Welcome to the first partnership newsletter for 2010. Partnership activity continues apace and there's much news to share. As we go to print we are awaiting the first payment of our Local Area Agreement reward grant from central government. Read on to find out more about the plans for this as well as news of the Home Secretary's visit to the Radcliffe Hospital and the new Children and Young People's Plan.
Local Area Agreement reward grant
In December 2009 we submitted our first claim to government for reward grant against targets in our first Local Area Agreement We have claimed just over £8.5m which will be payable over two years and we hope to make a further claim for our adult skills target for which we don't yet have the final performance information.
Half of the reward grant is going back to those who delivered the targets whilst the Public Service Board has allocated the other half to innovative partnership projects that support our Oxfordshire 2030 strategy priorities.
The table below lists the successful projects.
| Project | Reward grant allocated by PSB |
|---|---|
| Breaking the Cycle Deprivation | |
|
£1,000,000 |
| Becoming a World Class Economy | |
|
£1,000,000 |
| Grant pot for voluntary and community sector | £500,000 |
| Understanding the needs of vulnerable communities in Oxfordshire | £100,000 |
| Building low carbon communities | |
|
£500,000 |
| Safer Communities | |
|
£500,000 |
| LAA Management | £10,000 |
| Partnership Development (District council partnership post) | £88,000 |
| Self-Build Project | £324,000 |
Children and Young People's Plan
During 2009, colleagues and partners have worked on developing our second Children and Young People's Plan for the period 2010-13. This is the key strategic plan for children and young people in Oxfordshire. In developing the plan we took account of a wide range of stakeholders as part of an ongoing dialogue and informal and formal consultation processes.
In January 2010, the Oxfordshire Children and Young People's Trust approved the new plan. An underpinning Delivery Plan is currently being finalised and three Area Action Plans are also being drawn up following workshops in the Northern, Central and Southern areas of the county.
We want Oxfordshire to be the best place in England for children and young people to grow up in, by working with every child and young person to develop the skills, confidence and opportunities they need to achieve their full potential. Building on the strong foundations now in place, we are in a position, through the new plan, to deliver significant improvements in outcomes across our three priority areas:
- keeping all children and young people safe
- raising achievement of all children and young people
- narrowing the gap for our most disadvantaged and vulnerable groups.
The new plan can be found on the website: www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/cypp
Oxfordshire's first Children and Young People's Plan finished at the end of 2009.
Any queries regarding the plan, Delivery Plan and Area Action Plans, please contact siân.rodway@oxfordshire.gov.uk.
Home Secretary Praises Partnership Work in Oxfordshire
Jackie Wilderspin, Chair of the Alcohol Strategy group talks about the Home Secretary, Alan Johnsons visit to the JR Hospital on February 17 to hear first hand how partners are working together to reduce alcohol related harm and crime.
"The visit began in the Emergency Department where Cassi Perry, a PCT employee, explained how details of alcohol related injury and assault are included in patient records and how she offers appointments for clients to meet her, when they are more sober and reflective, to talk through the impact of drinking on their injury and to tell them about other services available.
Mr Johnson then heard from Richard Adams from the City Council, Karen Crossan from the Community Safety Partnership and Inspector Matt Bullivant and Chief Inspector Cec Aggar from Thames Valley Police all members of the City Nightsafe Partnership and spoke about how valuable the anonymised information from the Emergency Department is to their work. Data is used to show the places where people have been injured and is put alongside crime data and information on ambulance pick-ups. This had led to direct action to change licensing conditions including temporary or permanent closure of premises or allowing only polycarbonate glasses to prevent 'glassing' injuries. The information also helps the police to decide when and how to deploy officers for the most effective results, the importance of marshalling taxi queues to prevent fights breaking out and where any drink spiking might be taking place. This has resulted in a decrease of 9.9% in assaults across the City, with over 20% reductions in the Nightsafe target areas.
I was pleased to chair the meeting with the Minister and to see that the work we have been developing together for several years is being recognised as best practice at a national level. The Alcohol Strategy sets out our ambition to reduce alcohol related harm and this piece of work illustrates how well we are doing."
Read the strategy at http://tinyurl.com/yez2pw9
For more information contact Jackie Wilderspin, Chair, Oxfordshire Alcohol Strategy Group, Jackie.wilderspin@oxfordshirepct.nhs.uk.
'Total Place'
You may have heard of the term 'Total Place' and be wondering what it means. It's the latest government initiative focussing on partnership outcomes and the efficiency agenda. Here we explain what it's all about and what's going on in Oxfordshire.
The 'Total Place' initiative looks at how a 'whole area' approach to public services can lead to better services at less cost. It seeks to identify and avoid overlap and duplication between organisations - delivering a step change in both service improvement and efficiency at the local level, as well as across Whitehall.
Total Place has different elements;
The counting process maps money flowing through the place (from central and local bodies) and make links between services, to identify where public money can be spent more effectively.
