Themes & Trends in Signed-off Round 2 Local Area Agreements (LAAs)

Themes & Trends in Signed-off Round 2 Local Area Agreements (LAAs) • Vicki Goddard, Policy Officer • 18th April 2007 www.idea.gov.uk

Outline of this presentation • Background to this research • Plus points and caveats • Main overall findings from blocks and themes • Main Yorkshire & Humberside (Y&H) findings from blocks and themes • Taking the findings forward

Background to this research 1 • Round 2 LAAs signed-off 23 March 2006 • Uploaded them on to IDeA Knowledge (/laa) • Potential great source of collective information for different uses • Scoped a project around this

Background to this research 2 • Commissioned later than planned • Four objectives – for IDeA use but happy to share research • Commissioned Warwick Business School in September 2006 • Individual templates and collation approach • Final report submitted January 2007 • Spreading the word and using the findings

Plus points and caveats • Unique, detailed source of who’s working on what • Assists helpdesk queries and provides evidence for policy development • Only based on signed-off, positive Agreements – what, not how or why • More similarities than differences

Main overall findings from CYP 1 • Not surprisingly, strongly linked to national policy (Every Child Matters): • Be Healthy (75% - especially linked to diet and exercise) • Stay Safe (68% - especially substance abuse) • Enjoy & Achieve (62% - especially educational achievement) • Make a Positive Contribution (57% - especially volunteering) • Achieve economic well-being (60% - especially NEETs)

Main overall findings from CYP 2 • Additional key themes at regional level include: • Improved outcomes for looked after children • Promote learning/provide best chances • Narrowing the gap in targeted communities (Y&H) • Reduce teenage pregnancy

Y&H overall findings from CYP • Educational attainment mostly focused on Key Stages • Be healthy generally about sexual issues, diet and exercise • Economic well-being (N)EETs • Looked after children featuring in these three areas • Early years – a focus for one LAA • CYP issues evident in other blocks: • HCOP: infant mortality and breastfeeding • EDE: 16-19 achievement • SSC: young offenders

Main overall findings from HCOP 1 • Again, not surprisingly, strongly linked to national policy: • Improved health • ·Being healthy • ·Well-being • ·Tackling health inequalities • ·Promoting independent living • ·Access to care and services

Main overall findings from HCOP 2 • Additional key themes at regional level include: • Reducing health inequalities (Y&H) • ·Promoting healthier lifestyles (Y&H) • Reducing smoking and exposure to tobacco smoke (Y&H) • ·Improving life expectancy/ reduce mortality • Independent living for older/disabled people (Y&H) • ·Improving health generally • ·Reduce obesity • Improving mental/emotional health

Y&H overall findings from HCOP • Key themes: independent living, access to services, tackling health inequalities • Wider, related themes: decent homes and financial security • All five LAAs have health issues in other blocks • For example SSC: substance misuse, domestic violence and violent crime • Three LAAs linking premature mortality with life expectancy • Rural issues implicit in four Y&H LAAs around transport and access to services

Main overall findings from SSC 1 • Again, not surprisingly, focuses on two mandatory outcomes: • Reduce (fear of) crime/harm caused by illegal drugs, antisocial behaviour • Empowerment and influence over decision-making and service delivery • ‘Stronger’: • Based more on local, diverse indicators • Voluntary & Community Sector involvement - support, strengthened capacity and increased volunteering) • Rural areas - access to service/facilities, transport/mobility, village halls, housing and quality of life for those in greatest need

Main overall findings from SSC 2 • Common areas of national and local concern include: • Drugs and alcohol • Respect (Y&H) • Community cohesion • Clean/green/safe areas (all) • Improving quality of life in most disadvantaged areas • Crime • Housing (Y&H) • ‘Closing the gap’ (Y&H)

Y&H overall findings from SSC • Good balance between safer and stronger aspects • Safer – reducing (fear of) crime, road safety, fire deaths • Stronger – cleaner/safer/greener and closing the gap (5/5 LAAs) • All have targets on re-offending • 4/5 have targets on domestic violence

Main overall findings from ED&E 1 • Regional priority issues –focusing on enhancing the economy overall: • ·Business support/development (all regions) • Reducing worklessness/increasing employment (Y&H) • ·Skills development (Y&H) • ·Inward investment (Y&H) • Targeting disadvantaged groups and neighbourhoods (Y&H)

Main overall findings from ED&E 2 • Regional priority issues –focusing on enhancing the economy overall: • ·Y&H targets on NVQs, Key Stages, (N)EETs • Y&H also focusing on implicit ED issues e.g. transport, access to services • Little mention of pay and workforce strategies BUT • Y&H tackling travel access to jobs, sickness absence, money management

Main overall findings on cross-cutting issues 1 • 24 additional themes identified as cross-cutting • All regions tackling: • strong/cohesive/sustainable/inclusive communities • inequalities/narrowing the gap

Main overall findings on cross-cutting issues 2 • The main cross-cutting issues ‘beneath’ those two are: • arts/culture/sport • health/substance abuse (not just included in HCOP block) • community engagement and empowerment (related to it being mandatory?) • VCS/volunteering • Service user access/satisfaction • Cross-cutting issues focus on local circumstances and priorities.

Governance – Similarities Across LSPs 1 • ·Specific, strengthened executive group below the LSP Board • ·Typically comprises senior managers from public sector services, businesses and the VCS, usually drawn from respective LSP Boards • Beneath are (often LSP) thematic partnerships, task and sub-groups • Work to priorities and outcomes of Sustainable Community Strategies • Role of district LSPs often presented in broad terms

Governance – Similarities Across LSPs 2 • Theme groups mostly accountable for addressing targets but also: • leading on action and implementation plans • delivering, commissioning LAA/target interventions and any interventions • monitoring and evaluating progress and making recommendations • ·Some LAAs detail devolved responsibility for operational planning, delivery and change to service providers/ commissioners • Local authorities often lead the four standard blocks, partly due to the influence of central government initiatives • Y&H structures seemed more self-confident and established than some regions

Enhanced partnership working – key issues 1 • Success depends on existing strength and maturity of the partnership • Private sector involvement is rare and district council involvement varies • ·Communication across partnerships is being tested via the LAA process: • Sometimes strengthened - partners more involved in managing performance • Sometimes testing capacity, e.g. right info to right people in right language • Performance data – providing timely (quarterly) data is still an issue for individual organisations, as well as collating data between organisations

Enhanced partnership working – key issues 2 • ·Capacity and support – PCT reorganisation still impacting on LSPs • Council/elected member role: • Time to manage developments after LAA sign-off • Some councillors’ negative views of unelected, un-scrutinised bodies • Keeping partners on board • Districts’ impact: delivery/management roles, organisation and relationships

Voluntary & Community Sector involvement • ·Communications and awareness • Consultation/engagement • Governance, representation and responsibility • Commissioning/delivery • Capacity

Performance Management Issues – Often… 1 • Relates to current arrangements • The responsibility of the local authority • Scrutinised at the highest level • Districts hardly mentioned beyond membership of PM groups • Responsibility for targets is clear but not how to deal with underperformance

Performance Management Issues – Often… 2 • Partner teething troubles with existing council PM systems • ·Emphasis on data collection (additional, major task) - little/no time for use • ·Data requested in different formats, definitions and timescales • ·Neighbourhood /sharing worklessness data are particularly difficult areas • ·Different public sector cultures around performance management means - alignment and culture shifts needed • Information is sparse in some policy areas and too detailed in others

Themes & Trends in Signed-off Round 2 Local Area Agreements (LAAs)