AGENDA ITEM 7

BOROUGH OF POOLE

CABINET

17 JULY 2007

DELIVERING POOLE’S SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITY STRATEGY THROUGH LOCAL AREA AGREEMENTS

  1. Purpose of Report

1.1To advise Members of the stretch targets which have been developed by the Local Strategic Partnership (LSP) to support improvements in priority areas.

1.2To advise Members of negotiations that have taken place between the LSP, the Council and Central Government on a Local Area Agreement (LAA), (Closing the Gap), which will provide some resource to deliver stretch targets.

1.3To consider the use of Council resource, and particularly Reward Grant from Local Public Service Agreement 1 (LPSA 1) to support priorities not funded or fully funded through the LAA process.

2Decisions Required

2.1Cabinet to note the structure of the Local Strategic Partnership and the alignment between the Sustainable Community Strategy, the Corporate Strategy and Local Development Framework Core Strategy.

2.2Cabinet to note the new emphasis of the Local Strategic Partnership’s being delivery agents.

2.3 Cabinet to note the work being undertaken on revised governance

arrangements for the Local Strategic Partnership.

2.3.1Council be requested to allocate £839,100 of funding (notionally from LPSA 1 reward grant) to support delivery of the 13 LAA ‘Closing the Gap’ stretch targets.

2.5Cabinet to set aside all remaining reward funding from LPSA for future LSP initiatives. Specific requests for funding support will be submitted to Cabinet via the LSP’s Performance Management Group until such time as the LSP governance arrangements have been revised to take total account of the Council’s status of Accountable Body.

3.Background Information

3.1The structure of Poole Partnership (Poole’s LSP).

3.1.1The wider partnership is open to any non-political organisation in Poole and since 2002 the LSP have had contact with over 500 organisations. The Chair of the Partnership is Richard Dimbleby.

3.1.2From within this Partnership a Steering Group of 28 has been established, giving broad representation of the community.

The Steering Group’s main role is to safe guard the Vision which is articulated within the Sustainable Community Strategy entitled ‘Shaping Poole’s Future’ – a draft version of which was presented to Council on 19 June (part of the supporting documentation for the Council’s Corporate Strategy).

3.1.3The Steering Group is underpinned by 7 thematic partnerships:

  • Stronger Communities
  • Sustainable Environment
  • Developing a Dynamic Economy
  • Poole Safe Together
  • Older People’s Services Steering Group
  • Health and Wellbeing
  • Children’s Services Board

3.1.4These thematic partnerships interact with delivery organisations and seek to shape and influence business plans and programmes to achieve better outcomes through synergies and the added value of joint action. Delivery organisations include faith communities, the voluntary sector, the PCT, the Police and the Council’s own Service Units. Thematic partnerships should include relevant Portfolio Holders.

3.1.5From within the LSP Steering Group a Performance Management Group (PMG) has been established to manage the development of the LAA, ‘Closing the Gap’ and to monitor the delivery of stretch targets. The PMG is co-chaired by Richard Dimbleby and John McBride and three Strategic Directors (John Nash, Jan Thurgood and Jim Bright) are also involved. The PMG present performance reports (approximately every 6 months) to the Council, the LSP Steering Group and GOSW. This group effectively manages the LAA on behalf of the Council.

3.1.6The above arrangements are presented in diagrammatic form in Appendix A.

3.2 Strengthening the role of the LSP

3.2.1The Government’s view

3.2.1.1In 2005 the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister issued a consultation document entitled ‘Local Strategic Partnerships : Shaping their future’. through this the Government stated:

i)LSP’s play a significant role in the delivery of many of our objectives; and

ii)LSP’s will play a vital role in agreeing and delivering Local Area Agreements.

3.2.1.2Furthermore, in the October 2006 the Local Government White Paper, ‘Strong and Prosperous Communities’, the Government indicated that it sees LSPs at the heart of local service delivery, with the LAA setting out a single set of priorities for the Council and its partners, stating:

i)In the future more area-based funding streams would be brought into the LAA’s to improve efficiency and delivery of outcomes.

3.2.2Alignment between key strategies.

3.2.2.1A community is served most effectively if the key strategies for an area are well aligned with each other. Community aspirations and public sector leadership of a town are expressed in three core documents:

  1. The LSP Sustainable Community Strategy – ‘Shaping Poole’s Future’.
  2. The Council’s Corporate Strategy – ‘Striving for Excellence… for the People of Poole’
  3. The Local Development Framework Core Strategy – ‘Planning Poole’. The Core Strategy is still in preparation (Preferred Options consultation issued March 2007).

