TO: News Editors

FROM: Louisa Mahon (01389) 737503/07770 632858

DATE: 15 January 2009

No Debate over Shared Services

The heads of eight of Scotland’s Local Authorities, which make up the

Clyde Valley Community Planning Partnership, came together today
and unanimously agreed the immediate progression of the
recommendations made by Sir John Arbuthnott, in his Review of
Shared Services, published in November 2009. At the meeting, hosted
by West Dunbartonshire Council, there was unanimous agreement to
prioritise seven of the ten recommendations.

The Chief Executives and Leaders from each Council have defied
sceptics by agreeing on timescales, resources and lead roles. Work
has been ongoing within each Local Authority throughout December
to identify which Recommendations could be progressed and to
assess any subsequent impact on service delivery, existing
partnership arrangements and employees.

Speaking as Chair of the Clyde Valley Planning Partnership, West

Dunbartonshire Council Leader Iain Robertson said: “Today’s
meeting was a huge success. The partnership realises that we simply
cannot afford to stand still and we are unanimous in our belief that we
must meet the Arbuthnott recommendations to deliver savings and
safeguard vital frontline services across the Clyde Valley. We have the
opportunity to potentially generate hundreds of millions of pounds of
savings over the next decade for the Partnership.”
The Councils will meet again in March and at this time will provide the scope of the
seven work streams and individual outline business cases.

Confirmed work streams and Council leads:

• An integrated approach to Waste Management lead by Glasgow City Council and
North Lanarkshire Council
• An integrated Health and Social Care Service progressed through two distinct
strands of work.
o Each individual council and its respective Health Board will work to create
an integrated health and community care service, currently being
progressed in West Dunbartonshire Council.
o Joint Commissioning and procurement of services lead by Renfrewshire
Council
• Social Transport and Fleet Management lead by Glasgow City Council and North
Lanarkshire Council
• Property Sharing and Local Hubs lead by South Lanarkshire Council
• Developing integrated back office lead by East Renfrewshire Council and
Inverclyde Council
• A Common Charging Framework lead by East Dunbartonshire Council
• A Joint Economic Strategy lead by West Dunbartonshire Council

Councillor Robertson added: “West Dunbartonshire This Council has agreed to

make a contribution in all areas where we believe there is a benefit to service
provision and our employees.”

NOTES TO EDITORS:
· The Review commissioned in March 2009, will be formally published on
November 30th, 2009.
· The Clyde Valley Planning Partnership includes West Dunbartonshire, East
Dunbartonshire, Inverclyde, East Renfrewshire, Renfrewshire, Glasgow, North
Lanarkshire and South Lanarkshire. Other partners include the Police, Fire
Service, Health, Scottish Enterprise and Scottish Passenger Transport.
· Sir John Arbuthnott is the former Principal of the University of Strathclyde and
former chair of Greater Glasgow Health Board. He has a wealth of expertise in
leading independent reviews involving public services. This includes chairing the
National Review of NHS Resource Allocation and leading the Arbuthnott
Commission set up in 2004 to consider the consequences of having four
separate voting systems for elections in Scotland and also different boundaries
for Holyrood and Westminster constituencies.
· The scope of the Review included:
· Review existing shared services initiatives and joint working.
· Prioritise service areas most likely to deliver improved services and
savings
· Identify opportunities for further development of shared and joined
working.
· Identify potential approaches to deliver shared services.
· Deliver a framework or roadmap to assess the potential gain or net
benefit for sharing and improvement.