Where do I get cashable savings? 14 January 2010

Thank you

2010-01-19T11:17:00.003Z

On behalf of Improvement and Efficiency West Midlands, the East Midlands Improvement and Efficiency Partnership and YOHR Space we would like to thank all delegates for attending our efficiency event. We hope you found the day as practical and useful as we did!

Some of the facilitators from the round table discussions have made slides and handouts available which can be found in some of the posts below. The presentations from all of the keynotes are also available in the top right hand corner of this page.

If you would like to leave any feedback on the event or any of the presentations please feel free to post a comment below.

For future efficiency and procurement events please visit the West Midlands Procurement Hub http://hub.westmidlandsiep.gov.uk.

Birmingham City Council’s Transformation Programme

2010-01-19T11:12:00.006Z

Karen Bridges from Birmingham City Council facilitated a round table discussion which introduced Birmingham’s major Transformation programme and its nine workstreams,concentrating on the methodology - CHAMPS2.

She explained how Birmingham are using CHAMPS2 to manage the nine workstreams in a consistent way to minimise risk, manage the governance and ensure consistency. She
also talked about the lessons learnt to date around communication, stakeholder engagement and implementation.

Karen Bridges has made a presentation available to all delegates that attended on CHAMPS2 here.

For further information on CHAMPS2 visit www.champs2.info.

Cashable Opportunities from the Grey Fleet

2010-01-19T10:58:00.007Z

David Olima from OGC facilitated a round table discussion on cashable opportunities from the grey fleet. David explained how grey fleet in the public sector makes up over 60% of public sector travel and managing this form of travel presents organisations with significant cash, carbon and care benefits. The session gave participants examples of organisations who have successfully managed grey fleet and demonstrated the benefits that have been delivered including what ongoing support is available.

David Olima wanted to make the following handouts available to delegates:

- Grey Fleet - 'How safe' handout
- Grey Fleet - 'Carbon cost and care' handout

You can also view David Olima's presentation on the grey fleet here.

Sharing the Gain report by CIPFA

2010-01-15T15:42:00.003Z

Paul Jackson from CIPFA introduced the ‘Sharing the Gain’ report to delegates at the conference, here’s what he said:

“Public service leaders and managers are finding the increasing pressures of making budget cuts whilst maintaining their front-line services a tough balancing act.

In responding to this challenge, many local authorities are already embracing Shared Services, through which greater collaboration with other bodies offers a route to reducing costs whilst preserving the quality of the services delivered.

Based on the CIPFA Shared Services Survey 2009 CIPFA also anticipate a rapid take-up of the Shared Service arrangements over the next few years.

The immediate challenge for public service professionals is to find a starting point and define an approach that will work for them.

CIPFA’s report Sharing the Gain: Improving cost-effectiveness through collaborative working (January 2010) demonstrates the viability of Shared Services through a selection of case studies of local authorities already benefiting from various collaborative models. The report has been written in partnership with the Society of District Council Treasurers, and sponsored by the Department of Communities and Local Government and the West Midlands, East Midlands and Yorkshire and Humber RIEPs.

The report has been conceived with local authorities in mind, to assist them in:

• Understanding the drivers for a collaborative framework
• Redesigning processes and organisational responsibilities to capitalise on
collaborative working opportunities
• Building a business case for change
• Managing procurement and legal issues pertaining to a Shared Services model
• Managing the transition to Shared Services and associated risks

The report is free to local authorities and will be available from 20 January 2010.”

The report will be sent to all delegates that attended the conference and made available on the IEWM website www.westmidlandsiep.gov.uk.

View Paul’s presentation here.

Transformation in the West Midlands

2010-01-13T21:25:00.006Z

Ged Bowles and Dave Neil from the Improvement and Efficiency West Midlands Transformation Team have been explaining in their round table discussion how IEWM has been working with local authorities and partnerships across the West Midlands to introduce new ways of working based on the principles of lean systems thinking.

They have a collection of case studies, which they are discussing with delegates, from authorities including Stratford, Stoke, Warwick, Newcastle, Dudley, Staffordshire Moorlands, and Telford and Wrekin.

Their handout can be viewed here.

Fair price, quality care

2010-01-13T21:03:00.006Z

Mihir Trivedi and Matt Bowsher, from Improvement and Efficiency West Midlands, have been discussing the Care Funding Calculator in one of today's round table discussions.

