Oxfordshire Partnership newsletter

Welcome to the September edition of the Oxfordshire Partnership newsletter. Partnership working is moving apace as you will see from all the news. We hope you find the newsletter interesting and informative but if you have any suggestions or feedback about how we can improve it we would like to hear from you.

The Oxfordshire Partnership team oxfordshire.partnership@oxfordshire.gov.uk.

Area Assessment update

Comprehensive Area Assessment (CAA) is the new way of assessing how public services are working together in local areas to improve the quality of life of residents. The Assessment is carried out by the major public service inspectorates (Audit Commission, the Care Quality Commission, HM Inspectorates of Constabulary, Prisons and Probation and Ofsted).

In Oxfordshire we have been working with the inspectorates to provide information about what our priorities are, what we have achieved so far and what further work we need to do. The inspectorates gave their initial comments at the meeting of the Public Service Board held on 6 July 2009. They did not highlight any areas of concern but there are aspects they wanted to follow up, for example, some health targets, educational attainment and how we are responding to the recession and the projected growth in older people.

We expect to receive a draft report in October and the final results will be published on 10 December, along with the rest of England on the Audit Commission's CAA website. The area assessment will not be scored but green and red 'flags' will be used to reflect excellent and poor performance.

For more information contact the Oxfordshire lead for the CAA, Tracy Luck tracy.luck@oxfordshire.gov.uk.

New partnership framework

In July the Public Service Board agreed the second stage of the partnership governance report. We now have a revised partnership structure of seven key thematic partnerships in the county with delivery arrangements sitting within them. The report sets out membership principles and the accompanying handbook sets out our partnership approaches to issues such as communications and performance management.

We are now in the implementation stage so working with the thematic partnerships to address the recommendations in the report.

To read the report visit www.oxfordshirepartnership.org.uk or for more information about the partnership review please contact Claire Evans (claire.evans@oxfordshire.gov.uk, 01865 323966).

'Your Voice' 2009

Oxfordshire Children and Young People's Survey

Nearly 5,000 children and young people aged 4-19, from over 50 schools and colleges, took part in the second Oxfordshire C&YP Survey, 'Your Voice'. The data is weighted to be statistically accurate at a county and district level. Two booster projects ensured that those who would find it hard to take part could (the profoundly disabled, and those outside the mainstream schooling systems).

The findings can be compared with a similar survey in 2007, and the national TellUs3 Survey 2008. Findings show areas of marked improvement, and identifies other that we need to address.

Key findings include:

• More children and young people feel they are healthy and more are eating more healthily, but more young people say they are smoking than in 2007.
• Children and young people report feeling schools listen to them less than in 2007, and they know less about their local councils.
• Very high numbers of children and young people are volunteering, and more would like to.
• More children and young people feel safe at school, enjoy school more and think teaching is good, though more also say they have been bullied both in and out of school.

There is a wealth of detailed information contained in the findings of this survey, especially relating to vulnerable groups. Reports are available at county, district council and northern/ city/ southern area levels and participating schools have received individualized data reports. The full data set will also be available for further investigation of findings.

For further information, see main reports on www.BigVoiceOxfordshire.com or contact Alison Partridge on alison.partridge@oxfordshire.gov.uk.

Local Transport Plan 3

Transport networks have a vital role to play in how the county works. Key to this is the county council’s Local Transport Plan or LTP. The Transport Service has started to develop Oxfordshire's third Local Transport Plan (LTP3). LTP3 will set out the county's transport policies and programme of transport investment up to 2030. This third plan will address many of the county’s priorities and help to shape Oxfordshire for the long term.

The third LTP will take into account the council's overall priorities in addition to national goals and objectives. It will consider all aspects of transport from car travel to walking and will consider the many areas in which transport has an impact, including economic development, climate change and health.

The team leading the development of the plan are currently consulting on the objectives and are working to a tight schedule running up to April 2011, when the final plan comes into effect. The draft objectives are as follows:

• Improve the condition of local roads and footways, including resilience to flooding
• Reduce congestion
• Make journey times more reliable
• Reduce casualties and the dangers associated with travel
• Increase accessibility for all to jobs, goods, services and leisure
• Secure infrastructure and services to support development
• Reduce carbon emissions from transport
• Improve air quality and enhance the street environment
• Develop and increase the use of high quality, welcoming public transport on main routes
• Promote and support cycling and walking for local journeys, recreation and health

If you would like to learn more about the LTP or are interested in its progress please visit the council's web pages (www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/ltp) where you will find regular updates, information on how you can get involved and the two previous LTPs. Alternatively please contact the team on 01865 815546 or ltp@oxfordshire.gov.uk.

LAA reward grant

Audit work is now underway in preparation of our claim to government for the reward grant linked to our successful Local Area Agreement 1 targets.

On 2 September the Public Service Board is discussing the second stage bids for reward grant from the partnership pot of reward money. Those coming back with more detailed plans include programmes of activity for the World Class Economy and Breaking the Cycle of Deprivation.

The other 50 per cent of the reward grant we receive will be going back to those organisations or partnerships that delivered the successful targets.

For more details about the bids being assessed and the process see the paper going to the Public Service Board.