3.2.2.2These documents correlate very well with each other, this indicates that a strong and clear vision has emerged. Attention and effort must now be applied to delivering objectives and priorities and this is where the LAA stretch targets and a strong LSP can help.

3.2.2.3A strong LSP can:

i)Get better outcomes for Poole people through partnership working.

ii)Have wider influence and achieve added value by exploiting the benefits of synergy.

iii)Improve Poole’s access to regional and national resource.

4.Delivering priorities through stretch targets

4.1Working with information provided by the thematic groups the PMG have identified 13 stretch targets that reflect local priorities. These targets together with measures and links to the Council’s Corporate Strategy are detailed in Appendix B.

4.2These stretch targets have become an integral part of the LAA ‘Closing the Gap’ and it is against these that the Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG) allocate pump priming grant – this grant can only be used to support the delivery of stretch targets.

4.3The DCLG pump priming grant available for Poole is £887,500, which consists of a £750,000 lump sum and an additional £1 per head of population. National constraints on the capitalisation of revenue expenditure (the ability to meet revenue costs as capital) mean the grant was paid as a Capital Grant. However, the programme of activity to deliver the Stretch Targets is mostly revenue. Therefore, the Council will need to apply annually to DCLG to obtain permission to convert, if necessary, Capital Grant into Revenue Grant. DCLG have indicated that this should be a straightforward process and it has been assumed that this process will be in place for the life of the LAA.

5.Stretch Targets and Performance Reward Grant

5.1A Performance Reward Grant (PRG) will be payable upon successful achievement of the 13 targets. The maximum reward grant attainable is £3,563,634.

5.2Each target will only receive its share of the PRG;

  • If performance is 100% of the target or better
  • If performance is less than 60% then no reward grant will be received
  • If performance is between 60% and 100% then the reward grant percentage will be matched to the percentage of improved performance i.e: 65% target achievement gets 65% of PRG for that target or sub-target

5.3The Performance Reward Grant will be paid in cash and will be split evenly between both the financial years 2010/2011 and 2011/12 and evenly between revenue and capital.

6.Funding Requirements

6.1Appendix C attached identifies level of funding required to deliver the 13 stretch targets. This table highlights the following issues:

a)Total resources required over the 3 years of the LAA (2007 – 2010) amount to £1,582,600. This breaks down into a requirement for £1,360,600 revenue and £222,000 capital.

b)Based on pump priming grant of £887,500 there is a funding gap of £695,100.

c)In general, little or no provision has been made for exit costs associated with any posts created to deliver the stretch targets (redundancy, redeployment etc). It is assumed that where commitment arises the service Unit will either (a) absorb these costs as part of their base revenue budgets or (b) try and work any posts into the next round of LAA’s.

d)Target 7 – Improve performance in street cleansing and recycling involves the replacement of some of the Council’s existing litter bins. The costs shown do not include the 300 returned 140 litre bins, which have been swapped as part of the Council’s recycling policy and are currently available.

e)Target 8 – to improve accessibility through increased use of buses in Poole relates to an enhanced “Route One” bus service which it is intended to run as a 5 year contract between 2008 and 2013. The Council will incur termination costs of about £25,000 if the contract is brought to a close in 2010.

f)Target 9 – to increase the number of people in sustainable employment is partly being funded by the remaining £40,000 held within the specific Improvement Policy Earmarked Reserve for Economic Development projects.

g)Figures for Target 11 – to improve the oral health of young people, does not include a potential grant from the Primary Care Trust of £9,000.

7.Gap funding to support delivery of Stretch Targets

7.1The LSP request the Council provide gap funding on the basis that Poole Partnership have worked alongside the Council through LSPA 1 to deliver local priorities and the success of this partnership work is likely to attract significant amounts of Reward Grant.

7.2The report to Cabinet on the Medium Term Financial Plan in February 2007 indicated that discussions were ongoing with the LSP regarding distribution of the LPSA 1 Performance Reward Grant.

7.3Appendix D estimates £1,936,000 of Performance Reward Grant will be available if targets are achieved. Reward Grant funding will come in the form of both revenue and capital over two yeas and the table below shows how the £1,936,000 would be split.

Financial Year / Revenue / Capital / Total
2007/08 / £484,000 / £484,000 / £968,000
2008/09 / £484,000 / £484,000 / £968,000
Total / £968,000 / £968,000 / £1,936,000

7.4A further report confirming the final Performance Reward Funding will be presented to Cabinet in the Autumn.

