South West Wales authorities strike deal for "virtual" shared legal service
Six local authorities in South West Wales have this month agreed to develop a “virtual” shared legal service, which will work shared between the councils involved and closer collaboration between their legal staff as well as greater sharing of resources and internal expertise. Among the initiatives already put in place are quarterly special interest groups, a regional approach to training and the creation of a shared web forum.
A joint panel tender is planned for the summer and initial savings of £40,000 are expected to come from shared library contract negotiations. The group also expect to purchase training at a regional level in order to make further savings.
The participating councils are:
- Carmarthenshire County Council, which led the project
- Bridgend County Borough Council
- Ceredigion County Council
- Pembrokeshire County Council
- Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council, and
- Swansea City and County Council.
The shared legal service received support from Swansea University, the Welsh Local Government Association and the Welsh Assembly Government’s Value Wales procurement arm.
Meryl Gravell, leader of Carmarthenshire, said: “Councils are facing real financial challenges and the project, even in its research and analysis phase has already been able to deliver some tangible benefits in terms of cost, making savings of £40,000 in 2010/2011, with a potential for further savings in future. We are also looking to invest in our legal services staff across the region through enhanced training opportunities.
“The project has real potential to improve the overall quality of service, deliver efficiencies and reduce the overall cost to the public purse.”
Jane Hutt, Welsh Assembly Government Minister for Business and Budget, said: “This is exactly the type of project we are looking to encourage and I am pleased that the support we have provided through the Making the Connections Improvement Fund has helped facilitate a successful outcome. Sharing the lessons learned from the approach to help wider adoption is essential and I note the interest already being shown by local government in other parts of Wales.”
The announcement of the South West Wales scheme comes as research conducted by HB Editorial, publisher of Local Government Lawyer, found that 78% of local authority heads of legal mentioned the development of shared legal services as one of their strategies for dealing with budget cuts. It was also the first choice option for almost half (45%) of those that took part in the survey.