Bid number (for
EG use) | |
Lead bidder | Fife Council
David Martin - 01592 413501
E-mail -
david.martin@fife.gov.uk |
Brief description of the aims of the
project | To achieve economies of scale in the
diagnosis, procurement and delivery of common
training and organisational development
activity across a range of public service
organisations in Lothian, Fife and the Borders.
Although this bid is framed on a regional basis
involving partners from the East of Scotland,
there is clearly scope for a broader national
approach to be taken, potentially involving
CoSLA and the Improvement
Service. The Executive itself could also
participate. The Lothian, Fife and Borders
Group could potentially act as a pilot for a
national initiative to be rolled out in due
course. |
Clear description of what the
EGF money would be used to
buy | At this stage, the bid is for funding from
the
EGF to commission an
intensive piece of scoping work to be carried
out between January and June, 2005, with the
intention of submitting a fully costed business
case in line with the detailed
EGF guidance thereafter. The
scoping work would:- - Stock-take current practices and
approaches (including procurement) to
training and
OD activity in
consortiums partners;
- Quantify expenditure (including
in-house resource provision) on key defined
training/
OD activities in these
organisations;
- Examine the scope for alignment or
standardisation of approaches;
- Identify any duplication that might
exist;
- Look closely at the supply side
provider network involved in meeting
current demand for training/
OD services across
partners, for the same set of defined
activities;
- Identify new/improved methods of
addressing these training and development
requirements;
- Frame a Stage 2 submission to
EGF.
Dependent on the outcome of this scoping
work,
EGF resources could be used
for a range of start-up costs,
e.g. the development/acquisition
of relevant
HR/
OD software, e-learning
packages, the production of training materials
and content, the licensing and accreditation of
trainers and fit out/modernisation of training
facilities. |
Partners to the project likely to commit
resources | Fife Council, City of Edinburgh Council,
East Lothian Council, Midlothian Council, West
Lothian Council, Scottish Borders Council;
potentially Lothian and Borders/Fife
Constabularies, and
NHS Fife/Lothian. |
Names of Other Organisations with whom the
project has been discussed (to assist the
introductions process) | CoSLA; the Improvement
Service. |
Evidence that suggested approach has been
deployed successfully elsewhere | A key purpose of the scoping study would be
to identify suitable benchmarks and
comparators. Examples of shared training/ development approaches include the Civil
Service and Scottish Police Colleges; more
locally Fife Council and
NHS Fife collaborate in a
shared management development programme. |
Any there any restrictions to potential for
enlargement of the project (
i.e., technology, number of
partners, etc) | None. There are likely, however, to be
indirect and cultural advantages to a
"regional" approach for some elements of a
common training/
OD programme, such as
Councillor/Board member work on corporate
governance, or leadership development within
community planning areas. |
Benefits projected from the project | Project benefits will include:- - Greater purchasing power leading to
lower unit costs for training
delivery;
- Reduced administration and support
costs;
- Potentially reduced in-house
OD costs;
Indirect benefits including improved
communication between partners, greater use of
existing training facilities, and in the medium
term improved efficiency in the public sector
labour market. |
Estimated financial projections | To be determined by the scoping study.
Estimated cost for this in the East of Scotland
would be 50-60K including consultancy costs and
a dedicated short-term Project Manager. A
national focus for the project would increase
these costs accordingly. |
Is a pilot required - see guidance notes | Potentially. If the scoping exercise was
accepted at the East of Scotland level, this
could be regarded as a pilot exercise for a
national initiative in due course. |
Additionally: why is
EG funding required | Development funding is required to finance
scoping work on what could be a significant
joined-up procurement and delivery initiative
to tackle corporate learning and
OD priorities across the
Scottish public sector. |
Is this project complementary in anyway to
other
EG work | The reform of support services is one of the
main Efficient Government themes, with a clear
recognition in the guidance that the way to
tackle this agenda is to promote a series of
scalable pilots which can be developed over
time to transform service delivery. |
Is "stage 2 development funding"
requested? | Yes |