The culture process looks at the way existing cultures (the way we do things at the moment) actually helps or hinders the process.
Together, these strands aim to identify potential efficiencies and help people and organisations work together to achieve them.
Thirteen areas across the country have been piloting Total Place and are due to report their findings. It is expected that government will introduce a national partnership initiative based on the learning from Total Place.
Oxfordshire County Council has recently started discussions with partners about Total Place and how we might use this in Oxfordshire. Using the methodology to focus on reducing the number of young people who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) has been suggested as early work indicates that there is a lot of activity across partners but that it is not well aligned or joined up. Through the Oxfordshire Learning and Skills Partnership we are hoping to undertake an 'audit' of current spend and activity in the spring, followed by identification of gaps and duplication and subsequently for all partners to align future work in accordance with a new overarching strategy.
For more information on total place visit www.localleadership.gov.uk/totalplace/
Meet the chairmen... Health and Well-being Partnership
This month we start our meet the chairman feature where we will introduce the Chairman of one of the thematic partnerships. This month it's Health and Well-being which actually has two co-chairmen, Dr Stephen Richards and Councillor Jim Couchman.
DR Stephen Richards, Medical Director, NHS Oxfordshire
Stephen worked for two years in neonatal paediatrics before going overseas to work in a rural Zulu hospital in South Africa for 18 months. He returned to the UK in 1989 to get married and in the same year, joined the Goring and Woodcote GP practice where he has worked as a full time partner ever since. Since 1999 Stephen has combined his role as a GP with a number of part-time Primary Care Group and later Primary Care Trust positions. When the PCTs were reorganised in October 2006, he became Chairman of the new PCT Clinical Executive. Stephen was appointed Medical Director for the PCT in June 2009.
Stephen's history of working closely with social care makes him committed to the opportunities created by bringing powerful people together. He provides a useful perspective as a jobbing GP to the strategies that the Partnership helps to nurture. Stephen sees benefits for the health sector in encouraging a greater involvement of elected members, something health were not particularly used to in the past. Working together is vital in making a difference to things like end of life care or obesity, where improvements are as much about social care and education as they are about acute health services. Working jointly means good delivery, whereas working in silos means stagnation and no delivery.
Councillor Jim Couchman, Cabinet Member for Adult Services
Jim worked for many years running a small group of London pubs, during which time he was also a councillor in the London Borough of Bexley and Chaired their Social Services Committee. In 1983 he was elected as MP for Gillingham, which he represented in both the Thatcher and Major governments. Jim served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Leader of the House and was a member of the Health Committee and the Public Accounts Committee. He has lived, with his wife Barbara, in Oxfordshire since 1998, and occupies his time outside of the local authority with interesting holidays and trying to keep a fairly small garden under control.
Jim is very positive about the ability of the Partnership to translate its work into reality for service users, patients and the community. The Board quickly moved beyond its initial differences and identified a common purpose to improve mental well-being, tackle obesity and ensure older people lead as full and active lives as possible. The new joint commissioning strategy 'Ageing Successfully' represents a real sea change by delivering care pathways for older people that are re-orientated to ensure everything is focused on preventing decline, turning things around and preserving independence.
Oxfordshire's area assessment
Two thousand and nine was the first year of the Comprehensive Area Assessment. Unlike past inspections the focus is on an 'area' rather than the performance of one organisation. Our area assessment was published in December 2009.
We were praised for a number of strengths including:
- protecting the environment for future generations
- good partnership working to keep young people out of trouble
- responding well to the summer floods in 2007 and 2008
Overall the Audit Commission indicate that people in Oxfordshire get good value for money from their public services. The Audit Commission would like to see the pace of action quicken in relation to work to address the cycle of deprivation. Educational attainment was also flagged as an area that requires further partnership working. Congestion on Oxfordshire's roads was also mentioned, as was provision of affordable housing particularly in rural areas.
The areas highlighted for improvement provide no surprises for the Partnership, and plans are largely in place to address the issues raised by the inspectors. The inspection report notes our current and planned partnership work to improve performance in areas such as:
- Reducing the amount of waste sent to landfill
- Reducing the numbers of people going into hospital by improved preventative work
- Fear of crime
- Teenage conception
The inspectors will do follow up work in 2010 seeking evidence of a quickening pace to address the cross-cutting priority of breaking the cycle of deprivation. They will also turn a spot-light on:
- How successful we have been at meeting our carbon reduction targets
- Provision of affordable housing particularly in rural areas
- Community cohesion in Oxford and Cherwell
- Reducing the impact of alcohol consumption especially in Oxford City.
There is a multi-agency group of lead officers taking responsibility for the CAA and ensuring plans are in place to address priorities.
For more information contact Tracy Luck, Oxfordshire County Council tracy.luck@oxfordshire.gov.uk.
