Category Archives: Public sector

This category looks at issues dominating all aspects of the public sector: local and regional government, health.

Should New South Wales follow the example of the UK’s councils?

Posted: December 10, 2012 By: Sally Ellis
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shutterstock_34861306Shared services

Are shared services the answer?

The Australian council system is an unusual one.  In New South Wales they have 152 councils, and although it’s a big state, in comparison with the way things are run in Europe, the ratio of councils to people seems far too exaggerated. Especially, when there is such a disparity between council sizes.  The smallest only has a population of 1251, which means that the level of support and services will far outstrip that of one of the larger councils, where resources sometimes have to provide for over three hundred thousand people.

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    Information is knowledge

    Posted: October 22, 2012 By: Sally Ellis
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    graphNAO report slams poor reporting by the Treasury

    In order to manage budgeting in UK Government, the NAO (National Audit Office) believes that there must be enough information made available about the cost benefit of resource spending, in order to know where money is being spent. And this is something that the Treasury is neglecting.

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      Top tips for shared services in Government

      Posted: August 31, 2012 By: Chris Quinn
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      shutterstock_108195326Tip No. 8: Track success and adapt

      Never stop improving; any business project that isn’t carefully managed slowly starts to fail.

      Introduce performance metrics which align SSC objectives with management actions including service level analysis, a balanced scorecard and a continuous improvement programme for all processes.

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        Central government overspends on shared services

        Posted: August 14, 2012 By: Sally Ellis
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        shutterstock_66808108Scheme costs 500 million more than anticipated according to PAC

        Central government hasn’t been having the same success as local government in their aim to integrate back office services.  The chair of the Committee of Public Accounts, MP Margaret Hodge has claimed that, “Government could save significant sums of money if it pooled back office functions such as finance, HR and procurement.”

        Yet, the report into their attempts to date has been far from complementary; the efforts haven’t resulted in savings, in some cases it’s actually cost taxpayers more!

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          Shared Service Success!

          Posted: By: Sally Ellis
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          shutterstock_68244526Positive news from five local authorities

          As newspapers are full of tales of the success of the Olympics, and commentators are debating whether this new energised Britain can last beyond the afterglow of the closing ceremony, the theme of collaboration for the common good has extended into local government this week.

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