'Making the Connections – Delivering Better Public Services for Wales (2004)' established the Welsh Government’s high level vision for the future of public services in Wales which emphasised voluntary collaboration and joint working as the key to improving service quality and cost.
Since that time the scope and pace of local authority collaboration has increased and the agenda has recently been further intensified through the publishing of the ‘Simpson’ report, and the WLGA being tasked with the development of a ‘Compact’ between the Welsh Government and local authorities, detailing specific areas for collaboration within set timescales.
Workforce issues are central to the collaboration agenda, and addressing these effectively in relation to all stakeholders is a key challenge. The WLGA Employment Team is actively engaged in facilitating and supporting consultation with the local government trades unions on the collaboration agenda, and working with the Welsh Government to develop a cross-public sector approach.
While there may be little scope to save significant sums of money through the development of collaborative HR services in Wales, economies of scale could be achieved within certain areas enabling service improvement. Local authority HR services will also be central to effecting the necessary workforce changes for the implementation of collaborative service arrangements in general. The WLGA Employment Team will be supporting the development of local authority collaborative HR-related projects, and aiming to ensure that best practice on related workforce issues is both developed and shared.
For more information contact: Jonathan Lloyd