A tier above
A key challenge for monitoring officers is to increase their influence on strategy, not just governance. John Scarborough shares his experiences of working on Worcestershire Enhanced Two Tier Programme.
The groundbreaking Worcestershire Enhanced Two Tier (WETT) Programme was created at the beginning of 2009. This followed the successful bid by Worcestershire Councils for £350,000 of funding provided by the Regional Improvement and Efficiency Partnership to support the development of two-tier, joint working within the region. This was set against the background of the need for further improvements in services for the customer, better performance, efficiency savings and cost reductions to meet local and national targets and objectives. It also took into account concerns about the future funding of local government and the significant unfunded cost pressures facing councils to protect front line services.
To address this it was accepted that there was a need for a strategy for shared and collaborative working with the other Worcestershire local authorities. Since then, the national economy has worsened and the impact of the banking crisis on public expenditure will flow into severe reductions in funding and grants to local authorities.
During 2009, Project Teams representing all of the Worcestershire Councils worked together to produce a number of proposals for two tier, joint working which included key community facing service areas (eg Regulatory Services). High-level business cases were produced in May 2009 supporting proposals relating to ten service areas and the Worcestershire Chief Executives and Leaders Panel supported the prioritised development of three detailed business cases, namely Regulatory Services, Property and Internal Audit. Stakeholder groups such as the Programme Management Group (comprising of senior managers from all seven Worcestershire Councils), County Treasurers and HR Managers were involved at key stages in challenging and validating the detailed business cases.
In January and February 2010, all seven Worcestershire Councils reported the recommendations in relation to the three detailed business cases through to Cabinets and Councils. Following rigorous and transparent scrutiny which included Member workshops and briefings, the proposals were agreed by all the authorities.
Project Boards and Project Teams (using basic PRINCE2 project frameworks) have overseen work on finance, HR, IT and legal workstreams. Another major piece of work has been to define the exact functions to be carried out by the shared services and to map the performance standards that can be expected in each area. All three shared services began on 1 June.
Regulatory Services (i.e. trading standards, environmental health and licensing functions) will be the first two tier regulatory service operating across an entire County. It will deliver a fully integrated Regulatory Services function which will be more effectively focused on businesses and consumers, with all partners operating within a unified management structure.
The Internal Audit shared service will deliver a more resilient and flexible service to five of the Worcestershire District Councils, with shared expertise across a broader team managed by a single management team. As well as internal audit, participating authorities will also have access to expertise in such areas as corporate governance, value for money and risk management.
The Property shared service comprises the County and three District Councils operating a combined Property Service within a single management structure. This will be capable of providing the entire range of Property Services which will enable a more coherent approach to the management of property assets across Worcestershire and provide links to Total Place, climate change etc. The business model includes a core of Property functions which will form the initial service portfolio, with opportunities for a broader portfolio as the service is developed and embedded. This offers economies of scale and increased resilience with a breadth of service provision being available to the customer from a combined service.
My role on the WETT Programme is as a member of the WETT Programme Management Group, which takes a corporate overview of the Programme, provides constructive challenge to the emerging Business Cases and communicates key messages to senior Officers and Members at each of the Councils. A number of my services are at the heart of the proposals namely Property (where my team has also been part of the Worcestershire Total Place pilot exploring the benefits of a single public estate) and Internal Audit (where Worcester City is hosting the shared service). The Programme Management Group has also been tasked by the Worcestershire Chief Executives Panel to consider the longer term political and operational governance implications for the individual authorities as an increasing number of services are delivered by other partners.
The Programme Management Group has been critical to the success of the WETT Programme. Its main strength has been that it is comprised of high-level representatives from each Council who are all committed to the modernisation and transformation of local authority services. That is the main essence of this article for me – that I was not chosen to represent Worcester City on this Group because of my legal skills and experience but because of my commitment and belief in the importance of transformation to the future success of our services.
Strong leadership (both political and managerial) across the participating authorities has been key to the success of the WETT Programme. This has included not just being able to deliver positive messages about the Programme but also keeping faith with the original objectives when these have been challenged and tested. Equally, the ability for key Members and Officers to communicate effectively, work collaboratively and be prepared to compromise for the overall benefit of our customers has been crucial. In my view, these factors above all mark the difference between those shared service projects which flourish and those which break down before approval or implementation.
Given the scale and likelihood of further local authority reductions in funding and the continued emphasis on working together as one of the main solutions, it will be even more important for our communities that the leaders in local government can rise above these issues and meet the challenges of the future.
John Scarborough is Head of Governance & Corporate Support at Worcester City Council
This article first appeared in ACSeS' Firing Up the Passion for Leadership: Developing Future Chief Executives publication.To get hold of a copy (for a nominal £10 to cover production costs) contact the Association of Council Secretaries and Solicitors at Afon Building, Worthing Road, Horsham, West Sussex, RH12 1TL; telephone: 01403 788249; e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .
