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LAA Archive
Crime Report
Here is the recently published end of year crime report, which reports on the year end outturn against Police Authority targets.
LAA Review & Refresh 2008/2009
The LAA Review and Refresh period has now been completed. Here is the refreshed LAA that has been passed onto Central Government for sign off.
LAA Reward Grant
The Reward Grant Entitlement was also submitted in accordance with GOWM Guidelines and with reference to CLG Guidance on LAA Performance Reward Grant.
Here is a copy of the LAA Reward Guidance , this document explains how entitlement to performance reward grant (PRG) will be calculated for local area agreements (LAAs) that started in 2008.
Performance Management Seminar
A Performance Management Seminar was held on Thursday 25th September 2008 at Saltisford, Warwick. Please find attached the Seminar Pack
Communications Seminar
An LAA Communications Seminar was held in Shire Hall Warwick on Friday 18th July 2008. For more information please read the attached Flyer
Locality Working
Locality Working is underway in Warwickshire please see the attached Full Council Report 13th May 2008, plus a presentation on Locality Proposals for Warwickshire
New LAA 2008/2011
Here is the final submission of the new LAA as at 1st July 2008.
Appointment
Congratulations to Bill Basra from Warwickshire County Council, who has recently been appointed as the LAA Manager. Bill will begin his new role on 7th April 2008.
Priorities
In accordance with the agreed timetable we have submitted to GOWM our latest list of Priorities drawn from the National Indicator Set - March 31st 2008.
New LAA Priorities as at 31st January 2008, submitted to Government Office West Midlands.
Mid Year Review
The Government Office West Midlands (GOWM) undertook a mid year review of the Warwickshire LAA with reference to half year performance outputs. The review commenced in October 2007 once the Quarter 2 performance information was available and was completed by the end of November 2007.
The expectation is that there will be no formal end of year ‘review and refresh’ process but that this will become the negotiation of the ‘new LAA’. The mid year review therefore presents the opportunity to start the process of considering the new LAA for 2008.
Mid Year Review - PDF, 1Mb
Mid Year Review & the New LAA Report for the Public service Board (PSB) 25th September 2007 - PDF, 111Kb
LAA Dry Run Negotiations PDF, 540Kb
Negotiating New LAA's - PDF, 197Kb
The New Performance Framework for Local Authorities & Local Partnerships, Single Set of National Indicators has also been published by the DCLG.
Single Set of National Indicators - PDF, 878Kb
Resources
Funding Arrangements 2007/2008
We have taken a realistic and pragmatic approach to the inclusion of pooled and aligned funding streams in the first year of this LAA. We have been concerned to ensure that our approach is acceptable and sustainable over the long term and that partner agencies are confident and committed to the work for the lifetime of the agreement.
We have included, as pooled funding, all those funding streams which are automatically pooled in line with the DCLG Guidance of March 2006, in addition to which we will include as pooled funding the Connexions Grant received within the Children and Young People Block.
In all other cases, where we have had the choice to pool, funding streams have been aligned.
Clear criteria have been developed for aligning other funds and these are:
- The funding must clearly contribute to the achievement of outcomes and targets
- The funding must be subject to financial monitoring by the PSB
- The activity supported by the funding must be subject to the performance management regime set out in section 9.
In the first year of operation of the LAA there is likely to be limited material change in the direction of funding given the commitments that will already have been made by partners.
However, through the first 12-18 months of the life of the LAA it is anticipated that Block Leaders will reconsider the allocation of pooled funding streams for the second and third years of the LAA in order to maximise the potential; for the achievement of outcomes.
Following the DCLG Guidance ‘ LAA Finance Guidance’ in early December 2006, we have considered our approach to the principles and practice relating to Financial Management. Warwickshire County Council as the accountable body for the LAA must ensure that there are appropriate financial governance arrangements in place to manage LAA funding.
Funding Arrangements 2008/2009
Please find attached a copy of a Cabinet Report (10/01/08) which informs the Members of the details of the Area Based Grant Settlement, and seeks approval for the process of agreeing the 2008/09 allocation of Area Based Grant.
Allocation of Area Based Grant 2008/09
Consultation on the National Indicator Set
Response to the Consultation
Letter from WCC's Chief Executive, Jim Graham
Consultation on the National Indicator Set
The Government is now consulting on the detailed definitions of the new National Indicator Set for implementation in 2008/09. The consultation seeks our views on the methodology, frequency of reporting and data source of each individual indicator, but not on whether individual indicators should be included in the new set of national indicators - see link below.
http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/localgovernment/indicatorsdefinitions
The Public Service Board will be asked at its next meeting on the 29th November whether a collective Warwickshire response would be welcomed. As a minimum, it might be beneficial to share responses to ensure there are no significant contradictions.
