Shared Services Between Local Councils

Councils both City and County have many common activities that they currently provide in-house but could generate savings if bought and provided as a common group. Perhaps a 'South West Resource Service Ltd' to manage & run it. The list is long, but as a starter list:

a. Shared IT facilities, software, staffing etc from one datacentre,

b. The adoption of Opensource office rather than proprietary apps

c. Joint utility purchasing - gas, electricity.

d. Joint purchasing of consummables - vehicles, office products

e. HR, Legal, planning, etc etc

Additional suggestions welcome.

A big organisation representing many councils could drive better procurement deals saving all councils involved on both CAPEX and OPEX.

An additional benefit would be to encourage councils to work together rather than operate as separate fiefdoms.