80% of Scotland'spublic sector adopt Shared Service approach
Date : 18 February 2008
- Ten year agreement with Serco will improve services and value for money for residents -
Glasgow City Council today signed a pioneering joint venture to improve services with public service providers Serco. The Council's Executive Committee agreed the ten year partnership which will improve services for Glasgow citizens through joined-up, cost efficient delivery of first class property and Information Communication and Technology (ICT) services. This landmark contract is valued at £265.5m.
An estimated saving of over £70m is set to be achieved as a result of this ground breaking Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) agreement.
The LLP, seen as the first of its kind between a public sector and private sector organisation, creates a true partnership with both parties holding an equal share. The strategic direction is set by the Partnership Board, chaired by Glasgow City Council, whereas Serco holds operational control of the day-to-day services.
Duncan Mackison has been named as chief executive of the new partnership. He is relocating back to Glasgow, where he went to school and spent time serving as a Royal Marine. Previously he led the development of Serco opportunities in the Police and Civil Resilience markets. Prior to joining Serco, Duncan ran Health, Education and BPO businesses in other organisations.
Mackison says: "Glasgow is leading the way, creating a true partnership between the public and the private sector to deliver services and improvements. I am looking forward to ensuring this innovative organisation delivers for the people of Scotland's biggest city."
Key benefits of the unique collaboration are:
Realising 20% efficiency savings by introducing first class ICT services built around strong delivery and performance management. Rationalisation of property and process improvements will also increase business effectiveness.
Introduction of community hubs - giving citizens fast and easy access to council services by bringing council staff into the heart of the very communities they serve. The hubs will also act as a focal point for regenerating communities throughout Glasgow, as well as reducing the council's city centre office capacity by 35%. Importantly, this concept will bring environmental benefits through shorter journeys for both citizens and staff. New buildings will provide modern working environments with a lower carbon footprint.
Investment in employees by providing flexible ICT (allowing hot-desking and home-working) will help to ensure the very best services are delivered to the public over the long term.
Another distinctive aspect of this partnership is the employment flexibility it allows employees. Staff joining from Glasgow City Council can choose to either transfer to the employment by the partnership, or to continue to be employed by the Council whilst seconded to the partnership.
George Black, Chief Executive of Glasgow City Council said:
"Glasgow City Council is determined to provide the best services to our citizens while ensuring value for money. This radical new partnership will ensure that our customers have easier access to the services they rely on and help our staff to deliver those services."
Kevin Lavery, Chief Executive for Serco Solutions explains: "For Serco this is a long-term commitment to the city of Glasgow. We will support and develop all employees that are part of this new partnership. We are looking forward to making a difference to Glasgow's citizens, communities, and businesses."
Date : 14 March 2008
- Top public officials report on shared service experience -
The vast majority of Scotland's public sector (80%), from local authorities and health boards to government bodies and agencies, have one or more shared service agreement in place according to a Serco and Chartered Institute of Public Finance & Accounting (CIPFA) survey - 'Shared Services in Scotland: The £750m question' - carried out by Ipsos MORI.
The survey gauges the attitude of senior public officials in Scotland's public sector to the 'sharing of services' within or between local authorities and other local service providers i.e. police, fire, hospitals.
The results of this Serco/CIPFA survey reveal that:
- 44% saw the shared service agenda as positive with only eight percent reporting they were unhappy with the principle of shared services
- 65% mentioned cost savings as a key benefit of shared services
- 63% mentioned more efficient and consistent services as a benefit
. Key areas of activity that were most likely to benefit were procurement (92%), IT (85%), facilities management (76%), human resources (75%), property (74%), finance (68%) and legal (48%). - 63% of those questioned were considering use of shared services on 'front line' services. This increases to 88% for local authorities and decreases to 27% for health boards.
The senior officials questioned, including CEOs, Director of Finance and Director of Corporate Services, reported the following key benefits of shared services:
- Enables a better service to be provided
- Centralises expertise
- More efficiency and cost savings through a common approach
- Improve quality of service
- Allows us to invest more resource in front line services
- Delivers economies of scale
The barriers noted tended to be emotive with a perceived loss of control and the difficulties of working with different cultures and agendas mentioned. There was an indication that, in order to take shared services forward, guidance or examples of how to overcome these issues is key.
Most respondents (66%) felt that the policy position was clear on shared services, however a significant minority felt that it was 'not particularly clear' or 'not clear at all' which suggests that greater awareness of successes might help.
Kevin Lavery, CEO Serco Solutions says: "Delivering service excellence is arguably on the mission statement of most, if not all, public service strategy documents. Recipients of the services - citizens, businesses and other organisations, are increasingly demanding more of their public services, yet are increasingly indifferent to their source. What they uniformly want is good value for money and good customer service. This report has raised some interesting and challenging issues around the implementation of shared services across Scotland. It seems there is a need to share the results of this approach in practice so people fully understand the potential breadth of the benefits."
Angela Scott, Head of CIPFA Scotland adds: "Now is a good time to reflect on the shared services agenda given the change in national and local government across Scotland last year. The focus of the Scottish Government is to agree priorities which will give the best outcomes for people and communities across Scotland. It could be said that the switch to outcomes away from a focus on financial efficiencies is affecting the progress of the shared service agenda. This survey underlines a demand for guidance and understanding."
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