With the political map changing to reflect views that favour insourcing services, a number of local authorities will inevitably be scrutinising their current traditional outsourcing operations, with a view to taking their services back in-house.
The swing away from the Tories, with their strong preference for outsourcing services as a way of reducing costs, introducing competition, and promoting efficiency, means that now new political parties have control. And those new parties have traditionally leant towards insourcing as the best option, looking to maintain control, improve service quality, and create local employment opportunities.
However, implementing such changes in service delivery models, replacing outsourcing with insourcing – or even forming a trading company – presents risk. It requires careful deliberation and planning: developing capacity, capital equipment investment, and staff expertise.
In my experience, partnership working offers the best of both worlds to local authorities.
The Norse joint venture model has always delivered a range of benefits to our partner councils, providing greater operational efficiency and cost savings, together with the ability to develop revenue streams, while sharing objectives and maintaining a strong public service ethos, with the emphasis on the environment and social value.
Crucially, the model also means our local authority partners retain a high degree of control through shared ownership and robust governance. This gives them direct influence over the partnership’s strategy without inhibiting the flexibility and commercial creativity that Norse, with its trading experience and know-how, contributes.
Partnership also overcomes another problem that many councils will have to address: the long-running skills shortage which means that local authorities no longer have enough qualified and experienced people to manage the demands created by taking services back inhouse.
With a wide range of skill disciplines, from traditional ‘blue collar’ operations – waste management, highways and FM – through to professional property and estate services, Norse’s partnership model complements and augments local government’s own resources; and this makes it the ideal vehicle for those planning on the bold move away from outsourcing.
This article is sponsored content for The MJ
