Part of 1. 1. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government – in the Senedd at 2:08 pm on 5 July 2017.
Llywydd, well, I completely agree with what the Member said: that NHS shared services have been a conspicuous success story. Members here will be aware that it took 10 years to move from the original pattern, in which almost every health organisation in Wales provided all these services for themselves, to a point where we have a single shared services organisation for Wales. Part of the reason why it took that length of time is because there are people involved in working in all of these services, and you have to take account of the perspective of the people who work in these services. In our White Paper, we specifically asked the question as to whether or not there was more that NHS shared services could do to work for local authorities in this area, or whether it was better that local authorities develop their own model of shared services. There is some reluctance in local government in Wales to move down the shared services route, and there is a need for the message to be heard clearly by our local government partners that the move to shared services is a journey on which they are all embarked. I will be prepared to be understanding and pragmatic with them about the length of time it will take to reach the point where there is greater shared working, but no local authority in Wales should be in any doubt at all that we are all on this journey and they are on it too.