With this in mind we would like to ensure that the County Council's response to the consultation paper encapsulates the thoughts and opinions of our key Members, Officers and Partners.
The deadline for responses to the Audit Commission is 21st Dec 2007 and to enable the consolidated response to be considered by our Cabinet in December we will need to move pretty fast to undertake the necessary analysis.
We are therefore proposing the following four stage process which we need your help to complete by Wednesday 28th November.
1. Identify the relevance of the new measures to your services
We have created a summary table detailing all the indicators, which are to be consulted on, and added a column detailing who we believe will be best placed to comment on the individual indicators.
We recognise that there are some overlaps in other blocks, where there is shared interest. Therefore, please look at each indicator individually as it may have some impact on your area of work.
NI Set Contacts
2. Evaluate the individual measures you feel are relevant to your service (table 1)
A template has been developed for review of each individual indicator. This should be used at your discretion, for the indicators that you feel are relevant to your service. For each indicator we are asked to comment on the following:
- The clarity of each technical definition
- Whether the technical definitions as drafted will lead to any unintended consequences
- Whether there any definitions that will not work in practice
- Whether the right spatial level of reporting has been defined for each indicator
- Which indicators would be suitable for disaggregation
- Any other comments on the templates, including suggestions for improvement
- Whether any indicators should be disaggregated for ethnicity, gender, age etc
NI Response Form
3. Provide general feedback on the whole basket on measures (table 2)
If you have any views on the overall basket of indicators i.e. its impact upon the authority, and does it demonstrate a reasonable true picture of our performance etc. these would be welcomed.
General Comments
4. Retaining the old Best Value Performance Indicators (BVPI) (table 3)
On a general note we would be very interested in your views on whether you intend to retain any appropriate existing BVPI's for local use. (If possible, we would appreciate any views you may have by 5th December).
Retention of Existing BVPI's
We would be grateful if you could complete and return the response forms to Mandeep Kalsi (mandeepkalsi@warwickshire.gov,uk) by Wednesday 28th November.
Your input and contribution to this process is invaluable and we look forward to your response.
LAA Governance
A Governance Task and Finish Group was established by the LAA Steering Group to develop governance arrangements during the implementation phase of the LAA
(post-April 2007).
At its meeting held on 21st December 2006, the LAA Steering Group discussed a comprehensive paper produced by the Task & Finish Group and agreed a new
governance model, the essence of which will require:
- The establishment of a new County Level Partnership (Public Service Board)
- 6 County Themed partnerships reflecting the LAA Blocks
- The existing 5 district based Local Strategic Partnerships
- District level themed partnerships reflecting the LAA Blocks
- Linkages with emerging arrangements for localities
It is intended that this is adopted by all partner agencies in support of positive, constructive and delivery-focused partnership working under the umbrella of the LAA. In developing the model, the content of the Local Government White Paper (issued on 26th October) has been fully considered.
The Steering Group has agreed that the LAA governance arrangements should be based on the following guiding principles:
- As a general principle, Partnership Boards should ideally aim to have a membership of between 10 – 15 people – anything larger would be unwieldy to manage and could frustrate partnership progress.
- There should be elected member representation on Partnership Boards with local authority portfolio holders playing a key role on appropriate thematic partnership (a clear expectation set out in the Local Government White Paper)
- Those partner agencies who have elected members sitting on the Partnership Board should be able to nominate an officer to attend meetings in a supporting role
- In all cases representatives should be of sufficiently senior standing as to be able to make decisions on behalf of their nominating body
- Partner agencies should nominate representatives whose own area of work, knowledge or expertise are relevant to the work of that Partnership Body
- When representatives are unable to attend meetings, substitutes should be nominated, those substitutes also having authority to commit the organisation
- The principle of mutual accountability will be embedded – partners need to be accountable to each other for the delivery of jointly agreed and collectively owned outcomes.
- In addition the concept of accountability would be two-way between the local district level delivery partnerships (e.g. Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships) and the county level themed partnerships (e.g. the Warwickshire Safer Communities Partnership). County level themed partnerships would be accountable to the district level themed partnerships for the delivery of countywide strategies which impact on districts (e.g. domestic violence) and vice versa in respect of the local themed partnership’s contribution to the LAA block outcomes.
- There would be a rationalisation of existing partnerships, sub-groups, themed groups etc so as to refocus partnership working around the LAA outcomes that are agreed by all the partners
The Public Service Board, at its meeting on 15th May 2008 confirmed that these arrangements be retained for the first year of the New LAA with re-consideration by the Board in 2009.
Governance - Word 53Kb
How the groups interact
Cross Cutting Themes from the LAA 2007/2008
Although the LAA is structured around 6 blocks, the issues being tackled are connected across the agreement, so activity in one block may well contribute to the outcomes in other blocks.
Six cross cutting themes have been identified which will impact across the LAA, these are:
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