 Dear Colleague
Welcome to this week's edition
of the NWCE weekly news. Our weekly newsletters are also available
via our website. Click
here to access.
We want to hear good news stories and lessons learned from around the
region for inclusion in our news updates relating to improving efficiency
or partnerships/collaborations. If you have news you want to
include in our update, please contact Beverley Brooks.
North West Centre of
Excellence
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 Raise your standards
THE
NWCE standards group is looking for volunteers from around the region to
become members of the successful group.
Following the successful completion of phase one of
the project, phase two will develop standard templates and
guidance in areas such as clarification of EU rules for shared
services. It will also create a guide for suppliers on how
to do business with councils, provide training information for SMEs, look at the
potential for creating a sustainable procurement policy and online
method of mapping the procurement process.
Said
project manager, Olly Baker "This work cannot happen without the
support and involvement of council officers from across the north west.
Why
not become a part of the standards success story? For further
information or to become a member, contact Beverley Brooks.
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 NWCE goes global
VISITORS from South Africa this week spent a day with
the NWCE, as part of a week-long visit to the UK to learn how to improve
procurement.
The visit, arranged by the
Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply (CIPS) aimed to help
the procurement professionals and senior finance personnel from
regional government in South Africa to learn from procurement techniques in the UK
and use this new-found knowledge within their country.
The event, held on October 2,
2007, was well received by the South African delegates, who heard
presentations from the NWCE, Tameside MBC, Salford CC and Trafford MBC.
Sheila White, CIPS Membership
Services Manager said: "The topics covered were pitched at the right
level and the subject matter was excellently presented. If the rest
of this week goes half as well as today, it will be an excellent
week."
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 Sustaining flexibility
THE NWCE Sustainable Procurement
workstream has now drafted a plan to implement
level one of the flexible framework.
This framework identifies the
communications, procurement processes, supplier engagement, people and
policy issues and measurement of results that need to be delivered in
each public sector organisation.
This plan is included in the
information from the last meeting of the group, which can be viewed by clicking here.
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 Contract killings
An updated contracts register
giving detailed information on open contracts and frameworks which are
available for all local authorities to buy into is now available.
This information was collected
from all nine Regional Centres of Excellence and the Pro5 buying
organisations, and will be updated on a regular basis.
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 Cumbrian spend revealed
RESEARCH funded by the NWCE has been
featured in the September 2007 edition of the Cumbria Economic Bulletin.
The research, carried out by the
Centre for Regional Economic Development at the University of Cumbria,
looked at spend by local authorities in Cumbria valued above £20,000
and revealed that a large proprtion of this
spend is spent with a relatively small number of suppliers - over half of
which are based within Cumbria.
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 Construction savings are a web
feat
The
new consultant panels, launched recently by the North West Development
Agency to help north west councils get the best value from their
annual £2,200M spend on construction per year, are now available on the
NWCE website.
These panels offer a wide range of services relevant
to the delivery of construction and related consultancy services.
They can be used to get best value quotes for a range
of contracts and will be in place until December 31, 2011.
For further information and to view the documentation click here.
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 Winning waste
The October 2007 bulletin from
the Waste Information Network (WIN)
is available now.
WIN was developed by the South
East Centre of Excellence as a support tool for local authorities and
provides up-to-date information on all aspects of waste management.
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 Get wise to the waste
A
programme to help deliver the government's waste policies has
been outlined by Defra.
The Waste and Resources Evidence
Strategy 2007-2011 summarises the key areas where research will be
commissioned and evidence sought over the next few years. The strategy will support the delivery of the
Government's Waste Strategy for England 2007, published in May, which set
out priorities on waste prevention, minimisation, recycling, recovery,
and energy production.
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 Keep it local
Local authorities can
learn how to improve their local economy, while spending the same
or less money, by using a new web-based tool.
LM3
(Local Multiplier 3) Online makes it possible for any public sector or
not-for-profit organisation to show how important the money it spends is
to the local economy, and what they can do to improve this.