Better networking
Following the success of the partnership networking event in December we will be holding regular events to enable all those involved in partnerships to catch up on what each other is doing and share ideas.
The next session will focus on what is happening with the work on breaking the cycle of deprivation.
The next event is on 21 April, 12pm - 2pm in Oxford. More details to follow. In the meantime contact claire.phillips@oxfordshire.gov.uk for more information.
Risk management in partnerships
On 2 March we ran a workshop for partnerships to develop thinking about risk management. Feedback was positive and we will be using the session to develop our partnership risk management arrangements for partnerships.
Districts partnership news
Cherwell - Our District; Our Future
The new Cherwell Sustainable Community Strategy 'Cherwell - Our District, Our Future' was officially launched by the Cherwell Local Strategic Partnership Reference Group meeting on 25 February. The action plans to deliver the Strategy were discussed and local partnership activities showcased.
Elections are underway to appoint two community and voluntary sector representatives to the Cherwell Local Strategic Partnership Board. Interest is strong with six candidates, three from large and three from small organisations positively reflecting the vibrant community and voluntary sector within Cherwell.
Read the strategy at: www.cherwell-dc.gov.uk/scs.
For further information please contact:
Helen Couperthwaite
community.planning@cherwell-dc.gov.uk
01295 221751
Vale
Partnership in action
The Future Jobs Fund is a government initiative to get unemployed young people, aged 18-24 into work. Members of the Vale Partnership have been working together to identify suitable jobs and to place young people into these jobs. To date eight Vale residents have been helped. Across Oxfordshire sixty positions are being created through the Future Jobs Fund.
Widening the partnership
The following organisations have recently joined the Vale Partnership Board:
- Oxfordshire Rural Community Council (voluntary sector)
- The Science and Technology Facilities Council (public sector)
- Crown Packaging (private sector)
Joint bid for community building project
South Oxfordshire and the Vale Partnerships have submitted an innovative funding bid to Progress through Partnership (PtP). The bid will enable the partnerships to share a half-time worker to work with Berinsfield to develop actions arising from its parish plan, to support community- building alongside new housing development in Didcot, and to support and engage the community in South Abingdon in developing a community-led plan. PtP has given initial approval to the proposal and the two LSPs will find out in early March how much of the £23,000 bid they will receive.
In South Oxfordshire four SOP partners - South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse district councils, Oxfordshire Rural Community Council (ORCC) and Soha Housing Ltd., are leading the project.
For more information please contact Toby.Warren@whitehorsedc.gov.uk.
Carterton partnership event
The West Oxfordshire Strategic Partnership and Oxfordshire Stronger Communities Alliance are hosting a Community Information Sharing event at Carterton Community Centre on 30 March 2010, 1.30pm to 3.30pm. A variety of organisations will be coming to Carterton to share information about opportunities for accessing community services and support, with staff on hand to answer questions.
For further information please contact Astrid Blackburn, Partnership Development Officer (West Oxfordshire District Council) on 01993 861692, or by email - community.development@westoxon.gov.uk.
Events
OEP events
The Oxfordshire Economic Partnership unveils a new series of events on Creating Value within your organisation. The seminars will take place from 23 February through to April at Oxford Brookes University.
Go to the OEP events page at www.oep.org.uk to register for the following seminars:
16 March 6.30pm - Driving Value to your Bottom Line - Paul Avins, entrepreneur, learn powerful, practical sales and marketing strategies
23 March 6.30pm - Marketing and Managing Blehheim Palace - John Hoy Chief Executive will talk about the marketing strategies and customer service delivery used by Blenheim
20 April 6.30pm - The Kudos Effect - Ayd Instone, Creative Director/Author demonstrates how to position yourself as an expert in order to sell your book, and use it to double your client list.
27 April 6.30pm - Employee Engagement - Oxford Brookes, how to alter the culture of your organisation and in return reduce absenteeism
Contact oep_events@oxfordshire.gov.uk.
Total Place and the Third Sector
23 March (central London venue to be confirmed)
The event is aimed at all local partners as well as the wider third sector. Contact Rachel Bickerton - rachel.bickerton@idea.gov.uk.
Promoting Mental Wellbeing conference
Thursday 11 March 2010 (Unipart House)
'Improving the mental well-being of people living in Oxfordshire: knowledge for practice'
The Health and Well-Being Partnership have made promoting mental wellbeing one of its three key priorities, which is very much in line with the government’s vision in New Horizons for ensuring good mental health is seen as important as physical health to overall wellbeing. To this end a free conference is taking place that focuses on practical experience and will showcase successful local and national projects. The conference is a rare opportunity to hear from Dr Lyn Friedli, Mental Health Promotion Specialist for the UK Department of Health and the World Health Organisation. To book a place please contact sue.talmige@oxfordshirepct.nhs.uk.
Achieving Equalities in Partnership
18 March 2010, Hallam Conference Centre, London
Risk Management in Partnerships
20 May 2010, London
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.