At this stage the funding would be used to employ external support in order provide an objective review of areas where further efficiencies can be achieved, and thus inform a fully worked up stage 2 bid. The initial scoping would look at the following areas: Finance Services i.e. Council tax, NDR and payroll; Legal Services ICT including connectivity across the Forth Valley area; Information sharing and geographic information systems; HR and employee care - specifically the provision of a joint occupational health contract; Procurement; Facilities Management; and Other key support services e.g. external funding, communications and research. In order to fully assess the potential for each of the areas to yield efficiencies and ensure continued delivery of quality service, it is proposed that a business case is developed for each area of work noted above that will contain the following information: What is the project (area of service delivery) and what are the key objectives of undertaking the project? What is the scope of the area of service delivery under consideration? What is the current position on the project across all partners including information on quality of service, fit for purpose assessment and benchmarking with other partners out with Forth Valley and timescales for replacement of supporting ICT systems? Who would the partners be both within Forth Valley and out with; An assessment of the future options for the delivery of service with a cost benefit analysis on each option i.e. joint, shared or hosted service; What funding is required to start the project and then through to completion i.e. timeline of funding? How does the project fit into the efficient Government criteria and what potential savings / efficiencies could be made? A project plan for taking the project forward? and What are the key issues the project / agencies would have to address to ensure the objectives are achieved? As well as seeking funding to review services, some specific areas of service delivery have been identified as having the potential to yield savings and efficiencies. Again further work will have to take place in order that these can be developed for the stage 2 bid. It should be stressed that the detail of this work varies across the project areas. This is one of the key reasons why the partners would want to use the initial funding to fully assess the scope of the stage 2 bid. The areas of service delivery currently being looked at include: Procurement An existing group chaired by the Chief Executive of Clackmannanshire Council is developing the procurement proposal. The suggested proposal is to look at areas where joint buying and tendering would be advantageous to the Forth Valley Partnership. This would include a review of existing buying and tendering processes with a view to aligning these where appropriate. Further detail on this bid is attached as appendix 2. Payroll / HR and Pensions The timing on this area of review is advantageous. Falkirk Council has just installed a new payroll and HR system with the other two Councils looking to purchase a new system in the near future. The review of this area of work would have to include a review of how systems can support varying HR policies i.e. work weeks etc. ICT Infrastructure This proposal is to review existing ICT links between all the partners to ensure we have the capacity to share information and systems across the whole of the Forth Valley area. Currently we all pay for broadband links for a variety of purposes, but with the increased commitment to share information through such developments as eCare, GIS, CCTV etc these links will become increasingly under pressure. This project will seek to assess current infrastructure, costs of the provision of connectivity and how these can be reduced in the medium long term. Geographical Information Systems This proposal was to extend the existing Tri Council GIS service to all key agencies within the Forth Valley area. This would help with the proposal regarding information sharing across the Forth Valley Partnership. Occupational Health Work has been ongoing for some time on developing a common occupational health service. This has been developed in recognition that we need to reduce our absence rates and ensure a quality of care for all our employees. Health and Safety and Employee Care In addition to looking at Occupational Health, it was suggested that wider Health and Safety / Employee Care issues could be looked at across the organisations. This recognised the need to provide very specialised technical advice within each of the organisations. The expertise was in short supply, with the potential for some economies of scale if these were shared. However it is anticipated that all aspects of the work of public sector agencies will be scoped in order to assess potential for efficiency savings. This will include looking at new arrangements to support Community Health Partnerships in each of the three Council areas etc. |