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The Welsh Local Government Association and CBI Wales, have signed up for a major agreement on improvements to public services. The two organisations have pledged ‘to promote and improve public services with a greater involvement of the business sector.' Local government in Wales spends £2.4bn within the private and third sectors, and the new agreement is designed to help improve procurement and secure better value-for-money service improvements. The Making the connections agenda set out by the agreement stresses the importance of ‘greater collaboration and joint working' if public services are to be improved, and calls for ‘commitment by local government and the private sector to work together to find efficient, innovative and sustainable solutions that meet rising expectations'. Leader of the WLGA, John Davies, said: ‘Local government is the natural leader of public service reform. We are committed to working together to develop joint solutions for new ways of working to improve affordability, sustainability and inter-authority collaboration.' The document sets out three calls to action, including improved public and private sector engagement, better sharing of services and more public/private partnerships. Director of CBI Wales, David Rosser, said: ‘On behalf of the Welsh business sector, the CBI is committed to working with local government to develop joint solutions. ‘Both our organisations recognise the value and input of the public sector workforce, and we look forward to taking our agreement forward.' One of the aims of the collaboration is to improve procurement processes. A similar partnership is in place in Scotland, where BT works with Edinburgh City Council supplying technology, people and processes on a risk-and-reward basis over 10 years. The first meeting between the WLGA and CBI Wales is scheduled to be held next month.

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WHITEHALL

WLGA and CBI join up to improve public services

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