8.Legacy Commitment from LPSA 1

Of the work programmes put in place to deliver the 12 targets within LPSA 1 all but one have either been:

i)Brought to a close

ii)Built into the new LAA ‘Closing the Gap’ or

iii)Assimilated within the base budgets of Service Units

The one remaining programme is the Environmental Response Unit which was an initiative set up to tackle graffiti, flyposting and chewing gum removal. In addition to the amount required to support the 13 stretch targets, continuation of this initiative would require £48,000 per annum. Therefore, a three year extension (i.e. the life of the LAA) would require £144,000. During this period the Head of ECPS is asked to identify sustainable alternative funding arrangements.

9.Summary and Next Steps

9.1From the above the PMG’s advice is that planned activity to deliver the 13 Stretch Targets included in the LAA ‘Closing the Gap’ and a 3 year continuation of the Environmental Response Team requires financial support of £839,100 above the DCLG pump priming grant. This funding is not required until 2008/09. Successful achievement of targets will lead to reward funding at the end of the agreement of up to £3,563,639.

9.2If all the reward funding from LPSA 1 was to be allocated for local priorities through the LSP then after the above targets have been addressed there would be approximately £1,000,000 of resource (£700,000 capital and £300,000 of revenue) available for further initiatives.

9.3Over the next few months the LSP will explore different governance arrangements which will help clarify the relationship that exists between the Council, as the Accountable Body, and the LSP as a delivery agent. In due course these arrangements will be presented to Council for consideration. In the meantime the PMG will continue to present reports to Cabinet on any initiative which requires funding in the Council’s control.

Jim Bright

Strategic Director

21.6.07

APPENDIX A

1

Local Public Service Agreement (LPSA)

Review of Performance Reward Grant

Target / Service Unit Sponsor / Description / Performance / Estimated Reward Grant
£000’s
1 / School Advice & Support Services / Increasing Educational attainment at key stage 2 in English and Mathematics / Not achieved
Concluded /

None

2 / School Advice & Support Services / Increasing Educational attainment at key stage 3 in English, Mathematics and Science / Partial
Concluded / 174
3 / Children & Families / Improving the life chances of Looked After Children by increasing the number of adoptions / Partial
Concluded / 158
4 / Adult Social Commission / Increasing the participation of problem drug users in drug treatment programmes / Achieved
Concluded / 263
5 / Adult Social Care & Wellbeing / Increase the employment rate of people with disability / Not achieved
Concluded / None
6 / Strategic Planning / Raise skills levels in small businesses in Poole / Achievable

Summer 07

/ 263
7 / Housing & Community Svs / Reduce vehicle crime / Achieved
Concluded / 263
8 / Housing & Community Svs / Reduce Criminal Damage / Not achieved
Concluded /

None

9 / Transportation / Increase the number of bus passenger journeys undertaken / Achieved
Concluded / 263
10 / Environmental & Consumer Protection Svs / Pride in Poole – Graffiti, flyposting and chewing gum removal initiative / Achieved
Concluded / 263
11 / Leisure Services / Improve health outcome for Poole / Partial
Concluded / 26
12 / Strategic Directorate / Improvements in cost effectiveness of 2% or more / Achieved
Concluded / 263

TOTAL

/ 1,936
100% or better on all targets / sub targets / Between 60% & 100% or some sub targets achieved / Less than 60%

