- Home
- ⁄ Council & democracy
- ⁄ Partnerships
- ⁄ Northgate Public Services
Over the life of the partnership Northgate guarantees to make savings of £2.1 million. The partnership also includes an innovative risk-reward scheme where the cost of introducing new initiatives to transform council services will only be paid out of cashable savings. Northgate will also invest £1.9 million in upgrading IT systems and services.
Under the terms of the contract, Northgate has taken on responsibility for managing the Council’s Corporate Services, which includes Finance, Procurement, Organisational Development, Revenues, Benefits and Customer Services along with IT and Business Improvement as part of its regional centre of excellence. The council will remain responsible for service delivery, and Elected Members will continue to set priorities and scrutinise the partnership. In supporting the economic development of the region Northgate also plans to bring at least 100 jobs into the District.
Northgate has also been looking at a variety of ways of making additional savings and helping the Council to become even more efficient. Progress has already been made to further develop areas such as customer services.
To make it easier for residents to contact the Council, technology has been implemented to modernise the telephone switchboard. In addition, figures show just 2.6 per cent of calls made to the Customer Services telephone number were unanswered in October, compared to 9.7 per cent at the same time last year.
Efficiency measures have also been put in place to ensure staff make contact with visitors to the Civic Offices within three minutes. Improvements are reflected in customer satisfaction surveys showing that 93 per cent of telephone callers and 92 per cent of visitors to the District Council are happy with the service they have received.
Cllr Bob Wheeler, Chairman of the Corporate Services Strategic Board, said:
“The partnership is a pioneering response to the age of austerity and will allow the Council to build on the high levels of service already provided.
“It is clear that we are developing a strong partnership with Northgate that will help us to continue to deliver top quality, good value services to our residents and partners, while driving down the cost of delivering services in the future.”
Northgate is also carrying out efficiency reviews. This includes looking at how the authority can tap into the company’s expertise for efficient purchasing. As part of Northgate’s £1.9m investment programme new finance and human resource systems will be in place by May 2011.
Using the Civic Centre, in Swadlincote, as a base, Northgate’s regional centre of excellence provides business transformation services for both public and not for profit organisations throughout the East Midlands and nationally.
Joe Bradley, Managing Director for Northgate Public Services, said:
“While the challenges facing the public sector are greater now than at any time in recent history, so too are the opportunities for new ideas, exciting possibilities of working differently and inspirational leadership.
“This is all about delivering better for less. We have fostered an extremely positive relationship with South Derbyshire District Council in which a culture of collaboration, quality and genuine value for money can flourish and grow.”
To find out more about Northgate Public Services then why not visit their website http://www.northgate-ispublicservices.com/
page ref: SDDC 509
Also on our website
