Welcome to the winter 2010 Oxfordshire Partnership newsletter. As you'll see the cold weather hasn't slowed the pace of partnership working in the county. In this edition find out about the new Local Enterprise Partnership and the future of local area agreements.
Oxfordshire successful in its bid for Local Enterprise Partnership
The Oxfordshire City Region Enterprise Partnership was one of 24 partnership proposals endorsed by the Government on 28 October.
The Partnership will provide a level of strategic leadership from the business community, the public sector and academia the like of which has not been realised in the past. It will:
- Shape and articulate a vision for the long term future of Oxfordshire's economy;
- Promote the rebalancing of the economy from the public to private sector;
- Support existing organisations to realise their full potential through better support and co-ordination;
- Promote investment in skills development that supports growth in our key sectors (low carbon and green technologies; advanced materials and engineering; space and other high value R&D science based sectors);
- Remove barriers to business start up and growth, actively facilitating innovation and entrepreneurship.
The partnership will focus on the key spatial priorities in Oxfordshire:
- Science Vale UK
- Bicester - eco-town
- Oxford
Work is already underway in regard to the Partnership's (initial) four areas of focus:
- Addressing skills deficiencies
- Supporting innovation and growth, including access to finance
- Business support provision
- Securing investment for infrastructure priorities
In taking these activities forward we are building upon existing work wherever possible: this includes work previously championed by the Oxfordshire Economic Partnership where this is relevant to the work of the Partnership.
Martin Dare-Edwards is the Shadow Chairman of the Board.
The Partnership will have a key role to play in encouraging and supporting bids to the newly established Regional Growth Fund. The first round of bidding for funding is now open with a deadline for bids of 21 January.
Key documents regarding the Oxfordshire LEP are now available to view on-line on our temporary webpage at www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/lep.
Elections for voluntary and community sector representatives on strategic partnerships
Three elections are currently underway to select members of the voluntary and community sector to sit as representatives on partnership bodies in Oxfordshire. Nominations are being requested for representatives to the Oxfordshire Partnership, Health and Well Being Partnership and the Children's Trust.
We have a fair and open process for electing these representatives so that anyone eligible (staff member, trustee or volunteer at an organisation) can put themselves forward and have an opportunity to stand for election. Oxfordshire Community and Voluntary Action are managing this process on behalf of the partnership boards. Once elected the representatives have a role in representing the sector as a whole, not just their individual organisations. A system of feed-back and feed-in is in place so that groups can make their reps aware of issues they face that they wish to be raised on their behalf, and that the reps can ensure that those who are affected by the decisions or discussions at partnership meetings are aware of this.
The reps attend forum events to feed back to colleagues, and also include updates in the regular OCVA mailing and on the website. OCVA provides support to the reps including induction and opportunities to meet with each other and provides training to help them carry out their role more effectively.
Low Carbon Communities Programme
The Low Carbon Communities Programme funded by Local Area Agreement reward grant for local communities and schools is running until September 2011, despite a 50% funding cut.
Highlights since the projects started earlier this year include:
The affordable warmth project has provided advice to 876 people, with many local groups requesting visits. We have also run training sessions for social workers and council and Citizens Advice Bureau staff, and attended GP flu clinics and electric blanket testing sessions across Oxfordshire.- The £99 deal launched in May has been very popular with Oxfordshire residents, and 595 households have already had loft or cavity wall insulation installed, with many more in the pipeline, saving CO2 and money.
- Renewable Energy: A photovoltaic array (used to convert solar energy into electrical current) at Barley Hill School in Thame, part funded by reward grant, is already up and running.
- The Big Carbon Challenge: carbon reduction is training local groups in low carbon living, with a prize fund of £1,500 for groups demonstrating the biggest carbon reductions and the most effective programme of community engagement.
Find out more about individual projects in the Low Carbon Communities Newsletter (.pdf format, 56 Kb)
Million pound funding for sport and physical activity
Local Authorities within Oxfordshire have achieved over £1.2 million worth of funding for sport and physical activity by working together with other partners within the Oxfordshire Sports Partnership since 2006.
Projects funded include the GO Active project in conjunction with the PCT and Leisure Providers, Sport Unlimited which has involved over 7000 young people in positive sporting activities since 2008, employing community coaches to help people become more active in each District and local projects as diverse as Nordic walking and a badminton festival for children with a disability.
The work of partners supported, led and co-ordinated by a Partnership Core Team hosted by Oxford City Council, has helped Oxfordshire go a significant way to achieving its collective vision of:
"Everyone more active and achieving their potential in sport"
This is backed up by national Active People survey data which highlights Oxfordshire as one of a few counties in England that have seen a significant increase in participation in sport and activity since 2006.
Significant support has been via the Oxfordshire Sports Board, Oxfordshire Sustainable Community Strategy, Local Area Agreement, Local Authority strategies and the support of the Health and Well Being Board in funding projects and aligning partners to partnership working.
Mike Walker Chairman of the Partnership states:"With inactivity costing over £13 per person within Oxfordshire there has never been a better time to show how working together in sport and physical activity can benefit organisations, reduce costs and enable more people to have a healthier life."
The Oxfordshire Sports Partnership was set up by Local Authorities within Oxfordshire in conjunction with Sport England in 2006 and consists of Local Authorities, PCT, National Governing Bodies of Sport, Universities, Sport England, Education and the Partnership's Core Team.
Pickles signals end to local area agreements
Government has announced that it no longer expects local areas to report performance on local area agreement targets and confirmed that no reward grant would be paid against existing LAAs (our LAA 2008-11). Eric Pickles, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government emphasised that areas are now free to focus on their own priorities without the expensive burden of reporting to central government. We can choose to amend or drop targets without government approval.
Also announced was the replacement of the National Indicator Set with a single comprehensive list of all the data local government is expected to provide to central government. This is currently under development and we will keep you updated with news of the future for national indicators when we have it.
Oxfordshire 2030 is our joint vision for Oxfordshire and the LAA formed a key part of the delivery of this strategy. Our 2030 priorities remain important to us and we maintain the effort to deliver improvement.
Summary local area agreement reward grant
In 2009 we claimed £8.5M against seven targets in our first LAA. We have subsequently claimed a further £1.9M for our Adult Skills target. But earlier this year we experienced a 50% cut to this reward grant which means we will have a total of £5.2M of reward grant for partnership working.
The majority of reward grant has been paid to partnerships who successfully delivered targets and to new partnership projects that bid for funding from the Public Service Board.
Once we receive the final reward grant payment from central government later in the financial year we anticipate that there will be approximately £1.2M still to be allocated. The partnership will want to identify areas to focus on with this funding and will communicate its approach in due course.
Reflections from the departing Head of Partnership Working, Paul James
I'm leaving the County Council at the end of December to work in the charitable sector. Looking back at four enjoyable years I'm impressed by people's ideas and willingness to co-operate and collaborate. This is a great part of the country and the world, with so many advantages that it is easy to be a little complacent on occasions. If joint working can't produce real change here, then where can it?
The previous Government drove a lot of improvement and modernisation in local public services. The Local Government Act 2000 contained something called "powers of well-being" which broadly allowed local authorities to do all kinds of radical things, provided they were clearly in the public interest. But, they rather spoiled things by micro-managing everything we wanted to do. Local authorities nationally weren't blameless however, as when they were given the chance to invoke the powers and do something different, not many were prepared to rock the boat.
Hopefully the new Government's Localism Bill will take the handcuffs off local authorities and be less prescriptive about what people want to do at the local level, how and who with. The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats are highly experienced in local government so let's hope they can resist the urge to place too heavy a hand on the tiller and allow local decision makers to do what they are best at - making sensible decisions about priorities based on local circumstances. Whatever the Bill says, one thing is clear, that many freedoms to do things differently already exist, and the way is clear to put in place whatever joint working arrangements you need to get things done. But, form should always follow function so the focus needs, as ever, to be on big priorities. When these are agreed it is relatively easy to put in place the framework you need to deliver on them.
Big Society
Big Society is one of the buzz words of the new coalition government and it represents a huge shift of power away from central government to local people and local government. Big Society represents a profound cultural change and it won't happen overnight, but it is David Cameron's own philosophy and he has personally endorsed this new way of thinking.
As the push towards localism and decentralisation continues, local communities will have more power to shape their communities and make decisions themselves according to local needs, rather than the centre deciding on their behalf. The State will retreat from certain activities and support those who want to fill the space and deliver instead. This can’t be imposed by government but communities need to take the initiative and make the most of the opportunity this shift in thinking presents.
The civil society organisations that make up the local voluntary and community sector are looking at how they might best respond to the opportunities and challenges that Big Society presents for them and what this means for Oxfordshire.
OSCA as the Stronger Communities Alliance is also looking at this agenda and considering how the Big Society theme fits with the work of the Alliance, and in particular its priority of promoting community self help. OSCA has always looked at how it can help to support a thriving voluntary sector and enable those who want to volunteer to find suitable opportunities. The Alliance is looking at how it can continue its work to help Big Society become a reality in Oxfordshire.
Some of the key points to emerge so far on the 'Big Society' agenda include:
- More freedom and power for local councils to decide what to spend their money on
- Increased transparency
- 'Right to buy' community assets at risk of closure
- 'Right to bid' to take over local facilities such as libraries and parks
- More input to decision making (e.g. planning)
- Community First Fund (grants for small, grassroots organisations)
- Promotion of the delivery of public services by social enterprises, charities and voluntary groups
- Transition Fund of £100 million (managed by Big Lottery) to help organisations with an income over £50k, that are losing tax payer funded income they received to deliver services, to help them make changes to respond to the new landscape
- Encouragement of public sector workers to set up cooperatives to run services
- 'Big Society bank' (using assets in dormant bank accounts)
- Cuts to bureaucracy and red tape
- Encouragement towards increased charitable giving
- 'Big Society day'
- National Citizens Service for young people
- Encouragement for civil servants to volunteer ('civic service')
- Training for 5,000 unpaid 'community organisers' across the country
For more information about the stronger communities alliance and Big Society please contact Kate.Hill@ocva.org.uk.
Recent government policy documents for partnerships
Localism Bill
This bill will devolve greater power to councils and neighbourhoods, establish new rights for communities, bring about significant change to the planning system, and give communities more control over local housing decisions. Some of the key proposals identified are:
- Community empowerment - this includes provisions for referenda where council tax increases are above a prescribed ceiling, a right for communities to express an interest in taking over council services, a community right to buy where local authorities are disposing of assets, and non-binding community-initiated referenda.
- Decentralisation and local democracy - in particular, the Bill provides for a “general power of competence”, giving local authorities the power to do anything that they aren't specifically prohibited from doing by law.
- Reform of the planning system - consistent with proposals in the Local Growth White Paper, the Bill abolishes Regional Strategies and gives communities powers to approve and manage local development without the need for planning permissions.
Read the Localism Bill.
Contact us
We hope the newsletter continues to meet your expectations. Comments and suggestions on the newsletter and ideas for future features are always welcome. Drop us a line at oxfordshire.partnership@oxfordshire.gov.uk.
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