North West Centre of Excellence

News Update

Week Ending 17th March 2006

Purchase Spend Analysis

We would like to remind you that as part of the support for Purchase Spend Analysis, NWCE will sponsor individual councils with grants available for authorities in the North West who wish to take part in their own spend analysis exercise.  Amounts available are to £2,000 for District Authorities, £3,000 for Metropolitan and Unitary Authorities and £5,000 for County Councils. 

Several Councils have already introduced spend analysis that meet the criteria and they will be able to apply retrospectively for funding, provided that their data can be shared with the rest of the region.  

It is important that we are able to aggregate analyses across the region to develop a picture of expenditure by region, sub-region and local groupings of councils.  Providers must be able to produce analyses by supplier, number of transactions, commodity, and expenditure with SMEs and companies based in the North West.  This will provide an economic footprint of purchasing for the North West, sub-regionally and by council and enable the impact of procurement decisions and policies to be assessed.

To view the application form please click here.

Efficiency Guidance 2006 and Baseline Calculations

ODPM have produced guidance for Leaders, Chief Executives and Heads of Service.  A guide to completing annual efficiency statements including a model AES statement is can be accessed using below along with a One Year On report examining the progress made in the last year. A document is also attached explaining the way the new efficiency baseline and targets for councils have been calculated.  Please click here.

Delivering Efficiency: Strengthening the links in public service delivery chains

This study analyses the different ways public services are delivered, examines the nature of the links between partners in public service delivery chains, and explores how these can be made more efficient and effective. It recommends that government departments and their delivery partners ask themselves 12 key questions to help them understand their capacity to deliver efficient and effective public services.  Please click here.

Zero Based Budgeting

Tom Lewis, from CIPFA, explores the concept of Zero Based Budgeting and how it can be applied to increase efficiency in Government.  To read the whole article, click here.

Working together to deliver public services

New advice and guidance for voluntary and community organisations (VCOs) thinking about working in partnership to deliver public services is available from the Collaborative Working Unit (CWU) at the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO).  For more information click here.

Third Sector Public Service Delivery

Liam Byrne MP lays out the Government's plans for the involvement of the third sector in the delivery of health and social care services.  To read the whole article, click here.  

Performance Management Case Studies 

Many local authorities have worked hard to improve their performance management to deliver better services for local people. This page has case studies from both the PMMI action research authorities and councils have chosen to share their stories with the Performance Management, Measurement and Information (PMMI) team.   Please click here.

Leadership: one year on

Four councillors reflect on how participating in the IDeA's Leadership Academy has developed their understanding of personal, political, and organisational leadership, and helped them to fulfil their role as ‘enablers of the community’.  Please click here.

OGC guidance note on 10-day mandatory standstill period for public sector contracts now available

To comply with the European Court of Justice judgments against Austria, and after detailed negotiations with the European Commission, the mandatory 10-day standstill requirement has been incorporated into the new procurement regulations. Please click here for further information.

Video case study: Lambeth automates online services for efficiency

“This is a key area in which we are looking to build on the efficiency agenda. The more transactions we can automate, the more transactions we can put into customers’ hands, the quicker and easier it is for us to focus our investments in other areas.”  Find out how GovernmentConnect is helping Lambeth tackle this challenge by giving citizens a secure way to authenticate themselves in order to receive services online. Find out more by clicking here (Registration to this website is required). 

EVENTS

Esourcing Event – 21^st March 2006 – POSTPONED

The eSourcing event planned for 21^st March has been postponed.  It was felt that the event would be of more value after the regional eProcurement work plan for 2006/2007 had been formalized. A new date will be made available shortly.

Marketplace - 17^th May 2006

An insight into how marketplaces reduce time, transaction costs and service delivery. Issues such as freeing-up of resources and allowing access to wider, more diverse markets will also be considered. Places still available but limited.  For further information please contact NWCE.

eMarketplace Integration - 6^th June 2006

The session will include a detailed look at the integration of marketplaces including how integration could provide access to a wider range of supplier catalogues and reduce the costs of supplier adoption.   Limited places till available.  For further information please contact NWCE.

Helping Managers Deliver Efficiencies - 4Ps Middle Tier Manager Training

These events have proved very popular and successful.  As a result it is envisaged that a further event will be arranged for the end of May 2006 at a venue to be confirmed (possibly Preston).  Further information will be distributed in early course.  In the meantime please contact NWCE for further information.

Australian e-Gov Experience Workshop

Friday 31st of March, Manchester

The Australian Trade Commission is hosting this FREE workshop at The Australian Trade Commission, Midlands & North of England, (Peter House, Manchester) on the morning of Friday the 31st of March.

Consistently ranked in the top five for eGovernment maturity in major surveys, Australia has a proven reputation for delivering services successfully to citizens using technology, and the Australian Trade Commission has been working for a number of years to introduce this experience to the UK local government community.

This workshop aims to highlight key learnings from Australia’s local e-government community and will give you the opportunity of learning how the issues of interest to you are being faced by local authorities in Australia.

These will include Shared services

Delivering efficiency through supplier management

Freeing up council facilities for citizen use

The workshop is hosted by Acumentum and will include an invited UK council who have used their system EasyBiz.  To find out more, see the case study.

You can also see the live site at www.easybiz.vic.gov.au.

For further information, and to book a place please contact Matthew Morgan, Australian Trade Commissioner, Midlands & North of England.

For further information about the above events please click here, or email NWCE.