Shared services in local government : improving service delivery / Ray Tomkinson.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [203]-204) and index.

Introduction -- Why shared services? -- So what will this book look at? -- The background to shared services -- Why is shared services so important now? -- What services could be shared? -- Shared services in the private sector -- Shared services in local government -- The impetus to share -- The structural background to sharing -- The 'waves' towards sharing services -- The different routes to sharing -- The models explained -- Advantages and disadvantages of the models -- The choice of a model -- Shared services case studies -- Introduction -- The five most common areas for sharing -- Shared services declared in councils annual efficiency statements 2005-6 -- Other shared services -- Summary -- Case study 1 : Anglia Revenues Partnership -- Introduction to the partnership -- The participating councils -- The history of the partnership -- The outcome -- The development of the partnership -- The management of the partnership -- Achievements -- Performance -- The future -- Case study 2 : the Welland Partnership -- The history of the partnership -- Shared services -- The Welland Partnership shared services initiative -- The 'set-up' phase -- The benchmarking phase -- Outline business case stage -- Final business case stage -- The results of the project -- Conclusion of the project -- Acknowledgement -- Learning from the case studies -- Introduction -- Do shared services drive improvement faster than stand-alone services? -- An assessment of improvement -- Creating the vision for a shared service -- Choosing the 'right' service to share -- Creating the outline business case for a shared service -- Managing the creation of a shared service -- Summary -- The shared services scene in late 2006 -- Introduction -- Councils' current plans in terms of shared services -- Future routes for sharings : local councils doing it for themselves -- Summary -- The 'fifth' wave -- Introduction -- Local councils are not moving fast enough -- Local area agreements -- 'Transforming government' -- 'Direct.gov.uk' and '101' -- Where next? -- The future for shared services : the 'sixth' wave? -- Introduction -- The White Paper : Strong and prosperous communities -- What are the likely consequences? -- The 'final' word? -- Appendix 1 : Welland Shared Service Project : principles and protocols -- Appendix 2 : 'A process evaluation of the negotiation of pilot local area agreements' for the ODPM in June 2005 -- 'Efficiency : transforming local services from 'Strong and prosperous communities'.