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Learning to bank on efficiency

More than ever, councils are under pressure to deliver efficiency savings and provide more services with less funding. Robert Bullard looks at a mixture of projects delivering dramatic results. (Local Government Chronicle, 13th December 2007)

PARTNER WITH CONTRACTORS

Somerset CC is having to demolish over 600 temporary classrooms erected in the 1950s and 1960s.

But tendering for each job individually, as it did when the process started in 2003/04, resulted in three major problems: wide variations in costs, insufficient ability to plan work ahead, and a draw on officer time that was disproportionate to the amount of work involved.

“The arrangement was too loose,” says Gerald Swyane, the project’s team leader. “It didn’t control costs and we wanted to speed up the job.”

After consulting with larger councils for ideas, the council developed three-year bespoke framework agreements with four preferred contractors.

The benefits have been large and varied. The average cost of demolishing a classroom has been reduced by up to 25%. Greater certainty for contractors, and better communications between them and the council, has improved forward planning. This means schools can now have a replacement for a temporary classroom erected within a two-week holiday.

The risks of tendering have also been eliminated, and each year 40 classrooms are being replaced, rather than 10. And as the work has gone on, contractors have also become more skilled and efficient at their job, enabling them to take on some of the council officer’s duties, and bringing in savings of £500 per job.

RECRUIT ON-LINE

“We needed to modernise our recruitment practices,” says Timothy Strong, assistant director of human resources at Enfield LBC. “We had a manual recruitment process and did the standard thing of putting adverts in the press - it was costly and did not give a good image.”

The process was also taking up to 15-20 weeks, and generated a number of complaints from both successful and unsuccessful applicants.

In a change of strategy, the council moved nearly all it’s advertising for around 200 vacancies each year to internet job boards. Applications are now completed and processed on-line.

The changes have more than halved the recruitment time, reduced the recruitment team from eight staff to five, and resulted in savings to the advertising bill, which has also fallen from £750,000 to less than £400,000.

There have been other benefits as well. Dedicated software called i-GRasp enables the council to analyse the status of applications and how they are progressing. “It’s easier for people to apply for jobs now, and there has been no fall in the quantity or calibre of applicants,” says a satisfied Mr Strong. “We even search the Internet ourselves for candidates with suitable CVs.”

IDENTIFY PROCURMENT SAVINGS

A comprehensive analysis of its procurement systems has resulted in significant savings for North Tyneside Council.

As part of a five-stage plan, the council first examined all the services and products that it purchased, and the different suppliers it used. Then, using business reporting software called Cognos Powerplay, it identified opportunities for savings - for example by pooling purchases together and working with particular suppliers.

The council’s head of transformation, Paul Jackman, explains: “The same products were being purchased by half of the council’s 81 schools, but all under individual arrangements.” Now, rather than most of the council’s purchases being ad hoc, as they used to be, over 70% are through contracts with specific suppliers.

To support the changes and cut administration costs further, the council made several manual activities electronic, introducing auctions, quotes, tendering and ordering.

The cumulative affect of the changes is worth £400,000 in 2007/08, with e-auctions alone expected to save the council £6m over four years.

The project’s benefits are now widely recognised, and have led other councils in the north-east to set up tasks groups that will roll out the project regionally. “We have raised the profile of the council,” says Mr Jackson “and are now taken more seriously by businesses.”

IMPROVE CUSTOMER RELATIONS

The introduction of a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system has enabled West Lindsey DC in Lincolnshire to provide a more efficient reception service to a greater number of customers – and with eight fewer staff.

“Improving customer service was the key objective,” says chief executive, Duncan Sharkey. Under the changes, the council’s four different receptions were brought into one, as were the different teams for dealing with face-to-face enquiries and those handling them by phone.

Job descriptions for the receptionist posts were changed so that they are now customer service advisers, and with extra training they were equipped to take on increased responsibilities. One example of the benefits of this has been a reduction in the time taken to process benefits claims, which have fallen from over 40 days in 2004 to less than 20 days this year.

With more queries now being dealt with on the phone, on-line or on a self-service basis, an extra 200 enquiries are now dealt with each week. It’s all part of the council’s One and Done, which aims for more queries to be dealt with by someone’s first point of contact.

The project’s savings are £75,000 per annum, but it has other advantages. “CRM has given us a better control of the quality of the service and, as the staff take on more functions, a platform for further efficiencies,” says Mr Sharkey.

INVEST IN ENVIRONMENTAL LEADERSHIP

Some people were nervous about the creation of a new environmental management systems officer at Ballymena BC. In 2004 they wondered whether the position was worth the expense.

But within the space of three years the council’s commitment to improving energy conservation had secured savings of £400,000, and attracted £250,000 of funding. And that was before taking into account the rising costs of heating oil, which has increased from 17p to 44p per litre over the same period.

Dr Heather Thompson, energy and environmental systems managers, says “nothing was being done” when she arrived in post. Her priorities were to improve energy efficiency and install renewables in council buildings like the new civic centre, which is equipped with rainwater harvesting, solar and photovoltaic heating and a ground source heat pump. Measures such as these won the council the public sector prize in last year’s National Energy Efficiency Awards.

Another success is the council’s biomass heat system in its ECOS Environmental Centre. It uses locally produced, additive-free wood pellets, and is saving the council £12,000 per year.

“The Centre serves as an education centre for schools and professionals,” says Dr Thompson, who has helped bring about these environmental and economic successes.

Find out more

Somerset County Council
Gerald Swayne, team leader, projects team. Tel: 01823 356246 gswayne@somerset.gov.uk

Enfield LBC
Melissa Keating, recruitment manager. Tel: 020 8379 4460 melissa.keating@enfield.gov.uk

North Tyneside Council
Phil Jackman, head of transformation. Tel: 0191 223 4007 phil.jackman@northtyneside.gov.uk

West Lindsey District Council
Alan Robinson, revenue benefits and customer services manager. Tel: 01427 676509
alan.robinson@west-lindsey.gov.uk

Ballymena Borough Council
Dr Heather Thompson, energy and environmental systems manager. Tel: 028 256 60420 heather.thompson@ballymena.gov.uk

© Robert Bullard. Not for reproduction without prior permission

 

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