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Friday, 2.01.2026
Transforming Government since 2001

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How can local authorities find efficiencies through shared services? Read the advice of our expert panel and share your own thoughts

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Martin Rayson is divisional director of human resources for the London borough of Barking and Dagenham:

Does sharing a chief executive work? From my experience this will only work long term if you go beyond that to bringing together strategies, services and systems.

Question the role local identity against the cost of being different: The choice may be between having no service and one that may be more standardised. It is possible to make a service feel local even if it is not managed locally. What we need are new perspectives on the way services are designed and delivered.

Read more: GB: Expert round up: sharing services to save councils money

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Experts from across Northern Ireland gathered during the second week of April 2013 to mark the success of the Telemonitoring NI service. The service, which is being provided by a consortium of private telehealthcare solution providers in conjunction with the five health and social care trusts, is designed to transform patient care across Northern Ireland by enabling better control over their health and improving care outcomes.

Health Minister Edwin Poots said: "Telemonitoring NI continues to grow and expand. To date the service has benefited around 1 500 patients in Northern Ireland, with long-term conditions helping them to better manage their health.

Read more: GB: Northern Ireland: Transformational Telemonitoring NI Service celebrated by Health Minister

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Developing a successful strategy for shared IT services in the public sector, can save billions. Rob Greenslade, explains how a shared desktop service can contribute

Whitehall departments and arms-length bodies can save up to £600m a year if they work together and share back office functions, the government has said. It set out how his should be done late last year through its Next Generation Shared Services Strategic Plan.

At local government level, the merging of IT departments and infrastructure via shared service arrangements continues to gain traction in all areas. In 2012 Herefordshire council reported an annual saving of £619,000 from shared services among NHS services and local government departments. Likewise, Westminster City Council, the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea expect to save about £6.7m in total by 2015 by merging their IT.

Read more: GB: Shared services - not a core government skill

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The UK government has announced it is seeking a private sector partner to deliver its second shared services center in a deal estimated to be worth £2bn.

The five-year deal is the second of two independent shared service centers under the Cabinet Office’s strategic plan for next-generation shared services, which aims to save £600m per year.

This second shared service center will be the divestment of shared service centers currently operated by the Department for Work and Pensions, Department of Environment and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Environment Agency.

Read more: UK Government seeks a partner for their second Independent Shared Service Center

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The World Economic Forum (WEF) this week published its Global Information Technology Report, placing the UK at number seven on its Networked Readiness Index (NRI). The country was ranked tenth in the 2012 edition of the report and its current place makes it the strongest climber among the top ten economies.

The NRI ranks 144 countries based on their ability to put information and communications technologies (ICT) to use for growth and well-being. The first three names on the list remain the same but the order has changed.

Read more: UK makes impressive progress in WEF's 2013 networked readiness index

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