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EFFICIENT GOVERNMENT FUND
Stage 1: Application - Expression of Interest
Part 1: Summary Table
Bid Number (for EG Use) | EGF/1/3/096 |
Lead Bidder | Fife Council
David Martin, Strategic Manager - 01592 413501
E-mail - david.martin@fife.gov.uk |
Brief description of the aims of the project | To achieve economies of scale in the procurement and delivery of a range of learning activities across public service organisations in Lothian, Fife and the Borders ( LFB). LFB will work closely with the Clyde Valley Consortium to agree priorities, avoid duplication, maximise benefits and provide a basis for possible national initiatives in the future. The LFB Group's initial priorities are: - SVQs & ILM assessment centres
- e-Learning
- Senior Management Secondments
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Clear description of what the EGF money would be used to buy: | To improve efficiency and impact from collective expenditure. £180,000 - Project Management (full time project leader x 3_ years) and facilitation of partnership working £50,000 - Single Accredited Centres for SVQ and ILM qualifications £530,000 - Establish public sector e-learning framework (£50,000) and team (4 secondees x 3_ years) to design, build and commission e-learning modules £20,000 - develop and implement a structured approach to Senior Management secondments between partner organisations. |
Partners to the project likely to commit resources: | - Fife Council
- City of Edinburgh Council
- East Lothian Council
- Midlothian Council
- West Lothian Council
- Scottish Borders Council
- Lothian and Borders Constabulary
- Fife Constabulary
- NHS Fife
- NHS Lothian
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Names of other organisations with whom the project has been discussed | - CoSLA
- the Improvement Service
- South Lanarkshire Council (Gill Bhatti), lead for the Clyde Valley Consortium
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Evidence that suggested approach has beendeployed successfully elsewhere | The approach of a single accredited centre was successfully used to reduce costs in Lothian NHS during their recent restructure and amalgamation from 3 NHS Trusts into 1. In the production of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act e-learning modules, the developing partners, led by Fife through the CoSLA e-Learning Network, successfully utilised the collective bargaining power and the power of collaboration to produce a very cost-effective solution. The modules cost a total of £18000 to produce - a cost to each developing partner of £1125. |
Are there any restrictions to potential for enlargement of the project (e.g. technology, number of partners, etc.): | No, the project would be scaleable across a wider group of authorities in the future. Discussions have already taken place with the Clyde Valley Consortium to ensure close working. Work will be shared where appropriate and where practicable and to ensure that duplication is avoided. There are likely, however, to be indirect and cultural advantages to a "regional" approach for some elements of a common training/ OD programme, such as Councillor/Board member work on corporate governance, or leadership development within community planning areas |
Benefits projected from the project | Project benefits will include:- - Greater purchasing power leading to lower unit costs for training delivery;
- Greatly reduced Centre re-accreditation, administration, running and support costs;
- Increased pool of assessment and verification personnel/greater flexibility to meet peaks in demand;
- Increased opportunities for Senior Management secondment to enhance existing Management Development activity;
- improved communication between partners;
- increased levels of sharing of training which would facilitate better joined up / partnership working;
- greater use of existing training facilities;
- improved efficiency and transferability in the public sector labour market, particularly at senior levels.
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Estimated financial projections | TOTAL | 2005/6 | 2006/7 | 2007/8 | 2008/9 |
Overall project cost | £780,000 | £120,000 | £220,000 | £220,000 | £220,000 |
Estimated projected benefits (net of specific funding) * | £867,000 | £ nil | £288,000 | £296,000 | £305,000 |
| * The estimated benefits are based on an assumed saving of 2% on costs and time invested in training and learning activities. See Appendix 1 for current levels of expenditure in partner organisations an d appendix 2 for full details of bid costs. Given the current need for public sector organisations to increase their investment in training and learning activities to support organisational change it is envisaged that the majority of these savings would be "output enhancing" improvements, and reinvested in learning activities. The efficiencies achieved would increase productive time and reduce the unit cost for learning activities. |
Is a pilot required - see guidance notes | No. Although funding for a formal pilot is not being requested, it is intended that the project would form the basis of a joint approach with the Clyde Valley Consortium which could be rolled out on a national basis in the future. |
Additionality: why is EG Funding required | Consortium partners are committed to joint working and to the time investment required to progress the project. There is a clear recognition of the potential benefits to be gained from this project. Dedicated resource is however required to develop the practical solutions which will make the shared vision a reality. Additional support from EFG will allow robust foundations for joint approaches to be established during the project. This will support ongoing partnership working beyond the life of the project itself. Much of the funding will provide concrete learning packages and approaches which will then be mainstreamed by partner organisations. The additional funding will therefore be used to stimulate longer term sustainable partnership approaches and learning activities. |
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 tackle this agenda is to promote a series of scalable pilots which can be developed over time to transform service delivery. As mentioned above, this bid complements the similar project proposed by the Clyde Valley Consortium. In addition, we know that bringing together employees from across the public sector for joint training helps to break down barriers between organisations. This is likely to foster more creative thinking and innovation across partner organisations in the future. This is in itself supports the ethos of joined up and partnership working which is at the heart of the EG agenda and will encourage the creative thinking needed to make the step changes required of the public sector. |
Is "Stage 2 development funding" requested | Yes - £100,000 of stage 2 funding is requested, which will be utilised to: - Engage an external consultant to support the 8 organisations on the detailed financial data necessary for the Stage 2 bid process;
- Establish appropriate governance arrangements for the consortium;
- Test ways of working;
- Begin building the pool of knowledge needed to support the Senior Management Secondment Programme;
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2. Narrative Bid
2.1 The partner organisations involved in this outline bid recognise that considerable scope exists for greater efficiency and effectiveness in the way they individually identify and address training and development needs.