The objective of the Care Funding Caluculator is to provide free tools to local authorities and PCT’s which will enable greater transparency during the commissioning of placements. The tools are based on national data and assist commissioners and care managers in understanding the different elements of care costs, providing greater clarity on prices and simplify the negotiation
process.

The East & West Midlands Regional Improvement and Efficiency
Partnerships provide free support to LA’s and PCT’s to
rollout these tools through defining implementation strategy, rollout
process, training, review sessions, etc. This then helps the
organisations to achieve efficiency savings through ensuring a fair
price for quality care.

Mihir and Matt have been handing out this flyer in their sessions.

West Midlands Regional eAuction Programme

2010-01-13T21:00:00.002Z

Wayne Welsby, from Improvement and Efficiency West Midlands, has just finished his presentation on the West Midlands Regional eAuction programme and has told delegates how the programme is now boasting £7m efficiency savings since April 2008.

Wayne has explained the benefits that authorities in the West Midlands are reaping from eAuctions. In summary he explained that Worcestershire County Council has saved around £2.5m on passenger transport eAuctions alone.

Shropshire Council has saved £587K on two very successful eAuctions with more planned from January 2010 onwards.

Elsewhere, Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council saved £420k on IT hardware, whilst Coventry City Council has saved £250k (£1m over four years) on home to school transport.

Wayne has also spoken on behalf of OGC about their first pan-government eAuction Centre of Excellence which aims to increase the impact of eAuctions in the public sector. The centre will have a remit to provide co-ordination and support for eAuctions across the wider public sector, particularly where there is scope for increased collaboration.

View Wayne Welsby’s presentation here.

Transforming local government property management

2010-01-13T20:58:00.006Z

Keith Gordon of Improvement and Efficiency West Midlands has just finished the first keynote speech of the day. He has explained to delegates at the conference the potential of achieving some £640m of cashable savings over 10 years in the West through a review of property assets.

Keith explained how the report, 'The way forward - Transforming local government property asset management' was produced by Improvement and Efficiency West Midlands and the 4P's, and explains how local authorities can deliver real change by innovative use of property assets.

Property owned by Staffordshire County Council, Bromsgrove District Council, Redditch Borough Council, Tamworth Borough Council, Walsall Council and Coventry City Council has been reviewed for potential efficiency savings. The new programme will enable local authorities to respond in a systematic way to the Audit Commission’s recent report on asset management, Room for Improvement, which encourages councils to make full use of 4ps’ experience working with local authorities on improving efficiency.

This programme has also been integrated and developed closely with the Office of Government Commerce’s work to align local authority and civil estate opportunities in the region. This will help ensure that the entire public sector in the region is able to respond positively in a joined up way to the recommendations in Lord Carter’s report on assets as part of the government’s operational efficiency programme.

We managed to catch up with Keith Gordon after his keynote speech, he said: “Local authorities in the West Midlands have an extensive asset portfolio and the asset management review has provided us with an excellent opportunity to consider how we can best manage these assets.”

The project has been carried out with the support of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP with Staffordshire acting as the lead authority.

Download the full report here.

View Keith Gordon’s presentation in full here.

So where do we get cashable savings then?

2010-01-13T20:56:00.003Z

Our Chair for the day Pippa Bass, of OGC, has got the event of to a great start. Pippa has explained to delegates that ‘public services are facing unprecedented challenges’ and that ‘high levels of national borrowing and debt mean we have to achieve rapid change in how public services are funded and delivered’.

We have some interesting presentations and discussions lined up for today and Pippa has urged delegates to find out how to utilise these initiatives which are aimed at helping to deliver you savings.

Pippa said: ‘Working together is a fundamental pre-requisite for making the savings we need’.

View Pippa Bass' slides here.

Welcome

2009-12-03T11:56:00.004Z

Welcome to the Improvement and Efficiency West Midlands blog for our upcoming event 'Where do I get cashable savings?' which we are co-hosting with the Yorkshire and Humber RIEP and the East Midlands RIEP.

The event will take place on Thursday 14 January 2010 at the International Convention Centre (ICC) in central Birmingham.

We will be blogging live throughout the event so please encourage colleagues to visit this site to keep up to date with the latest goings on.

If you haven't registered yet, please do so here.

We look forward to seeing you there.