Both projects will look at where Clackmannanshire, Falkirk and Stirling Councils could work together, what benefits that could bring and whether there are opportunities to make services more resilient.

This project will look at how the three Councils buy and manage the technology used to support education.

While buying IT equipment will be an important part of the work, the project will look more widely at areas including devices, IT infrastructure, back-up and recovery arrangements, staff skills and training, and how equipment is repaired, reused and recycled.

The aim is to understand where working together could provide better value, reduce duplication and make IT services more resilient.

Importantly, learning and teaching, the curriculum and classroom practice are not part of this project.

The next stage will involve looking at how each council currently works and spends in these areas before options and their potential costs and benefits are considered.

The scope for the Housing project has now been agreed and work is underway across the three Councils.

Given the size and complexity of housing services, this will be a substantial piece of work and will take time to complete. It will look across housing services to understand where working more collaboratively could help improve services, share expertise and resources and strengthen resilience.

 The work will draw on the knowledge and experience of staff across the three Councils to understand how services currently operate and help develop and assess future options.

The Joint Staff Forum took place on 26 August, bringing together Trade Union representatives, officers and management from all three councils.

Following feedback that staff and Trade Unions want more detail about individual projects, this meeting included updates directly from the project teams leading the Revenues & Benefits and Emergency Planning & Resilience work.

The Forum  also received an update on projects that have started since its last meeting, including Regulatory Services and Support for ASN Services, as well as an overview of progress and timescales across the wider programme.

This is part of our commitment to make updates more useful and give staff and Trade Unions a clearer view of the work taking place within individual projects.

Work is also continuing on the projects that joined the programme in February/March.

Later in the autumn, workshops are planned to bring together the people involved in developing the business cases. These sessions will help work through the detail, check the evidence and bring the different parts of each business case together.

The aim is to have the first three business cases - Revenues & Benefits, Emergency Planning & Resilience and Internal Audit & Fraud - finalised by the end of the year, alongside the overarching Governance work.

Once complete, any recommendations requiring approval will be presented to the three councils for elected members to consider. Developing a business case does not in itself mean that the changes it considers will go ahead.

Staff with questions should speak to their line manager in the first instance or email collaboration@falkirk.gov.uk.