Shared services now save ￡263m

摘要

The overwhelming majority of councils have now signed up to shared service initiatives to make combined savings worth ￡263m, the Local Government Association (LGA) has reported. An updated online map of shared services issued by the LGA last week indicates at least 337 local authorities -representing around 95% of councils across the country - are engaged in 281 shared service schemes. This is double the 141 shared service schemes tallied in last year's figures, which involved a mere 219 councils by comparison. Cllr Peter Fleming, chairman of the LGA's improvement and innovation board said the number of councils sharing services increased by 65% in the last year. "The new map helps illustrate the huge scale and range of shared services across local government. However, it also highlights that sharing services is not enough to make up for the sheer scale of funding cuts being imposed by the Government.'