Community-led plans on target

The Partnership has pledged to increase the number of plans in the county, as well as the actions implemented, over the next three years. With the encouragement and support of Oxfordshire Rural Community Council and partners, communities are taking up this challenge:

• ten communities are getting started on the process
• another 35 plans are in development
• over 40 have already been published

ORCC has also secured regional funding for launching a new community-led planning web-based resource and database. Look out for the launch event in early 2010 which will be of interest both to communities and everyone providing services in Oxfordshire.

New Children and Young People's Plan

Oxfordshire's current Children and Young People’s Plan is due to finish at the end of 2009. The Children and Young People's Trust will be consulting on a new version in October and will publish this in January 2010.

The New Children and Young People's Plan will set out, within the context of Oxfordshire 2030 (our sustainable community strategy), the strategic direction, priorities and actions that we will take to deliver all services affecting children and young people and their families within Oxfordshire. It is also Oxfordshire's response to national policy, in particular the Department for Children, Schools and Families "Building Brighter Futures” with its vision "to make England the best place in the world for children and young people to grow up in".

The Children and Young People's Trust has agreed three overarching strategic priorities for the new plan. These are:

• Keeping all children and young people safe.
• Raising achievement of all children and young people.
• Narrowing the gap for our most disadvantaged and vulnerable children and young people.

These priorities have been selected through a comprehensive needs analysis and take account of:

• The views of children and young people, parents and carers from ongoing consultation and participation work.
• The views of the professionals from many different organisations who work with children and young people in the county.
• What recent inspections of our services have said about us.
• Performance data and statistics, which tell us how children and young people in Oxfordshire are doing.

Oxfordshire Partnership members will be notified of the consultation in October, and comments on the draft plan will be very welcome. The Partnership will also be discussing at the Board meeting in November, providing a further opportunity for comment.

For more information contact Sian Rodway sian.rodway@oxfordshire.gov.uk.

Working together - thematic partnerships and district LSPs

District LSPs have identified that their links with thematic partnerships have not been very strong in the past. So we are doing some work to understand each others priorities better and how one another contribute to delivering these changes.

Partnerships are coming together on 25 September in a workshop to start building these linkages. If you are interested in attending contact your partnership's lead officer who is co-ordinating places for the event.

All systems go!

The Oxfordshire Data Observatory is continuing to improve access to strategic data, information and intelligence to support decision making in Oxfordshire.

The Observatory has purchased Mosaic data on socio-economic lifestyles, incomes and ethnic groups at household level. Mosaic is widely used by local authorities to target services and to tailor communications to different groups. This collaborative purchase by the Observatory has saved partners money by negotiating a bargain price and avoiding multiple purchases of the same data by different teams.

The Observatory is also working towards developing a Local Information System (LIS) for Oxfordshire which will provide easy web access to high quality data for any locality. The LIS will provide rapid access to information and tools to assist in querying, comparing and presenting data in a variety of formats.

Crucial datasets on the county's demography, diversity and economy will be available on it, as well as the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment data. We expect partners to add their datasets to the LIS to create a comprehensive tool for understanding issues and targeting intervention.

For more information on the Observatory, please visit www.oxfordshireobservatory.info or contact Ben Smith ben.smith@oxfordshire.gov.uk.

 

Events

The recession, economic prosperity and LAAs

Thursday 10 September 2009, London

Shared Intelligence - http://therecession.eventbrite.com/

Performance Management in Partnerships

Tuesday 22 September 2009, London

Supporting CAA and driving service improvement and efficiency across partnerships www.lgc-performance.com.

Thematic partnerships and district LSPs working together

Friday 25 September 2009, Oxford

Contact Claire Phillips for more information about this free event - claire.phillips@oxfordshire.gov.uk.

Developing a partnership response to the recession

Wednesday 18 November 2009, Milton Keynes

PtP is hosting the free event to share the latest thinking on how partnerships are responding to the economic situation, highlighting the proactive approaches that are being taken and the role that partnerships can play in responding to the recession, driving recovery and preparing for the upturn - www.progressthroughpartnership.org.uk/events-lsp.

Local Area Agreements Conference 2009

Tuesday 24 November 2009, London

Preparing for the future of local government devolution - www.lgcandnlgn-laa.co.uk.

Reading

A number of recent reports provide important reading for those involved in partnerships.

Long term evaluation of LAAs and LSPs

Report on the 2008 survey of all English LSPs. The report presents the findings from a survey sent to all English local strategic partnerships in the autumn of 2008.

New routes to better outcomes

This is a new publication from the IDeA's Partnerships team. This report analyses the progress made since 2004 and makes a case for further reforms from central government. A second volume provides case studies and methodologies used by LSPs to develop capacity and deliver LAAs.

Local area agreements (LAAs) and local economic development

There are few economic growth related indicators included within local area agreements, but a number of indicators relate to issues of economic inclusion and skills. This paper looks at the range and benefits of those indicators adopted across the 2008 LAA process.

Working together in two and three-tier areas

This publication outlines the findings and recommendations from research IDeA commissioned from OPM during 2008 and 2009. The publication looks at the barriers to effective two and three tier-working and proposes solutions.