Appendix B: Poole’s Local Area Agreement Stretch Targets 2007-2010

Target Area /

Measures

/

Link to Corporate Strategy

To reduce the harm caused by alcohol to young people (11-18 years) / 1. Number of young people successfully completing Brief Intervention Therapies (BITs).
2. Percentage of young people that are re-referred to YADAS within 12 months of successful completion of Brief Intervention Therapy.
A Brief Intervention Therapy is defined as three half-hour sessions over an eight week period, delivered either face to face, via telephone or group contact depending on individual client needs. / Supporting children & young people
To improve the emotional well being and mental health of adults in Poole / The number of completed cases of people aged 16 and over with a diagnosed common mental health problem who, following assessment successfully complete interventions using the Cognitive Behavioural Approach provided through Poole Primary Mental Health Care Serviceand the Department of Psychological Therapies (Borough of Poole and Dorset Health Care NHS Trust) / Promoting health and well-being
To improve participation in physical activity and sports including walking and cycling / 1. The number of people in Poole (excluding those living in Super Output Areas (SOAs) and identified of high health need*) who sign up to the Active HealthLink scheme participating in at least the recommended level of physical activity** who reported they were previously not sufficiently physically active***
2. The number of people in Poole in targeted Super Output Areas (SOAs) of high health need* who sign up to the Active HealthLink scheme participating in at least the recommended level of physical activity** who reported they were previously not sufficiently physically active***
* Classified according to the deprivation domain for Health and disability (2004 Index of deprivation, Office of DPM).
One SOA within the top 10% in the country (Poole old Town) and three SOAs within the top 25% in the country (Turlin Moor, Alderney and Canford Heath East).This is a conclusive list.
** 3 x 30 minutes per week moderate physical activity (Moderate physical activity is defined as that which raises the heart rate above resting / sitting pulse, to include active recreation, active travel, gardening and active household chores
*** Insufficiently active to be classed as those people who exercise less than 90 minutes per week. / Promoting health and well-being
To improve independence, choice and quality of life by increasing the numbers of people receiving Direct Payments and the methods by which they can use these Direct Payments to meet their needs, with a special focus on older people / 1. The number of adults and older people receiving on-going Direct Payments for at least six months in the financial year at 31 March per 100,000 population aged 18 or over, as recorded by PAF indicator C51
2. The percentage of those receiving an on-going Direct Payment who report that they are satisfied or very satisfied with the way in which they have had their eligible needs using Direct Payments / Promoting health and well-being
To reduce the harm caused by alcohol to the individual, families and society / 1. Number of alcohol related offenders receiving Fixed Penalty Notices or conditional cautions successfully completing Brief Intervention Therapies.
2. Number of alcohol related offenders who re-offend within twelve months.
3. Number of people (aged 19yrs and older) presenting to A&E scoring 8-19 using AUDIT (Alcohol Use Disorder Identification) successfully completing Brief Intervention Therapies.
4. Number of people (aged 19yrs and older) who presented to A&E and scored 8-19 using AUDIT who successfully completed Brief Intervention Therapies who then reduce their drinking to low risk levels (a score of 0-7) at a six month follow up as defined using AUDIT.
A Brief Intervention Therapy is defined as three half-hour sessions over an eight week period, delivered either face to face, via telephone or group contact depending on individual client needs. / Strengthening our communities
To reduce the level of harm caused by Domestic Violence / 1. The number of Domestic Violence[1] offenders brought to justice[2]
2. The number of incidents of Domestic Violence reported annually directly to the police (as measured by Poole Police boundaries) by the victim using the telephone or in person / Strengthening our communities
To improve council-wide performance in street cleansing / The percentage of land with litter at unacceptable levels*, as measured by BVPI 199a
* An acceptable level is defined as Grade A, B+ and B as defined in the Code of Practice on Litter and Refuse 1999 / Protecting Poole’s environment
To improve accessibility through increased use of buses in Poole / 1. LAA62: Increased number of bus passengers on the Route ONE town centre bus loop
2 BV102: Local Bus Services (Passenger Journeys per annum) / Developing a dynamic economy
To increase the number of people in sustainable employment / The number of people who have been claiming an incapacity benefit* for six months or more and Lone Parents and Parents in receipt of Jobseekers Allowance or Income Support for 6 months or more helped by the Poole and Bournemouth MAA partnership project into sustained employment.**
* Incapacity benefit, Severe Disablement Allowance, Income Support (on the basis of incapacity) National Insurance credit (on the basis of incapacity) or other health related worklessness benefits paidfor six months or more which are introduced as replacements for any existing benefits as a result of the Welfare Reforms Act.
** employment of at least 16 hours per week for 13 consecutive weeks or more, as measured by partnership data. / Developing a dynamic economy
To improve customer care skills in preparation for the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics Games / Increase the number of people in Poole and Bournemouth who are employees in small businesses* in the boroughs gaining an NCFE Level 2 Certificate in Customer Service for Hospitality, Leisure, Travel and Tourism, as measured by Dorset and New Forest Tourism Partnership data
* As defined by DTI/EU guidance - any business with 49 employees or less. / Developing a dynamic economy
To improve the oral health of young children, and develop new schemes to promote oral health protection initiatives to reduce identified inequalities in Poole / The average number of decayed (d), missing (m) due to decay, or filled (f) teeth in the population of children aged 5-6 years within five schools within the most deprived wards of Poole (the dmft index). / Promoting health and well-being
To reduce instances of arson and malicious/deliberate fires in Poole / Number of incidents of primary fires, vehicle fires and secondary fires as recorded by audited Dorset Fire & Rescue Service FDR returns. / Protecting Poole’s environment
To reduce deaths and serious injuries on the roads in Poole / The number of people killed or seriously injured (KSI) on the roads in Poole each year, as measured by STATS 19 data / Promoting health and well-being

Appendix D