In
2005 the North East Centre of Excellence and One NorthEast
co-funded a regional project to support the use of LM3 throughout the
north east region, and LM3 is now in active use by over 20 local
authorities.
For further information click here.
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 Know your placements
Cut costs without cutting
corners - nationally
Social
care experts in the north west
can get the low-down on a new national care costing tool for adult
social care.
The NWCE is holding two, half-day events on October 30, at
the Birchwood Centre, Warrington, that will explain to delegates how the
toolkit is being developed, how it will work and the potential savings it
can bring for councils buying placements.
The north west project
board, along with other similar regional project boards, is being
developed by a north west
project board and is due to be launched in March 2008.
Places at the event will be strictly limited to two
representatives from each local authority - attendance that will enable
authorities to sign up for the pilot phase.
View
the event flyer here or click
here to book your place.
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 Transforming Service Delivery
Conference
October 30, 2007, QEII Conference Centre
Two for one offer
THE NWCE has an exclusive offer for
council representatives who wish to know more about the impact of CSR07.
The NWCE's
regional director Colin Cram
is speaking at the Transforming Service Delivery Conference to be held at
the QEII Conference Centre on October 30 and, for a limited period, two
delegates can book a place at the event for the price of one.
The conference will look at
CSR07 and its effect on local government, and will focus on the
recommendations made in the Local Government White Paper - 'Strong and
Prosperous Communities' with regard to re-shaping public services and
partnership working in the challenging financial climate.
The standard rate is £195 plus
vat and the 2 for 1 offer is on a first come, first served basis.
Call Naz Malik on
0161 211 3030 or email naz.malik@govnet.co.uk
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 Free sustainability training
November 13 2007, Wigan Investment Centre
FREE training on sustainable
procurement is being offered to councils in the north west.
The NWCE is working with ActionSustainability to help delegates to
discover the tools and techniques of sustainable procurement, and to
identify and manage how sustainability affects council's supply chains.
Delegates will learn how their supply chain affects the environment , and the event is ideal for those wanting
to learn more about sustainability issues in their organisation's supply
chain.
Normally £350 per delegate, this
training is free of charge to one delegate per council if accompanied by
a supplier.
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 Sourcing Sustainable Solutions -
Meet the Buyers
November 21 2007, Manchester
THE
NWCE will be supporting a sustainable procurement event in Manchester in
November.
Sourcing Sustainable Solutions - Meet the Buyers will
provide delegates with the opportunity to meet suppliers who can provide
innovative environmental and sustainable products and services.
A unique feature of the event will be pre-arranged
meetings with suppliers, selected according to delegates' criteria.
Delegates can tell the organiser their specific areas of interest, when booking, and the information will be used to research
and identify suppliers that match their criteria. On the day of the
event, delegates can take part in a series of private, pre-scheduled
meetings with the pre-matched suppliers.
The event on November 21 is free to attend for buyers. For
further information and/or to book a place click
here.
For
more information, contact Emma-Jane Allen on tel:
020 7700 0008 or e mail emma-jane@actionsustainability.com
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 The 3rd Annual NWeGG Conference
New Frontiers for Transformation
December 12 2007, Manchester
Central
This
event will focus on the future for the transformation agenda - a key
factor in the Government's plans to reform the public sector.
Delegates will hear from the government
on its latest strategy to modernise public services through
Transformational Change, understand the need to be customer focused, examine the key role that technology can play in
redesigning services for the benefit of both citizens and government
alike and network to share best practice and seek answers to the
challenges councils face.
There will be six seminars
designed to deal with different aspects of delivering effective change in
local government.
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North West Centre of Excellence
Room 5.15, Council Offices, Wellington Road,
Ashton-under-Lyne OL6 6DL
Tel: 0161 342 4080 Fax: 0161
342 3390 email: nwce@tameside.gov.uk
www.nwce.gov.uk
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