Current hot topics, such as partnership working, collaboration, localism, transparency and the ‘Big Society’ (however ill-defined), all imply information sharing. Little wonder that CIOs are thinking about data interchange standards, security and authentication, and secure channels such as the public service network. However, some things are much
more important than the technology.

One impact of the budgetary crisis is that more and more organisations are realising the importance of self-service. Another impact is that most now see shared services as a solution to reducing costs. However, very few seem to put the two together. With Better connected 2011 reporting only a very modest improvement is there not an opportunity now to share much more in supporting websites?

Shared services are much in vogue yet there are relatively few examples of successful implementations. It's not hard to see why - for anything other than a simple service shared between two organisations, the complexity of the approach quickly multiplies as the service becomes more complex, and the number of partners increases.

"Knowledge and experience of making shared services work, skills like business case development, knowing implications of EU procurement directives"

The phrase ‘Shared Services’ can mean different things to different people. In practice, there are many practical and beneficial examples of shared services already in existence in local government, many of which go largely unnoticed. At the other end of the scale there are a few large-scale visionary projects to implement shared services at regional and even national level - such initiatives, of course, are more likely to hit the headlines and the potential benefits can be correspondingly larger. 

Shared services have been high on the agenda since they received specific mention in the Varney report as a means of achieving cashable efficiency savings, and in the Local Government Act as a way two-tier authorities could match the efficiencies achieved in unitaries. In reality, the experience of shared services has been mixed, with relatively few examples delivering the promised benefits. 

1st April 2009 was an important landmark in UK local government. In yet another reorganisation, nine new unitary councils replaced 44 English two-tier authorities in seven county areas. Looked at from another perspective, it also means shared services imposed by legislative diktat. With major funding problems now confirmed by the budget, what can the ICT community in the public sector learn from such sharing? 

The project issues
Alnwick District Council (ADC) and Berwick Borough Council both have ASP contracts with the same supplier which expire in 2008. They wanted to review jointly the various options open to them and potentially a third authority - Castle Morpeth - with which Alnwick has a partnership arrangement for ICT services.

Socitm Consulting won a competitive tender to review future options for the two authorities including where the services should operate, e.g. remotely as under the ASP service or locally, and also to advise on the selection of software. All options had to comply with European Procurement Rules.