Liverpool regeneration, Singh to head commission, Thurrock e-invoicing initiative…

Liverpool appoints regeneration consortium
Liverpool City Council has appointed a consortium to help it build 1,500 new homes and bring 1,000 properties back into use. The council will sell surplus land to the new Building Our Future partnership with profits reinvested in the business and used to buy more sites. The partners include private housing developer Redrow Homes, affordable housing provider Liverpool Mutual Homes (LMH) and its building contractor Willmott Dixon.

Singh to head finance commission
The Local Government Association has announced that its independent commission examining local government finance will be chaired by Darra Singh, partner in the government and public sector team at consultancy EY. Singh is a former chief executive of London Borough of Ealing and Luton Borough Council. The commission will make recommendations for the reform of local government finance and finding better ways to fund local services and promote economic growth in England.

Thurrock targets e-invoicing savings
Thurrock Council says that a move to e-invoicing could help it meet its target of saving £900,000 on procurement this year. The authority processed almost 70,000 invoices in 2012/13 with nearly two thirds for amounts below £500. All those relatively small payments represented less than 5% of the council’s spending with suppliers but the smallest invoice required as much processing time as one for a million-pound project.

Staff consulted over restructuring
Cheshire West and Chester Council is consulting staff on plans to significantly restructure its senior management structure. The reforms, aimed at saving £1m a year, could make a contribution to plugging a budget shortfall of £6m and would see the number of heads of service cut from 24 to 14, along with a new directorate structure.

Pension funds in shared services deal
West Yorkshire Pension Fund (WYPF) is to take over administration of the Lincolnshire Pension Fund (LPF) from Mouchel Group. WYPF, the largest LGPS fund by asset size, with £9.9bn of assets, will provide pension administration and payroll services for members of the Lincolnshire fund and Lincolnshire Firefighters Pension Scheme. Lincolnshire’s deal with Mouchel expires in 2015.