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Headline
News
- Give
mietool a try |
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 COUNCIL
finance directors have been asked to try out a free, new project
tool commissioned by CLG and the Regional Improvement and Efficiency
Partnerships.
One-day
training sessions - also free - have been organised in the region to
show finance directors how mietool can
help assess the efficiency and improvements of potential projects.
mietool
is also designed to help plan and cost projects and allows users to
measure improvement, both to the organisation and to the community
at large, against all the 198 new National Performance Indicators.
Feedback
from pilot sessions of mietool has been
overwhelmingly positive and the majority of delegates said that
using mietool would benefit their council.
Sub-regional
training sessions have now been arranged for the north west
and finance directors have been invited to attend, or send a
representative. To book a place on the training, click on the
relevant sub-regional link.
For
further information contact Rahela Aziz on 0161 342 4080
rahela.aziz@tameside.gov.uk
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 THREE
more north
west councils have now signed up to The
Chest.
Trafford,
Stockport and Rochdale have joined The Chest bringing the number of
participating authorities in the north west to 11. There are
already 900 existing suppliers, and it continues to increase by 100
every week.
Recently
Roger Ellis, chief executive of Rochdale Council, in a speech to
suppliers at a recent Buy Local event, said that The Chest would be
the key route for suppliers looking to win council business in
Rochdale.
Phil
Gardener,
The Chest project manager, said: "The Chest is proving to be highly
popular with suppliers and buyers in the north west."
Future
plans for The Chest will now include looking at ways to bring
smaller councils together to use The Chest rather than paying for
their own individual license, a supplier accreditation facility
to help councils understand if a supplier is big enough to do work
and also whether to have an in-house training capability and a
single point of contact for supplier queries. |
Focus
on a framework - a smoother road to savings
 DREAMING
of a smoother road to savings? This agreement can help north west
councils make savings when buying dense bitumen macadam (DBM).
Produced by the AGMA group, this arrangement is in place for the
supply (but not lay) of DBM and allows for, and has been developed,
for use by all authorities in the north
west.
The
commercial arrangements deliver savings of up to 6.5% against
current rates paid by authorities. And, following the
involvement of many north
west authorities, a reduced list of common
specifications has been agreed, which should reduce workload within
authorities and also allow the suppliers to cut costs.
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 TWO
more councils have taken up the challenge to beat the countdown for
free places on the BPI training courses being offered by the
NWCE.
Trafford
MBC and Wyre
BC have now registered
interest in the training and are looking to take almost 60 places
between them.
The
free training offers an NVQ Level 2 and saves, on average, £6,600
per annum, per participant.
Training
lasts 12 to 16 weeks and takes place at the officers' own place of
work - provided sufficient number of officers from
the authority are taking part. Otherwise, individuals
may be asked to join with a nearby
authorities' training
sessions.
The
latest phase of training started in January 2008 and, although the
funding is due to end in the summer, councils can still apply for
training places. Contact rosemary.ramirez@tameside.gov.uk
A
presentation document which explains the training programme in full
can be found here.
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 THE
North West Shared Services Group is launching CUPID - a database
that will bring councils together so they can collaborate on
projects.
CUPID
will be a mine of information about existing collaborations, a
source of data for joining collaborations and a tool for prompting
further collaborations.
On
April 11, the North West Shared Services Group will launch a survey
to gather all the necessary information to populate CUPID. They will
start by contacting shared services representatives in each
authority.
In
addition, any officer with a.gov.uk email address can supply
relevant data to CUPID but it's vital that, for starters, shared
services representatives supply theirs.
As well as being a
knowledge-base for collaboration, CUPID will also hold a raft of
information, such as CPA scores.
Said
shared services director Rosemary
Ramirez: "When fully populated, CUPID will play a
vital role in bringing councils together to collaborate
successfully
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 THE
final submission for the North West Improvement and Efficiency
Partnership's business plan has been
made to CLG.
The
plan covers the full three-year programme for the breadth of the
partnership's work to be delivered in the region and includes
projects on procurement, transformation, collaboration, members
and workforce development, and improvement.
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 THE
West Midlands Improvement and Efficiency Partnership will be hosting
a free, one-day conference on April 8 called 'Transforming Your
Business Processes'.
To
be held at the National
Motorcycle Museum in West
Midland, this conference will give professionals
first-hand experience in the latest thinking on improving business
practices, including public sector case studies and practical
workshops.
Delegates
will have the opportunity to meet the suppliers of the BPI Framework
Agreement, also known as Lean System Thinking, which can help cut
costs for authorities who use consultants on competitive fixed
rates, and participate in many of the workshops.
To
see the draft agenda and to reserve a place click
here.
For
further information, conatct either David
Neil or Jane Daly on 0121 245
0230. |
Pilot
lands savings success
 THE
pilot phase of the national care pricing toolkit has made savings of
£57,000 on just 100 cases.
The
results have been revealed as final feedback is being gathered from
the 70+ piloting authorities.
Overall,
authorities who took part in the pilot said that the toolkit was
helpful in assisting them in making placement
decisions.
Some
authorities have also reported that they have used the guide costs
generated by the toolkit to justify increasing payments to some
providers.
Final
returns from piloting authorities are now being chased and these
will be analysed and a report prepared in the near
future.
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North
West
Centre of Excellence
Room
5.15, Council Offices, Wellington Road, Ashton-under-Lyne OL6 6DL
www.nwce.gov.uk |
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