| Headline
News
- North
West Shared Services Group |
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As part of the NWCE's commitment to update stakeholders in
project delivery in relation to the formation of the North West
Improvement and Efficiency Partnership, we've turned the spotlight
on the North West Shared Services Programme.
The programme was originally established to look at how local
authorities in the region could work together effectively to deliver
shared services. Now the sub-regions have broadened their approach
and each of their three-year, strategic collaborative services
delivery plans, which are currently being drawn up, include not just
shared services but third party spend and other areas of
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Data delivers the bigger picture
 A MAJOR new
project is being launched by the North West Shared Services
Group.
It will be commissioning the
preparation of a database that will contain information on all
collaborative service delivery across the whole of the region.
Once complete, it will mean that local
authorities will be able to see, at a glance, who has already
undertaken work, in which service areas, and who is interested in
undertaking collaborative work and in which service
areas.
Said Rosemary Ramirez, NWCE programme
director: "The database should encourage and support councils to
work on a range of collaborations."
She added: "Each of the sub-regions has
effective governance in place and the strategies are likely to be
finalised by the end of April 2008. In May the Shared Services
Programme Board will then meet to review and compare the strategies
so that they can identify where small clusters of, say, two or three
sub-regions can work together, and where a specific area of work
would be better served by working
regionally."
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Who runs the show?
There is a Shared Services Programme led by a Shared
Services Programme Board which is made up of two
representatives from each sub-region, chaired by Stephen Barnes from
Pendle BC and is supported by a NWCE programme director Rosemary
Ramirez. Administrative support is provided by Emily Turner
from NWeGG.
The programme has developed a website containing advice,
tools and case studies to help officers across the north west who
are looking at sharing or collaborating over services. It has
also set up and co-ordinated free BPI training that has, so far,
been taken up by over 200 officers across the region.
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So what if I want to know more?
 Officers have a
number of ways in which they can find out more.
- They could contact their Shared Services Board Representative
- They could read the North West Shared Services Programme
submission to the North West Improvement and Efficiency
Partnership to see those areas on which their sub-regions are
expecting to focus in the next three years. Read more
here.
- They could attend the 'What's in it for us?' event on March 4,
2008 at Wigan Investment Centre to hear about work in progress and
before it's too late to input. Click here
to register.
- They could attend the 'What's in it for us?' event on May 13,
2008 at Wigan Investment Centre to hear the outcomes of each of
the sub-region's work and those areas identified by the board for
sub-regional collaboration.
- They could read the programme's bi-monthly newsletter -
ShareIt! The February 2008 issue is available
here.
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Licence to thrill!
 THE NWCE has
launched a project to look at the varying prices paid by local
authorities for Microsoft licensing software.
A preliminary study has already revealed that there are
substantial differences in the amounts being paid by councils for
licenses compared with those established on an OGC bs framework. -
around £30 to £40 per licence.
And a benchmarking exercise has shown that there is a 17
per cent difference in the prices paid for each of three of the most
popular products - Project 2007 Win32 English licence, Publisher
2007 Win32 English licence and Visio Standard 2007 licence.
The project will now explore ways of harmonising the prices
across the region.
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First class advice
 THE regional
TNT postal contract project that was developed by the NWCE is now
being used to help set up a similar project by the West Midlands
Centre of Excellence.
The WMCE started its postal project some months after
the NWCE began theirs. And it's now reached a stage where support
and advice from external sources will be key to the
project.
Neil Hind, the NWCE procurement director who led the
north west postal services project, will be outlining the north west
project to a postal services meeting being held by the WMCE next
week that will outline the future progress of the
project.
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Smokin!
 THE project
being undertaken by seven councils who are collaborating to buy
cremators is hotting up.
A consultant will be appointed to lead the project and be
responsible for areas such as construction design management
regulations and health and safety.
Beatrice Fraser, NWCE project manager, said: "The project
demands a high degree of specialist knowledge and time, hence the
need for a consultant."
Cremators cost around £250,000 and have an approximate shelf
life of 15 years. With many councils in the region having at least
two cremators, the potential for making savings on a collaborative
contract are huge.
Beatrice added: "We want to establish a four-year contract so
that, even if other north west councils aren't looking at imminent
replacement of the cremators, they will still be able to buy at a
later date under our framework."
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Mind your PQQs
 THE Docking
Station continues to expand, with the addition of a new set of
documents for pre-qualification, tender and terms and
conditions.
Produced by the North East Centre of
Excellence (NECE), the documents have been validated and added to
the 40+ documents that already exist on the Docking Station.
The NECE have arranged
two, half-day launch events for these new documents, one focussing
on the public sector and the other on the supply sector. The events
will take place on March 10 and March 11 at the Stadium of
Light in Sunderland.
Further information will be available in the coming
weeks but to register please email nece@gatehead.gov.uk with the subject
heading "HOD Launch Event" Registration is on a first come, first
served basis.
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Focus on a framework - credit where its
due
 Would you
credit it? This agreement can help councils save money when
accepting credit or debit card payments for goods and services from
businesses and the general public.
The new service can be used to accept payments from
customers, suppliers and citizens for a range of goods and services,
including taxation, car parking fees, rent and charity donations,
and is open to all public sector bodies in the UK.
It offers prefential rates for processing card payments
and hiring terminals, improved cashflow, lower administrative costs,
fast and secure transactions, and greater choice and more
convenient payment options for customers.
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Right track for success
 A MAJOR new
project, supported by the NWCE, has won a prestigious award before
it has even been launched!
Right Track North West, the creation of the North West
eGovernment Group (NweGG), has won the Business Process User Group
(BPUG) Congress Awards for Best Management Practice Partnership
Grand Prix. It was given the award for leading-edge innovation in a
user organisation.
The Right Track project is developing a project and
programme manager support centre to help local authorities in the
north west to improve their project and programme management
capabilities.
It is being created after research indicated that 30% of
projects are cancelled before completion and 88% of projects exceed
deadline, budget or both.
Phase 1 of the Right Track north west project has been
completed and phase 2 is now underway.
Click
here to learn more about the RightTrack North West
programme of
work. |
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Contract killings
 The Office of
Government Commerce's (OGC) online contracts database system reached
a milestone, when last week it listed its 250th deal - an
electricity contract led by NHS PASA.
Developed by the OGC's Knowledge and Information Unit, the
online database allows users to find central and local government
frameworks and contracts, and acts as a shop window for
collaborative deals. Launched in Summer 2006, it is free to view and
helps public sector organisations save time and costs associated
with tenders.
OGC chief executive Nigel Smith said: "Reaching the 250th deal
for the Contracts Database shows what an important tool it is in
helping public sector procurers reach a quick solution. The database
is a key resource for the public sector's drive to achieve greater
efficiency and better value for money."
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Rubbish news
 The February
issue of the Waste Information Network Bulletin is now
available.
It looks at the local authority
geographical data map - a new tool to analyse and compare waste
data; consultations underway; reference documents; case studies
and more.
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North West Centre of
Excellence
Room 5.15, Council Offices, Wellington
Road, Ashton-under-Lyne OL6 6DL
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