Businesses to work with local government
16 September 2008
The Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA) and the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) Wales have, for the first time, agreed to work together to promote and improve public services.
The two bodies have joined together to sign a Memorandum of Understanding which sets out a shared agenda for the future of Welsh public services. The statement signals a commitment by local government and the private sector to work together to find efficient, innovative and sustainable ways to best deliver services in Wales.
Local government in Wales spends more than £2.4bn within the private and third sectors, and the aim of the collaboration is to improve procurement processes to deliver the best service and value-for-money.
The memorandum sets out an agreement for working in partnership, shared principles and proposed joint action.
Cllr John Davies, leader of the WLGA, said, “Local government is the natural leader of local public service reform, and business and local government priorities are in fact already aligned in many areas such as transport, skills, delivery of public services and tackling joblessness.
“We are committed to working together to develop joint solutions for new ways of working to improve affordability, sustainability and inter-authority collaboration.”
David Rosser, director of CBI Wales, said, “On behalf of the Welsh business sector, the CBI is committed to working with local government to develop joint solutions and new ways of working to improve value-for-money, affordability and sustainability.
“Both organisations recognise and value to input of the public sector workforce to the Welsh economy and we look forward to taking our agreement forward to deliver real benefits for the communities and citizens of Wales.”
The joint document lays out a proposal for immediate action on building new public/private partnerships to exchange innovation for best practice, and for joint working to increase awareness of the contribution made by such partnerships in improving public services.
The first meeting between CBI Wales and WLGA to take this agreement forward will be in October.
The signing of the agreement was celebrated at a dinner on Monday 15 September with Sir Mike Rake, chairman of BT.
BT has strong links with the public sector and has established a number of key strategic partnerships to improve services in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
For example, BT works with The City of Edinburgh Council’s ‘Smart City’ transformation to supply the necessary technology, people and processes. The project is funded through a risk and reward basis over ten years, allowing the council to invest more in development and technology upgrades to improve service delivery.
Under the agreement, BT initially financed the work with a contribution from the council. To recoup its costs, BT makes a charge each time a transaction is completed on the new system, and the council was able to take advantages of the benefits the system offers without having to raise the necessary capital upfront.
Ann Beynon, BT's director for Wales, said, “In a climate where there is less money to spend in the public sector the way forward is to work in partnership with the private sector.
“BT is involved in a number of bespoke and innovative partnerships around the UK that have proved public private partnerships can work extremely well. We've demonstrated the benefits they can provide to communities in terms of faster and more reliable services - and the cost and management savings on offer to local authorities.”
ENDS