2.2 Arguably, all public agencies have more in common than they perhaps appreciate. Community planning provides a statutory basis for deeper partnership working, while a duty of best value requires both Councils and their traditional partners to innovate and continuously improve performance. Furthermore, the organisational boundaries previously regarded as a "given" in Scottish public life, have become less clearly defined, with joint working between local authorities and health providers, the voluntary sector and private sector well established. This trend will continue.
2.3 Understandably, most public (and private) organisations adopt an internal focus when considering workforce and management development requirements. To a lesser extent, this also applies to investment in the needs of Councillors, Board members and others involved in the corporate governance of these bodies. While it is recognised that each organisation will have its own culture and set of corporate priorities, it is also true that there are significant areas of knowledge and skills which are common across public service organisations.
2.4 Following a number of scoping meetings, representatives from the partner organisations agreed that some immediate priority areas for the initial stages of this EGF project include:-
- Scottish Vocational Qualifications;
- Implementation and delivery of the Institute of Leadership and Management qualifications;
- The development of an e-learning framework for delivery of many common areas of training and the formation of a dedicated (virtual) team of development professionals to design, build and commission, where appropriate, e-learning modules for the use of public-sector organisations throughout Scotland.
In addition to the above, it is intended that the partner organisations will begin work to develop a formalised system to promote the opportunities, which already exist informally, to provide placement and secondment opportunities for senior management and those seeking senior management appointments. In essence this will provide a pool of leaders to aid succession planning in all of the partner organisations.
2.5 Partners involved in this bid are strongly committed to examining the scope for joint procurement and delivery of training and employee development in the above areas, and better knowledge management between participants. Likely project outcomes include the following:
- Framework agreements for some common types of training and hence efficiencies of scale in the procurement process;
- Lead agency roles for organisations with recognised expertise or excellence;
- More rapid sharing of best practice through regular meetings of development personnel;
- A greater commitment to training and OD activity across the participating organisations;
- More joined-up public service delivery through cultural alignment with consequent benefits to customers and citizens;
- Better sharing and utilisation of resource already in the public sector (e.g. buildings, trainers, etc.).
2.6 Savings from this project are likely to take many forms as follows:
- Financial savings - from a reduced number of Centre Registration Fees for both SQA and ILM, reduced per capita charges for candidates through economies of scale in procurement of Unit Records and other candidate materials, but mainly through the internal design and development of e-learning modules;
- Increased efficiency - through better inter-organisation working it is anticipated that an increased number of delegates and candidates may be able to participate for the same levels of expenditure, more courses and programmes delivered at full capacity, all resources and training rooms may be utilised more fully;
- Improved succession planning through the Senior Executive Secondment Programme to reduce the time taken to find an appropriate secondment and increase the effectiveness of the secondment through improved knowledge of the candidate's development needs and a formalised follow-up process;
Appendix 1
Current Expenditure of Partner Organisations on all Training Activities (£000)
2004-2005
Organisation | Gross Spend | Net Spend
(Gross minus Direct Training Grants) |
|---|
City of Edinburgh Council | 4225 | 3475 |
|---|
East Lothian Council | 995 | 995 |
|---|
Fife Council | 5086 | 3115 |
|---|
Fife Fire and Rescue Service | 15 | 15 |
|---|
Fife Police | 238 | 238 |
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Lothian and Borders Police* | 1500 | 735 |
|---|
Midlothian Council | 1084 | 750 |
|---|
NHS Fife | 1579 | 1579 |
|---|
NHS Lothian | 750 | 750 |
|---|
Scottish Borders Council | 1508 | 1336 |
|---|
West Lothian Council | 1500 | 1397 |
|---|
TOTAL | | |
|---|
Note:
*Figure Lothian and Borders Police is estimated
Appendix 2
Projected use of Efficient Government Fund monies
Project Area | Description | EGF Amount (£000) |
|---|
Support for joint meetings and joint agendas | To establish and fund regular joint meetings between partner organisations and to set up the communication tools needed to facilitate sharing of good practice (including an externally hosted website to which all partners could publish materials, papers, modules and resources); | 20 |
| One full-time seconded post to manage the project and to lead the joint agenda over the four years of the project (based on 3.5 year project) | 160 |
SVQ | To establish a single Accredited Centre for SVQ qualifications for all partner organisations; | 25 |
ILM | To establish a single Accredited Centre for ILM qualifications for all partner organisations; | 25 |
E-Learning | Establishment of a virtual dedicated development team (4 secondees x 4 years); Development and implementation of a public sector e-learning framework for Scotland; | 480 50 |
Senior Management Secondment Programme | To administer the programme, establish pools of candidates and placements. To match candidates to placements and to support and review each placement. | 20 |
| TOTAL | 780 |
It is likely that the move to a single accredited centre would require a phased approach and similarly savings are likely to be accrued over a number of financial years. These amounts are likely to be recurring and on-going costs, with EGF monies being used to stimulate activities aimed to make savings in future years.