Scottish Government

1.

Project Summary

Lead Bidder:

Lothian and Borders Fire Brigade
David Millar - 0131 228 2401
E-mail - david.millar@lbfire.org.uk

Brief description of the aims of the project:

To achieve economies of scale in the diagnosis, procurement and delivery of activity across Lothian & Borders, Fife, and Central Scotland Fire & Rescue Services. Although this bid is framed on a regional basis involving partners from the East of Scotland, there is clearly scope for a broader national approach to be taken. The Group could potentially act as a pilot for a national initiative to be rolled out in due course.

Clear description of what the EFG money would be used to buy:

At this stage, the bid is for funding from the EGF to commission an intensive piece of scoping work to be carried out between June and September 2005, with the intention of submitting a fully costed business case in line with the detailed EGF guidance thereafter. The scoping work would:

• Stock-take current practices and approaches (including procurement) and activity in consortiums partners;

• Quantify expenditure (including in-house resource provision) on key defined activities in these organisations;

• Examine the scope for alignment or standardisation of approaches;

• Identify any duplication that might exist;

• Look closely at the supply side provider network involved in meeting current demand for services across partners for the same set of defined activities;

• Identify new/improved methods of addressing these requirements

• Frame a Stage 2 submission to EGF.

Dependent on the outcome of this scoping work, EGF resources could be used for a range of start-up costs.

Partners to the project likely to commit resources:

Lothian & Borders, Fife, and Central Scotland Fire & Rescue Services.

Evidence that suggested approach has been deployed successfully elsewhere:

A key purpose of the scoping study would be to identify suitable benchmarks and comparators.

Are there are restrictions to potential for enlargement of the project (eg technology, number of partners etc):

None. There are likely, however, to be indirect and cultural advantages to a 'regional' approach for some elements of a common programme, such as Councillor/Board member work on corporate governance

Benefits projected from this project:

Project benefits will include:

• Greater purchasing power leading to lower unit costs for

• Reduced administration and support costs;

• Potentially reduced in-house costs;

• Indirect benefits including improved communication between partners and, in the medium-term, improved efficiency in the public sector labour market.

Estimated financial projection:

To be determined by the scoping study. Estimated work for this in the East of Scotland would be £100,000 including consultancy costs and a dedicated short-term Project Manager. A national focus for the project would increase these costs accordingly.

Is a pilot required - see guidance notes:

Potentially. If the scoping exercise was accepted at the East of Scotland level, this could be regarded as a pilot exercise for a national initiative in due course.

Additionally: why is EG Funding required:

Development funding is required to finance scoping work on what could be a significant joined-up procurement and delivery initiative to tackles priorities across Fire Services.

Is this project complementary in any way to other EG work:

The reform of support services is one of the main Efficient Government themes, with a clear recognition in the guidance that the way to tackles this agenda is to promote a series of scalable pilots which can be developed over time to transform service delivery.

Is 'Stage 2 development funding' requested:

Yes - subject to outcome of this stage.