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Related Links News Updates |
News Update Week Ending 10 November 2006
North West Councils bring Hammer Down on £10M Savings!
At a recent NWeGG event - ‘Transforming Local Services’ - both Ian Watmore head of the Prime Minster’s delivery unit, and John Suffolk Government chief information officer, highlighted the importance of e-auctions in obtaining efficiency savings.
Their comments follow several e-auction successes recorded by local authorities, supported by the NWCE, that have saved £10million for 12 councils.
The local authorities entered into auctions for £30million worth of equipment scoring annual savings of more than 30 per cent over the next four years.
The auctions were held for £8million of IT hardware, £16million of stationery and IT consumables and office furniture worth £6 million.
They involved five councils in a Merseyside collaboration for the stationery and IT consumables contracts, the same five councils for the office furniture contract which was hosted by Liverpool City Council and nine councils working together for the IT hardware contracts.
Getting Started on Shared Services – 4Ps A Programme for Members and Senior Managers
The Efficiency Review, the Local Government White Paper and the forthcoming CSR07 are challenging authorities to look for inventive ways of sharing corporate, transactional and professional services including HR, ICT, Finance and Revenues and Benefits.
In order for these critical projects to get off the ground and deliver the envisaged benefits, members and senior managers need to understand the range of shared service delivery models. Additionally, they need to recognise the implications of the political, cultural and workforce issues associated with the options open to them.
The Getting Started on Shared Services workshops have been designed in conjunction with the Local Government Employers and the IDeA. The programme of workshops assists authorities in developing a realistic vision, achievable outcomes and robust business cases, to enable them to deliver shared service projects more efficiently and effectively.
The Getting Started on Shared Services workshops aim to provide the Members and Senior Managers of authorities with an understanding of different types of partnering and collaboration. It explores shared services, governance and workforce issues, enabling the senior team to lead Shared Corporate and Transactional Services projects successfully.
The NWCE plan to host three sub-regional Getting Started on Shared Services workshop events early next year. If your authority would be interested in attending these events please contact Beverley Brooks at the NWCE as soon as possible. If enough interest is evident we will advise of dates and venues in the near future.
IDeA – How are councils progressing with the children’s services agenda?
The Improvement and Development Agency’s (IDeA) recent stock take on children’s services development, post-Children Act reorganisation, has revealed that significant changes have been initiated but that local authorities and service users may not see some of the effects for years.
Councils are confident, however, that the changes started will have profound effects on both service users and providers. Young people, local authorities and their service provider partners are already benefiting from some of the changes.
New guide to Procuring Care and Support Services
This guide is designed to help non-procurement professionals who need to procure (or purchase) services for people who need care and support.
Download the Guide to Procuring Care and Support Services
LocalGovTV - Transforming Local Government
This special "Transforming Local Government" programme provides a senior management guide to The Cabinet Office's Transformational Government Strategy and the opportunities it presents for Local Authorities and Public Services to achieve a step change in service quality, efficiency and cost savings. To watch follow this link - http://www.egovtv.tv/programmes/Transformational%20Government%20for%20Local%20Authorities
Guidance on Procuring School Lunches
New guidance intended for all stakeholders who have responsibility for providing school food. This is particularly useful for schools and governors but also of interest to local authorities.
Guidance on Procuring School Lunches
Put your Council in the Picture!
The NWCE are looking for photographs of our region which will be shown on our website. We are keen that all areas of the North West are represented. As such we would be grateful if you could contact the relevant department within your authority and ask if any pictures of local landmarks could be shared with us. Information / photographs should be sent to Beverley Brooks at the NWCE.
National Framework Agreement for Telecare Awareness Day – 14.11.2006
The NFA for Telecare - Awareness Day is an essential event for all professionals involved in providing telecare services. The conference will raise awareness of the NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency telecare national framework agreement and how the agreement supports the development of telecare in England. If you are interested two dates & locations are available:
For a detailed programme and how to register, follow this link.
eInvoicing Visit – 16.11.2006
The NWCE is please to be supporting an open day with the eInvoicing provider, OB10. The day will allow North West authorities to see how eInvoicing could work for in practice and discuss some of the issues that they may be facing. The visit will take place on Thursday 16th November from 10.30am to 2.30pm at their offices in London. If you would like further details or to register attendance please email joe.cunningham@ob10.com or contact the NWCE.
NWCE Standards Workstream – Next Meeting
The next meeting of the NWCE Standards workstream has been arranged for 20th November, at Ashton Town Hall. For further information about this workstream please contact Beverley Brooks at the NWCE.
Government Procurement Service (GPS) Conference - Manchester – 23.11.2006 Manchester United Football Club conference centre
The next in the 2006 series of regional Government Procurement Service (GPS) conferences takes place on 23 November at Manchester United Football Club's conference centre.
The agenda can be viewed by clicking on this link - GPS conference agenda - 23 November 2006, Manchester
Attendance at the Government Procurement Service conferences in November 2006 are by invitation and are only open to the public sector, however to request a registation form to attend the event, or for further information, please contact the OGC Service Desk – tel 0845 0004999; email: ServiceDesk@ogc.gsi.gov.uk
For further information please click here.
