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Shared Solutions to Realising Efficiences Programme

The London Centre of Excellence recently merged with London's improvement body - Capital Ambition - and London Connects, to form London's Improvement and Efficiency Partnership (IEP). The new organisation retains the name Capital Ambition, and is responsible for all former LCE projects.

A website is being created for the new Capital Ambition, but in the meantime this site continues to be updated with all the latest information on this project, as well as important legacy documents. 

 
The Shared Solutions to Realising Efficiencies programme was initiated by the West London Alliance (WLA) Chief Executives and Finance Directors in spring 2006.
 
Their collective judgement was that there are significant opportunities to realise efficiencies through collaborative action by the authorities within the WLA.
This view was shared by RB Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC) who joined this programme.
 
It is against this background that the WLA Shared Solutions to Realising Efficiencies programme was initiated by the WLA Chief Executives and Finance Directors earlier this year.

The Shared Solutions programme recognises that efficiencies can be realised from a range of collective action:

  • comparing service performance data and good practice, benchmarking, and raising performance or reducing costs through the transfer of knowledge about what works best;
  • better managing and developing markets where we are all purchasers of similar services;
  • using collective purchasing power to procure goods and services at a more advantageous price and on better terms; and
  • sharing the provision of services, either “back office” transactional or customer facing services, where scale benefits can be secured.

They recognised that, within the framework of the WLA, a lot of good practice in these areas has already been developed and delivered by officers.

However, their view is that more can be achieved and that requires a stronger lead from Chief Executives to focus our efforts on a small number of strategically significant projects rather than spreading resources thinly over a wider agenda.

In particular, they agreed on the need to investigate fully the scope for the development of shared services aimed at having a high impact on increasing productivity and reducing cost.

Responding to these conclusions, the Chief Executives set up a Shared Solutions to Realising Efficiencies Project Board. The Board invited proposals from leading consultancies with a strong track record in developing shared service opportunities to assist the boroughs in identifying which service areas offer the most potential and, through this, competitive process.

PriceWaterhouseCooper (PWC) were selected to work with the boroughs. This was with funding support from the London Centre for Excellence.

PWC undertook with the Project Board and key officers from the boroughs an initial overview across the full range of council services of the opportunities for realising efficiencies through shared solutions.

They also reviewed practice elsewhere and consider a range of issues including governance. In collaboration with the boroughs, the long list of potential service areas was reviewed and a limited number of services were prioritised for further research. In February 2007 PWC completed their report and presented their findings to West London borough Leaders and Chief Executives.

A copy of the report, Shared Solutions to Realising Efficiencies, is available to download.