Wales summit on public services
The leader of Carmarthenshire County Council has attended an all-Wales summit to look council and other bodies working together to deliver public services.
Cllr Meryl Gravell took part in the first Public Services Summit on the All Wales Efficiency and Innovation Programme organised by First Minister Carwyn Jones.
The event was attended by around 150 Leaders and Chief Executives from local government in Wales, together with senior representatives of the Welsh Assembly Government and other public bodies in Wales.
Cllr Gravell told this month’s meeting of the full county council: “The Summit was organised against the backdrop of the most difficult financial situation faced by public services for many decades.
“The First Minister stressed that all public services - including the NHS, education and social services - were facing a period of growing pressure on their finances as well as the impact of recession and an ageing population.”
At the Summit it was announced that a new all-Wales Efficiency and Innovation Programme was being introduced to ensure optimum use of public money. The programme will be driven by an Efficiency and Innovation Board chaired by Minister for Business and Budget Jane Hutt, and monitored periodically by the Public Services Summit.
The Programme will initially focus on collaborative procurement and commissioning, public service information communication technology, Asset Management, transforming business process, new models of service delivery, developing the workforce, and leadership.
It will involve greater cross-border collaboration between local authorities; collaboration between local authorities and other public bodies including the health service and the police; and collaboration with independent providers, the private sector and the third sector.
Cllr Gravell said: “The First Minister was very clear in his message that the days of local authorities in Wales doing everything 22 times in 22 different ways were over. We must find ways to share overheads and exploit the economies of scale where possible.”
She said it was also necessary to be innovative and question why we should provide services the way we have always provided them simply because that is the way we have always provided them, to root out unnecessary bureaucracy and administration; to speed up the process when people try to access services and to avoid unnecessary paperwork.
She said that Carmarthenshire County Council was already working with other public bodies to cut the cost of goods and services that the council buys, and was extending this, and has begun working with other public bodies to share buildings to reduce costs.
Cllr Meryl Gravell took part in the first Public Services Summit on the All Wales Efficiency and Innovation Programme organised by First Minister Carwyn Jones.
The event was attended by around 150 Leaders and Chief Executives from local government in Wales, together with senior representatives of the Welsh Assembly Government and other public bodies in Wales.
Cllr Gravell told this month’s meeting of the full county council: “The Summit was organised against the backdrop of the most difficult financial situation faced by public services for many decades.
“The First Minister stressed that all public services - including the NHS, education and social services - were facing a period of growing pressure on their finances as well as the impact of recession and an ageing population.”
At the Summit it was announced that a new all-Wales Efficiency and Innovation Programme was being introduced to ensure optimum use of public money. The programme will be driven by an Efficiency and Innovation Board chaired by Minister for Business and Budget Jane Hutt, and monitored periodically by the Public Services Summit.
The Programme will initially focus on collaborative procurement and commissioning, public service information communication technology, Asset Management, transforming business process, new models of service delivery, developing the workforce, and leadership.
It will involve greater cross-border collaboration between local authorities; collaboration between local authorities and other public bodies including the health service and the police; and collaboration with independent providers, the private sector and the third sector.
Cllr Gravell said: “The First Minister was very clear in his message that the days of local authorities in Wales doing everything 22 times in 22 different ways were over. We must find ways to share overheads and exploit the economies of scale where possible.”
She said it was also necessary to be innovative and question why we should provide services the way we have always provided them simply because that is the way we have always provided them, to root out unnecessary bureaucracy and administration; to speed up the process when people try to access services and to avoid unnecessary paperwork.
She said that Carmarthenshire County Council was already working with other public bodies to cut the cost of goods and services that the council buys, and was extending this, and has begun working with other public bodies to share buildings to reduce costs.
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