Meeting: Overview and Scrutiny Committee (County Hall, Durham - Committee Room 2 - 13/02/2006 10:00:00 AM)
Item: A5 Local Area Agreements - Report and Presentation
Overview and Scrutiny Committee
13th February 2006
Local Area Agreement - Progress Update and Durham County Council Accountable Body Role |
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| Report of Ann Campbell, Head of Corporate Policy |
Purpose of the Report
1 To report progress made in the development of a Local Area Agreement for County Durham and consider the final draft Agreement (to be tabled) and accompanying presentation.
2 To consider the implications and required actions around Durham County Council’s role as the ‘Accountable Body’ for the Local Area Agreement (LAA).
Progress Update
3 The LAA Interim Board has been convened four times since December 2005. The following bullet points capture the key decisions taken at these meetings:
4 Membership:
- Susan Johnson will be the Chair of the Interim Board up to 31 March 2006
- The Learning & Skills Council will be invited to become a member of the Interim Board.
- The Lead Officers for each Block will be involved in discussions held by the Board and they should attend Interim Board meetings. Further consideration will also be given to the links between Block Lead Officers and the Project Team.
- Interim Board meetings will be planned for every two weeks up to the end of March 2006. If discussions can be held be e-mail rather than by meeting this will be done.
5 LAA Outcomes and Indicators:
- The final draft Local Area Agreement contains outcomes and indicators, which partners will collectively commit to achieving over the three-year period (2006 - 2009).
- It is likely that the partners will use the first year of this period to develop accurate baseline information for assessing LAA progress, and make appropriate changes within and across organisations to encourage success.
- A named officer has been assigned to each of the outcomes and targets within the LAA.
- Four overarching objectives have been proposed for the LAA and it is anticipated that these will form the basis for cross-cutting themes in the agreement:
- Narrowing the deprivation gap
- Improving access to services
- Increased funding to support sustainable service improvements
- Improved public satisfaction with their area and an increase in the number of people who feel able to influence public services
6 Funding Streams:
- ‘Champions Groups’ for each LAA block have identified funding streams which could potentially contribute to achieving the agreed LAA outcomes. Early in the three year process, partners will need to decide formally which funding is be aligned or pooled in support of LAA outcomes.
- Project and activities already planned for 2006/07 should be allowed to continue where they are supported by the LSP.
7 Local Public Service Agreements Reward Element:
- Partners agreed to focus attention on this element of the LAA in order to ensure that targets can be negotiated with GONE by mid February. If the 12 ‘stretch’ targets within the LAA are achieved the stretch in performance will earn a Performance Reward Grant of approximately £12m.
- These targets must be identified and the stretch in performance must be agreed with GONE by mid February 2006 or be delayed by 12 months.
- County Council officers are intricately involved in the discussions around the stretch targets.
- Discussions are ongoing regarding the use of the Performance Reward Grant. These proposals should ensure that the use of the Grant does not reinforce historic behaviours and that provisions are made to recognise the role of the voluntary and community sector.
8 Governance:
- Having agreed the overall framework for governance arrangements at the LAA Business Meeting on 25 November 2005, the LAA Project Team have been tasked with identifying how the governance arrangements might work in practice. Again, it is likely that this work will be developed in much greater detail during the first year of the LAA period.
- The development of integrated neighbourhood service delivery is a longer-term objective of the LAA and needs to be developed over the coming months. As such, the LAA Project Team is planning a neighbourhood management event to be held in the Summer.
- There are clear linkages between the work of the E-Government Partnership (the access to services agenda) and the LAA. It is therefore proposed that representatives from the E-Government Partnership are asked to give a presentation to the Interim LAA Board at a future meeting to highlight overlaps and opportunities.
- The Leader of the Council, as the Chair of the County Durham Strategic Partnership (CDSP), has contacted all members of the CDSP to initiative a review of this partnership. This issue will be considered at the next CDSP meeting on 2 February.
- The LAA Interim Board are considering broader funding implications of the LAA in three specific areas:
- The development of an independent Project Team to take forward the LAA (and the CDSP).
- Existing gaps in the funding of the voluntary and community sector which is crucial to the success of the LAA.
- The anticipated increased role of the Local Strategic Partnerships (LSPs) and Community Empowerment Networks (CENs) as they assist with the coordination and delivery of LAA outcomes.
Durham County Council’s ‘Accountable Body’ Role 9 In County Durham the Local Area Agreement has been developed through an inclusive and multi-agency process, with broad representation of partners on both the Interim Board and the Project Team.
10 The Government guidance on the LAA is however explicit in labeling the upper-tier council in each area as the ‘Accountable Body’ for the LAA, but the guidance does not go on to define the role or particular responsibilities associated with ‘Accountable Body’ status.
11 The County Council will therefore need to work with partners to define what is (and what is not) included in the Council’s remit as the Accountable Body. In doing so, partners will be able to draw on previous experience of accountable body roles in a variety of programmes (such as Neighbourhood Renewal Funding, Single Programme Funding and Community Networks). In such examples the County Council has held key responsibilities around financial management, performance management and scrutiny of progress.
12 In consideration of the broader governance arrangements around the Local Area Agreement, partners will need to be mindful of the possibilities posed by having different levels of accountability at different levels. This is particularly important given the prominence of Local Strategic Partnerships in shaping Community Strategies and the Local Area Agreement.
13 Given the Council’s commitment to the multi-agency approach highlighted above, the Council is working on the premise that duties associated with Accountable Body status will be carried out as part of the Council’s membership of the LAA Project Board, rather than the Council acting in isolation.
14 It is suggested that the following themes capture the areas of responsibility falling to the Accountable Body. As such, it is proposed that these themes are put to the LAA Board for further discussion and action to ensure that the Board (and the County Council as a member of the Board) is fulfilling its responsibilities as Accountable Body.
- Financial Management
- Performance Management
- Risk Management
- Protocol for ‘Calling in’ Partners
Recommendations Members are asked to:
15 Note the update on the progress being made in the development of an LAA for County Durham and the unique responsibilities held by the County Council as the ‘Accountable Body’ for the LAA.
16 Consider the final draft of the Local Area Agreement (to be tabled) and the accompanying presentation.
| Contact: Jonny Tew Tel: 0191 383 5533 |
Finance Management of funding streams and allocations against LAA outcomes are considered as part of this report.
Staffing
N/A
Equality and diversity
The development of the LAA has been conducted in accordance with Equalities and Diversity principles.
Accommodation
N/A
Crime and disorder
The Stronger and Safer Communities block contains key LAA outcomes for reducing the impact of crime on residents’ lives in County Durham
Sustainability
Sustainability will be a key cross-cutting issue in the Local Area Agreement
Human rights
N/A
Localities and Rurality
N/A
Young people
The Children and Young People block contains key LAA outcomes for improving quality of Young People’s lives in County Durham.
Consultation
N/A
Health
The Healthier Communities and Older People block contains key LAA outcomes for improving the health of people in County Durham
Attachments
LAA update + Accountable Body Feb06.pdf