Partners to the project likely to commit resources | East Dunbartonshire Council East Renfrewshire Council Glasgow City Council Inverclyde Council North Lanarkshire Council Renfrewshire Council South Lanarkshire Council West Dunbartonshire Council |
Names of other organisations with whom the project has been discussed (to assist the introductions process) | Brief discussions have taken place with: - Aberdeen City Council
- Aberdeenshire Council
- John Arthur, Fife Council
- Scottish Executive
- Local Government Improvement Service
- Jonathan Evans, Employers Organisation
- Richard Wheater, CoSLA
- Chartered Institute of Purchasing
|
Evidence that suggested approach has been deployed successfully elsewhere | Although the Clyde Valley Chief Executives Forum has been in existence for some time, the training and development group is a new consortium in terms of the bid. However, there is evidence from a range of sources that joined up approaches to commissioning, developing, delivering and assessing training leads to savings in both cost and time. In a budget of £33,465,000 across the Clyde Valley authorities, projected savings are significant. Examples of joint approaches include: - Development of 'e' learning package to support introduction of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act ( FOISA). Fifteen authorities bought into this approach leading to a reduction in development time, delivery time and achieving an estimated cost reduction of £193,292 through joint commissioning and development. This is calculated on the basis of £2 per licence per employee in scope. The actual total cost of the development was £18, 000 for the 15 participating authorities.
- The 12 authorities of the 20-year-old West of Scotland Consortium pool resources to provide placements for trainee Social Workers and training for Mental Health Officers. This is a good example of joining up to achieve critical mass which makes provision of training viable.
- In Lanarkshire, South Lanarkshire Council provides I.T. training to North Lanarkshire Council and East Renfrewshire Council employees at a unit cost of £65 per person per day. This is a more favourable rate than buying in from the private sector, currently estimated at £150 per person per day.
- A national consortium exists for specific training for head teachers - The Scottish Qualification for Headship - where the consortium has established a set price (£1250 per module) for this particular national qualification
|
Are there any restrictions to potential for enlargement of the project ( i.e. technology, number of partners etc) | None identified at this stage. Indeed the Clyde Valley Forum would want to explore application of the proposal across Scottish local authorities and welcomes discussions with like-minded consortia such as the Fife (East of Scotland) bid. In addition there may be scope for engaging with authorities leading on procurement as this is a key element of commissioning. Some discussion has taken place with the East of Scotland Learning Network, through Fife Council. There are some clear similarities in the work under review in terms of training. It may be appropriate for the Clyde Valley to undertake exploratory work in terms of efficiency which could be extended to the East of Scotland authorities. This collaboration will also be helpful in both procurement and economies of scale. It is also intended to take this to the Society of Personnel Directors Scotland ( SPDS) with a view to exploring a Scotland wide approach. |
Benefits projected from the project | The total budget allocated to workforce training across the eight authorities is £33,465,000 (gross). For breakdown see narrative section. The qualitative anticipated benefits are: - Erase duplication of effort in commissioning, developing, delivering and assessing workforce training
- Establishing common governance arrangements for workforce training
- Greater consistency of quality of training provision across authorities by agreeing quality monitoring arrangements
- Economies of scale in procurement by jointly commissioning
- Attaining critical volume for training for smaller authorities and for minority subjects e.g. drama teaching
The qualitative anticipated benefits depend upon the nature of the training intervention. However, reduction in unit costs for training days (currently around £179 per day) or annual cost of training per employee (currently £219) are anticipated year on year, based upon current spend |
Estimated Financial projections (Please treat these figures as indicative only) | Total | 2005 / 6 | 2006 / 7 | 2007 / 8 | 2008 / 9 |
Overall project cost | £1, 125, 000 | £255, 000 | £210, 000 | £330, 000 | £330, 000 |
Project costs are geared towards year 1 and 2 when development costs may be greatest. Costs of staff re-training are weighted towards years 3 and 4. For a breakdown of yearly costs see section 2. |
Estimated projected benefits (Gross) | *£1, 968, 010 | £ nil | £669, 300 | £655, 914 | £642, 796 |
| Estimated project benefits (Net) | *£1, 418, 331 | £ nil | £482, 360 | £472, 713 | £463, 259 |
*Total training costs across the Clyde Valley are approximately £33, 465 000 (Net training costs £24, 118,000) - estimated projected benefits are based upon 2% savings in cash and time year on year. |
Is a pilot required - see guidance notes | No, this bid includes a request for Stage 2 development money which will be used to develop models of joint working which are fit for purpose. Those which meet our objectives will be those with a 'lean' approach which demonstrate additionality |
Additionally: why is EG funding required | Initial responses from partner authorities are very encouraging - there is a will to work better together. However, investment is required to devote to this project to implement specific changes in the way we deliver training which can lead to evidence based, measurable outcomes. |
Is this project complementary in any way to other EG work | This project is a good example of like minded employers seeking to improve efficiency and effectiveness in the broad area of workforce training and development, through leaner partnership approaches. In addition, it reflects one of the priority areas for the Efficient Government initiative, namely support service reform. This project will undoubtedly stimulate significant changes in delivery of this important function. Efforts have been made to ensure no duplication of effort with other bids, especially those involving procurement within Clyde Valley. |
Is 'stage 2 development funding' requested | Stage 2 Development funding is requested to the value of £100, 000. As part of the preparation for the bid, a significant amount of data has been generated. The development monies will be used to: - Engage an external consultant to work with the eight authorities on the detailed financial data required for Stage 2 bid process, leading to development of a robust project
- Analyse existing data on distribution of training spend across activities.
- Establish appropriate governance arrangements for the consortium.
- Facilitate some innovative, radical partnership working within the Clyde Valley such as single SVQ centres for specific qualifications for employee groups. Some benchmarking work has been undertaken in relation to vocational qualifications for Social Care staff.
- Testing of ways of working e.g. lead authorities for particular type of training provision
- Sourcing 'e'-learning expertise to develop CD-roms or on-line learning options for consideration by the Clyde Valley Group
Apply current research by the Scottish Leadership Foundation and Improvement Service on aspects of public sector workforce development |