Annual Report 2008-2009
Since Improvement and Efficiency South East (IESE) was formed in April 2008, there have been a
number of challenges to face, for us as an organisation and for local government in the South East as
a whole. However, we believe this report shows that we have risen to those challenges, and have
already made good progress towards the targets set out in our Regional Improvement & Efficiency
Strategy.
Details:
The Annual Report incorporates refreshed visions for each of our themes and updated overarching
and theme objectives. This reflects the ownership that our lead elected Members and Chief Executives have taken of their themes. This is exciting evidence that the strategy is truly member led and the implementation of the strategy is being driven forward by Chief Executives. The leads for
each theme have established steering groups that bring input from across local government in the region, from advisers in the local government family and from central government.
Excellent progress has been made during our first year. Significant cashable efficiency gains have
been made, delivering greater value for money for our residents. Significant service improvements
have been made and we’ve provided support for LSPs throughout the region. We take a robust
approach to programme management and benefits monitoring and reporting. Where we report
benefits in this report they have been compiled against a clear set of criteria, based upon input from
the authorities involved in the project and independently quality assured. The processes, procedures
and criteria are published and the reports of progress compiled regularly and signed off by our lead
Chief Executives. The statistics are not the only measure of the progress IESE has made and
throughout the report are examples of progress made and quotes from those involved. Each of these
examples is backed up by a case study and these case studies are published and can be read in the
case study booklet which accompanies this report.
As part of combating the impacts of the economic downturn, we have supported exciting local
initiatives aimed at increasing leadership in economic and neighbourhood renewal, including the North
Kent MAA and the Partnership for Urban South Hampshire (PUSH). We have also helped authorities
support local businesses. The external spend of local authorities in the region has been analysed for
the second time and trends considered; this is unique in the public sector within England. We have
further developed our business portal and have worked with Business Link to bring transparency to
local government opportunities and reduce the cost of doing business with councils. We have worked
jointly with Business Link to run a series of workshops for businesses around the south east region on
how to work with local government and how to use the business portal.
Running throughout each of our strategic themes is an approach that values innovation, from the work
in Corporate Transformation on the merger of Adur and Worthing Councils to the approach to
mentoring online developed by the waste partnership. We haven’t limited our activities to local
government and we have supported integration across the public sector in many areas including
corporate transformation, procurement and social care. We have already made a start on enhancing
the way we give access to our services and supporting the way we engage with our residents, from
the Surrey project on enhanced neighbourhood engagement to the joined up community engagement
approach of the Bucks two tier pathfinder. We believe that our programme is focussed around the
future needs of our residents and local businesses. In order to meet the challenge of the current
economic climate, transformation is no longer an option it is the only solution.