Improving the Local Provision of Culture and Sport – Workshop 27.11.2006 – 9am to 1pm
A workshop on improving the local provision of culture and sport is being run by the Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) in conjunction with the North West Centre of Excellence. The event is aimed at the chief cultural heads of service in each local authority, but we also welcome the attendance of other interested local authority officers and elected members responsible for culture and sport. Please pass this invitation onto any other appropriate people.
Details of the agenda for the day will be available in the near future.
This is an opportunity for you to discuss your experience of the Efficiency Programme and other performance management issues such as CPA (Comprehensive Performance Assessment), and learn from the lessons of other local authorities. The event will focus on the ways in which efficiency gains have been found in culture, sport, library, and tourism provision and subsequently recycled into frontline services that meet the public’s priorities. This workshop will therefore assist you to ensure that the gains made in the Gershon Efficiency Programme actually lead to genuine improvements in the procurement and delivery of these services within your council.
The workshops will be led by the head of the Local Government Efficiency Programme at DCMS, and will provide an ideal opportunity to take advantage of the expertise of the North West RCE to identify good practice in the delivery of culture and leisure services and make the improvement agenda work for you.
You will also find out more about the priorities and the landscape confronting local authorities as they embark upon the third year of the efficiency review in 2007-08. This will feature a discussion of the impact of the Culture Services assessment within the CPA, the introduction of Regional Commentaries and the implications of self assessment on local authority spending and performance.
For further information or if you would like to attend please contact Cathy Page, Head of Evidence and Communication, Regional and Local Govt Unit, DCMS – Tel: 0207 2116491; email cathy.page@culture.gsi.gov.uk
Practical Process & Efficiency using ABC Workshop 28.11.06
Following the success of the
last NWeGG, ABC workshop which took place in July, there has been a huge demand
to run another workshop with Roger Cooper from Valueadding.com .
High Cost Placements Project (Health and Social Care Programme Board) ‘Think Tank’ Meeting – 29.11.2006, Wigan Investment Centre
The second feedback meeting following the data gathering exercise for high cost adult placements is taking place on 29th November at Wigan Investment Centre, from 10am to 12 noon. Invites have been distributed to the contact list we have, however if you would like further information about this project, or the meeting, please contact Beverley Brooks at the NWCE.
Centre for Local Governance Launch - 29.11.2006, Manchester University
The Centre for Local Governance will be launched at a reception following the NWIN Strategic Board at 4:15pm at the Centre's offices as the University of Manchester.
The launch marks the start of a unique multi-million pound partnership between the Northwest Local authorities, Fire and Rescue Service and The University of Manchester.
Look out for the invitations to the launch being sent out soon.
White Paper discussion – 29.11.2006, Centre for Local Governance
NWIN and the Centre for Local Governance are pleased to announce that they are hosting a discussion on the Local Government White paper published on Thursday 26th October. Date: Wednesday 29th November 2006 Time: 1:00pm - 2:30pm Venue: Centre for Local Governance Invitations to this exciting event led by Professor Gerry Stoker will be sent out soon. For more information please contact Jez Lloyd.
Beacon Open Day – ‘Valuing People’ Rotherham MBC 29.11.2006, Rotherham Town Hall
Rotherham MBC is proud of enabling people with Learning Disabilities to have the things that really matter to them, including:
Attend Rotherham’s Open Day and find out how they are offering a Learning Disability Service that is service user focused. Rotherham’s service users will help them to show the successes of the Learning Disability Service. You’ll be able to experience and enjoy learning about some of the projects Rotherham helps to support, including ‘SpeakUp Self Advocacy’.
For further information and/or to attend this exciting event, download the invitation; agenda and booking form.
Buy Recycled in Waste Facility Construction 06.12.2006
Envirolink Northwest http://www.envirolinknorthwest.co.uk/ (a not for profit company set up by the NWDA to promote, strengthen and support the environmental technologies and services sector in England's Northwest), is staging a free event called ‘Buy Recycled in Waste Facility Construction’. The event is taking place at the Warrington Wolves rugby ground, the Halliwell Jones Stadium, on the morning of the 6th December 2006.
The event will focus on the various reasons why recycled products and materials should be specified and used in the construction of the numerous waste management facilities that Disposal Authorities, Unitaries and Collection Authorities will need to build to meet the demands of increased waste and recyclables collection and materials sorting.
As well as three keynote speakers (Barbara Morton - Project Manager for the Sustainable Procurement Task Force, Carl Beer - Director of Merseyside Waste Disposal Authority and a member of WRAP's Procurement and Construction team), there will be approximately 15 exhibitor companies who are either manufacturing recycled content products for or using them in related construction projects.
Contact Linda McGeechan. 01925 813 200 or e-mail events@envirolinknorthwest.co.uk
NWCE Health and Social Care Programme Board – Next Meeting – 08.12.2006
The next meeting of the NWCE Health and Social Care Programme Board will take place on 8th December 2006 at 10.00am at Wigan Investment Centre. For further information about this programme board please contact Beverley Brooks at NWCE.
For further information about NWCE events please see the EVENTS SECTION of the NWCE website.
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