The country of Bigland has a democratically elected government which verifies broad national policies. Local services such as education, social care and environmental services are the responsibility of the elected local government for the regions. These regions are funded by a combination of local taxes and government grants. The largest region is Middle region, which is about to make a new workforce strategy for its many local government employees. Recently it has received a report from its external auditor into its overall arrangements for achieving value for money. The external auditor has made three recommendations relevant to human resources (HR):

• There requires to be greater clarity over the distinctive roles carried out by both Middleregion's Human Resources Department and line managers in developing and executing HR practices;

Discuss the contributions of both Middleregion's Human Resources Department and line managers in developing and then executing HR practices.

Middleregion's Human Resources Department

Middleregion's Human Resources Department has a number of significant roles to perform, some of which are listed below.

Ensuring alignment of HR to corporate aspirations

It should be the responsibility of the department to make sure that HR activities are aligned to the corporate strategy. The department should also make sure that latest policies arising from the workforce strategy must support Middleregion's corporate strategy and broader organisational aims and philosophy. As such, the department will require a mature understanding of organisational requirements and will require to see the link to strategic and operational human resourcing.

Leading HR planning processes

As subject specialists, the department should take the principal role in matters of method development containing leading the development of the new workforce strategy. The leadership it exercises should emphasise inclusivity and it must make sure that all key stakeholders, containing line managers and employees are include in the process. This involvement is important to make sure workforce commitment and successful execution.