). Improvement Partnership and agree a
programme of activity and success measures.
Promote and provide help to authorities to
migrate expenditure to better contracts in postal
services, energy and other commodities.
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London Regional Centre of Excellence North East Regional Centre of Excellence
www.lcpe.gov.uk www.nece.gov.uk
020 7934 9967 0191 433 2257
Regional Director Ken Cole Regional Director David Wright
ken.cole@alg.gov.uk davidwright@gateshead.gov.uk
Implement the review of the London Contracts Map and identify shared service opportunities,
and Supplies Group. understand governance options, share good
practice and assist live projects.
Second marketing and communications survey.
Progress regional childrens’ services
Develop and activate the members’ section commissioning and improve efficiencies in
of the web site, including on-line provision of pathways to adult care.
summary expenditure analysis, knowledge centre
on management consultancy and agency rates Progress projects which establish collaborative
and London Observatory. waste minimisation, collection, recycling and
disposal.
34
Roll out contracts register service to boroughs.
Increase change management and procurement
National lead on the implementation of standard skills, build organisational efficiency and improve
local government procurement classification. collaborative techniques.
National lead on project to contain and reduce Develop a regional public sector approach to
energy costs. procurement spend analysis, e-procurement,
collaborative procurement, shared procurement
National lead on pilot project to understand requirements, supplier engagement and
and overcome barriers to achieving telephony sustainable procurement.
savings.
Benchmark construction performance and
National lead on project to reduce ICT productivity, develop the regional Building
hardware costs. Schools for the Future Network and promote
frameworks and partnerships.
National lead on project to reduce social
housing expenditure. Ensure detailed programmes of projects,
including outcomes and estimated cashable
Partnership in Parking exemplar project to and non-cashable efficiencies.
introduce efficiencies in boroughs’ car parking
services. National lead for delivering efficiencies from
Supporting People projects, cultural and leisure
Shared services feasibility study. services, schools procurement and improving
local authorities sustainable procurement
including SME/VCS engagement.
North West Regional Centre of Excellence South East Regional Centre of Excellence
www.nwce.org.uk www.sece.gov.uk
0161 342 4080 01622 696 317
Regional Director Colin Cram Regional Director Andrew Larner
colin.cram@tameside.gov.uk andrew.larner@kent.gov.uk
Identify, promote and develop procurement Identify case studies that provide quick wins for
structures and solutions to help local authorities South East authorities.
deliver business more effectively.
Establish an efficiency awards scheme to
Enable effective partnerships to gain economies encourage sharing of best practice.
of scale, spread best practice and build capacity
and expertise. Complete procurement of the procurement portal
and roll it out to authorities in the region.
Develop the consolidated support to North West
authorities through a strong regional Complete procurement of the buildings
improvement network. construction framework and roll it out to
35
authorities in the region.
Develop effective structures and partnerships to
deliver priorities in the national workstreams. Complete construction of the waste
management portal.
Link the work carried out in the North West to
the overarching work plans developed by the Move forward sub-regional clusters of back
National Leads to ensure maximum use of office shared services from business case to
resources. implementation.
Development and delivery of exemplar projects Support identified sub-regional clusters in the
in the region and link to other exemplar projects. procurement of waste management services.
Promote knowledge transfer through the use of Roll out implementation of the pricing model for
tools and resources that will help authorities adult learning difficulties.
realise benefits.
Roll out best practice from the first phase
Provide frameworks for measuring benefits. analysis of the procurement of commodities,
goods and services.
Identify immediate cash savings and reduce
the need for taxis in social care.
Develop buy-in to new organisational and
governance models for joint working.
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South West Regional Centre of Excellence Yorkshire and the Humber Regional Centre of
www.swce.gov.uk Excellence
01305 757 230 www.yhcoe.rcoe.gov.uk
Regional Director Julian Morley 0113 247 5252
j.morley@dorsetcc.gov.uk Regional Director Tony Wiltshire
tony.wiltshire@leeds.gov.uk
Deliver the agreed programme of collaborative
projects in the priority areas of procurement, Continue to bring together the efficiency
property construction, childrens’ services champions in the Regional Efficiency Forum
(looked after children) and adult services and offer training where appropriate.
(learning disability) by March 2007.
Develop further efficiencies by supporting
Drive best practice and support in areas not relevant initiatives including collaborative
specifically supported by project programmes. projects, particularly those with exemplary
features.
Develop stronger links with the South West
improvement programme. Facilitate special interest groups such as NNDR,
36
construction procurement and mobile working.
Deploy additional funding to support local
authorities in the areas of corporate and shared Encourage strategic partnering and joint service
services and environmental services. delivery and support authorities that seek to
modernise in more traditional ways.
Help local authorities to re-think service delivery
West Midlands Regional Centre of Excellence and take up collaborative ways of working in
www.wmcoe.gov.uk ways to suit their circumstances.
01527 839 200
Regional Director Andy Hancox
ahancox@wmcoe.gov.uk
Co-locate with the Regional Improvement
Partnership to form the Regional Improvement
and Efficiency Partnership Board.
Sustain organisational capacity building and
development across the region.
Support training and cultural change to embrace
new ways of working.
Focus funding on projects and programmes,
namely childrens’ services, waste management,
corporate and transactional services (including
business process re-engineering) and
procurement.
Continue to work with other centres and change
agents to ensure that pilot projects and
innovations are shared.
Support work on national strands from within
the West Midlands region.
March 2006
