Governance is a vital part of the outsourcing lifecycle and as such six Merseyside councils are under-going a governance review in a bid to strengthen the local delivery of strategic economic development, regeneration and transport.

With the recommendation from Liverpool City Region Cabinet, one preferred option would be to create a "Combined Authority" to lead this work in the Liverpool region. Unlike the "Super-Council" concept, this option is all about formalising the existing positive informal arrangements and being able to deploy powers and resourced from Central Government for local use.

The six councils - Halton, Knowsley, Sefton, St Helens and Wirral - plus Merseytravel and the Local Enterprise Partnership - think that the current structure can be improved to accelerate economic growth and will help make services more cost effective. It aims to also bring clearer leadership and greater transparency while creating a legal entity which would be in a position to attract funding and devolved powers from government.

It is also worth noting that Wirral, Cheshire West and Chester Council are working together to drive savings by merging £69m of back office savings.

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