100 million savings on local government's temporary staff bill are planned
Printer friendly
Called 'Transforming the procurement of temporary, agency and interim staff', the guidance has been drawn up by the London Borough of Havering with funding from the London Centre of Excellence. The Office of Government Commerce has now adopted the guidance and is working with Havering and the nine Regional Centres of Excellence to promote it nationally.
The guidance, which has been written by local government HR, finance and procurement professionals, comes in the form of an easy-to-use toolkit. It sets out the different approaches to attracting and engaging temporary workers supplied to the public sector through Britain's large number of temporary staffing agencies. It also offers guidance on how to select the approach best suited to an organisation's needs, the latest legal and HR advice and number of best practice case studies.
The guidance has been published in a bid to raise standards of temporary staff management across the public sector and to increase the productivity of HR and procurement professionals. The move has been prompted by the mounting cost of procuring agency, temporary and interim staff faced by local government. Over £500 million a year is spent by London boroughs alone.
Value Wales Procurement has recently adopted the guidance and is planning to issue it to Welsh local authorities to promote best practice in the procurement of temporary staff in the Principality.
Rita Greenwood, Group Director of Finance and Commercial, London Borough of Havering, said, "We recognised the need to address this area of substantial spend and believe the guide will help all organisations to decide the best way to procure and manage their temporary staff to achieve the best results for the community."
John Oughton, Chief Executive of the Office of Government Commerce, said, "This new guidance will greatly assist local government in obtaining best value for money when procuring temporary staff. With potential annual savings in excess of £100 million identified in this area, the amount of efficiency savings which could be released to support better front-line services is highly significant."
Rob Sykes, Chair of the Chief Executives' Task Force, said, "This is landmark guidance which will be an invaluable resource to councils and illustrates how the RCEs are bringing real value to the national efficiency agenda. It should go on to inspire local authorities to deliver better professional standards and substantial efficiency gains in a significant area of public expenditure."
The London Borough of Havering conceived and led the project through to development of the toolkit. Havering continues to offer support to local authorities in London with regard to procuring and managing their agency workforce as well as progressing opportunities for further efficiency gains through collaborative working.
Related links to this article:
Office of Government Commerce
London Borough of Havering
Copies of the toolkit are available at this link
The e-Government National Awards 2006 are soon to be judged
A record number of nominations have been received in 11 categories in the e-Government National Awards 2006. The Awards recognise and praise the best strategies, achievements, teams and individuals in UK e-Government. Judging takes place shortly and finalists will be announced the first week of November. The Awards will be presented at a prestigious dinner at the Savoy in London in January 2007.
The Awards are supported by the Cabinet Office e-Government Unit, the Office of Government Commerce, the Society of Information Technology Management (Socitm), and SOLACE (Society of Local Authority Chief Executives and Senior Managers). Platinum sponsor is KPMG, and also a sponsor are SunGard and O2.
- Login or Register to comment
- Add to a social bookmarking site
Editor's Manifesto: Tales of the entirely expected
"Several weeks into the new era of Coaltiion Government and certain key themes are emerging. First up, it's clear that the battle of the 'who can get their memoirs out the door quick enough to steal a march in the revisionist history stakes' has been triumphantly won by M'Lord Mandelson (Weren't those TV ads scary – the velvet smoking jacket, the leather fireside chair, all that Brillcream! The only thing missing was the theme tune to Tales of the Unexpected and the accompanying prancing sillouette of Harriet Harman or Diane Abbott dancing!)” Read more
The Dispatch Box: Data quality and the public sector
Colin Rickard, managing director EMEA at SAS subsidiary Dataflux, argues public sector data must be of high quality if the efficiencies promised with ICT and infrastructure is to be realised.
"Tackling the public sector’s data integration and data quality challenges is a tough prospect. The challenge may require more effort than a comparative project in a large private company. Data must be governed according to a strategy that necessitates bringing interested parties together.” Read more
Innovation: A step too far in the austerity age?
Complete and enter our draw to win a free seat at the e-Government Awards. The public sector is already perceived to be lacking in innovation, but is that a fair assessment, and what role could it play in helping the government meet efficiency targets? What do people working on the frontline of ICT in public sector organisations think? Take part and share your views
James Gardner, CTO at the Department for Work and Pensions discusses his thoughts on innovation in the public and commercial sectors.
Source: K2 Advisory