It was my pleasure to chair a meeting of our Local Government Shared Services (LGSS) joint committee on the 28th July. LGSS is the organisation that has been created by Cambridgeshire County Council and Northamptonshire County Council to provide back office function for both councils at a lower cost. No loss of front end delivery but a budget saving – fantastic.

This was a regular meeting at which performance against objectives is scrutinised and objectives set. This was a particularly important meeting as the agenda included the transfer of Cambridgeshire’s IT and facilities management functions into LGSS. This will give greater buying power and allow greater efficiency in the use of staff and resources.

This decision also means that LGSS is now much more of a complete service in our bid to attract another two top tier authorities to join to make the maximum possible savings.

Again, an excellent example of innovative thinking bringing benefits to the people of Cambridgeshire.