Commissioning and procurement is highly developed at Westminster City Council, supported by effective and innovative systems and processes. More than half of the Council's expenditure is externalised. The Council is proactive in identifying new ways of delivering services to improve customer experience and to help secure efficiencies.
The Council and its partners have received the Beacon award for strategic commissioning. This award shows how Westminster is improving outcomes by working across organisations to procure and deliver more joined up, tailored and responsible services, and to pursue better value for money for residents, delivering a healthier Westminster.
The Council's re-let strategy for waste collection, recycling and the street cleansing service contract is also an example of innovative strategic commissioning. The re-let strategy is for a £35 million per annum, 365 day high profile service.
The Council's re-let strategy was presented to Cabinet in September 2008. It shows:
- a clear vision
- expected outcomes
- expected improvements through service design
- an understanding of the supply market
- an example of the evaluation of procurement options
The strategy highlights:
- the procurement strategy to be used to meet the current financial remit
- alignment of service delivery with the neighbourhood agenda
- consideration of the environmental impact of the services delivered
The Council's transformational IT based initiatives are delivering both service improvements and efficiency gains. The Children and Adult services dashboard approach to client assessments has reduced administrative workloads. It also provides social workers and support staff with comprehensive client based information electronically. This initiative has removed the reliance on paper systems, and secured recurring annual efficiencies of £580,000.
The End to End licensing review maximised the efficiency and cost effectiveness of licensing processes within the Council. This helped to secure a Beacon award for Environmental Health, Trading Standards and licensing. This award recognises the Council's achievements in cutting red tape, "delivering real economic and social benefit through better local regulation".
There is a robust commissioning partnership between NHS Westminster and Westminster City Council. This partnership, which developed from the Council signing an S75 Commissioning Agreement, maximises the use of Health Act flexibilities to improve outcomes under the health and wellbeing agenda. A strong health and care network has been established. This includes membership from:
- all Council departments
- Westminster Primary Care Trust
- Imperial Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
- Central and North West London Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust
- Practice Based Commissioners Service providers
- users
- carers
- the Third Sector