Case Study 1 – Supporting the development of a shared vision for transformation Local Partnerships have supported a variety of councils, and transformation projects through the LGA’s Sector Support Improvement programme funded by the UK Government. These case studies explore the key activities and learnings from these projects and highlight both best practice and common […]
Local Partnerships has supported a variety of councils, and transformation projects through the LGA’s Sector Support Improvement programme funded by the UK Government.
These case studies explore the key activities and learnings from these projects and highlight both best practice and common challenges.
Last week, I had the privilege of attending the Procurement Act Expo. It was an event designed to shed light on the imminent changes in procurement and equip attendees with the knowledge and tools to adapt and thrive in this evolving landscape. The discussions at the Expo made it clear: the era of debate is […]
Through the Local Government Association Sector Support Improvement programme, funded by the UK government, Local Partnerships is currently supporting 19 transformation projects with local authorities across England. These diverse initiatives span everything from customer services transformation to town centre regeneration, involving local authorities from the north to the south of the country. These projects have entailed close and swift […]
Examining the strengths, weaknesses, and the quest for value maximisation in Public Infrastructure Projects The recent Radio 4 documentary, The Great PFI Debt, and other associated articles have brought the PFI model back to the public’s attention. Throughout these pieces is an absence of consistent narrative regarding the perceived strengths and/or weaknesses of PFI: are […]
Welsh Government and local authorities achieve milestone: largest-ever collaborative procurement of electric vehicles delivers £660k savings Welsh Government, working with Welsh local authorities, has successfully concluded the first ever collaborative procurement on this scale, for electric vehicles. The procurement covered 241 vehicles and will save the public purse over £660k. Ambition to decarbonise the public […]
Vivien Holland talks in this latest episode with Matt Masters about local authority trading companies and commercialism. Vivien Holland joined Local Partnerships in 2022 as a Project Director with a focus on commercialism in local government. She is an expert in trading companies and the podcast talks through: Making trading companies work for your authority. Ft Vivien Holland. | RSS.com We […]
This Commercial guidance and toolkit is intended to take councils through a structured and robust approach to considering commercial activity.
Following this introduction, there is an overview of key overarching considerations setting out what commercial means for councils and how this can be achieved.
The overview is followed by five stages representing a commercial journey. These cover the commercial lifecycle from developing a commercial strategy through to reviewing success and addressing issues that reviews may highlight. Below each of these main sections there is more detailed guidance providing additional information around subjects such as the skills, capability, culture and structure of your service/s.
This PMO guide is for local authorities interested in establishing a programme management office (PMO) or review their project management arrangements.
Included is a Project Threshold Tool to support in assessing the scale of the project in terms of finance, risk and complexity. This is aimed at helping evaluating the level of management, assurance and support needed for a project.
The guidance has been informed by local authorities who operate a PMO and by the support provided in forming project management arrangements. Many thanks to contributing authorities of South Cambridgeshire, Watford, Walsall and Wolverhampton with particular thanks to Sandwell Council for their time to shape the research into delivery.
Part of the LGA’s Sector Support Improvement programme funded by UK Government.
Councils need to strike a balance between accountability and allowing companies freedom, writes Vivien Holland, Director at Local Partnerships. Everyone is aware of the high-profile failures, but many local authority trading companies continue to thrive, taking advantage of the freedoms enjoyed by operating independently in the commercial world. However, the current economic and fiscal landscape […]
Replay our free “Leveraging data and visualisation for informed decision-making” webinar.
In a time where councils are asked to deliver more whilst budgets are being squeezed, the effective use of data can help key decision makers to allocate resources wisely and effectively.
Our data analytics team outlined a step by step approach to translate a vision into measurable targets and practical approaches to use data visualisation to evidence progress against those targets.
The webinar covered:
benefits and challenges of a data-driven approaches to decision making
translating visions into measurable targets using Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s)
embedding benefits measurement in the project delivery cycle using visualisation to support decision making and prioritisation
A template ‘Temporary accommodation model’ for demonstrating the financial case for investing capital to reduce the revenue costs of temporary accommodation.
Dealing with homelessness puts enormous pressures on council budgets, and the lack of suitable properties means that vulnerable individuals and families are often housed in temporary accommodation, including hotels and hostels.
Local Partnerships (with financial support from the LGA) has developed a new temporary accommodation model – which we have developed and piloted in a live setting in Manchester.
View our recorded webinar where we introduced and walked through the model for the benefit of councils grappling with homelessness and temporary accommodation pressures in their areas.
Government figures released in July 2023 show that, nationally, over 100,000 households were found to be living in temporary accommodation – up 10 per cent from 12 months previously and again the highest figure on record.
The purpose of the model is to:
provide councils with an order of magnitude assessment of the likely future profile, over a defined time period, of household types and numbers that will require temporary accommodation, and the consequential cost to the council’s revenue budget
set the counterfactual position for ‘invest to save’ propositions and allow their impact to be estimated and subsequently evaluated
enable changes in some of the main contributory factors to rising temporary accommodation spend (i.e., housing affordability, housing demand and housing supply), to be monitored and evaluated as well as help with budget management.
We would be very happy to chat through how this could be used in your area too: please don’t hesitate to contact us via the form on this page or contact martin.walker@localpartnerships.gov.uk . We’d be delighted to help.
Balancing Parking Revenue in the Midst of Cost of Living Crisis Councils need to maximise parking income, but this is challenging in the midst of a cost of living crisis and in the context of net zero strategies actively discouraging city centre parking. To help councils answer these challenging questions the LGA commissioned Local Partnerships’ […]
Local authorities developing their own renewable energy projects can run into difficulties with lack of specialist knowledge. Local Partnerships was commissioned by Energy Systems Catapult as part of the UCEGM project to provide capacity and technical expertise including supporting power purchase agreements, grid connections and cable routes, procurement support and advice, and identifying and advising […]
Our FREE CEO Blueprint is designed to enable CEOs to feel confident they have all the bases covered when it comes to council commerciality. Download below.
The CEO Blueprint supports CEOs of all council types and sizes when overseeing commercial activity irrespective of the end outcomes they are seeking to deliver. The key purpose is to maximise the chances of success.
Dorset Customer Transformation Dorset, a beautiful county located on the south coast of England, is home to approximately 350,000 residents and around 170,000 households. Dorset Council was created by bringing together six councils as one. This gave the new council a great opportunity to “embed digital at the heart of the new organisation and do […]
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