Local Strategic Partnership (LSP) Conference 14 June 2007

I attended this New Local Government Network conference run in collaboration with the Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA) and Neil Stewart Associates. Strap lined as ‘new era for devolution’, it was a packed day!  So I include here the bigger things I took away from each speaker beyond their slides -  there was however plenty more…Irene Payne from the IDeA included five challenges for LSPs:

1. understanding what it will take and mean for to be the ‘leader of place’
2. understanding elected councillors’ roles and responsibilities in the context of partnerships and devolution
3. adapting to partnership delivery – not just partnership working
4. localised working – differences and variety
5. the significance of Local Area Agreements (LAAs) as the single conversation between central government and local strategic partners.

Joe Simpson from the Leadership Centre for Local Government commented on councils acting as convenors of LAAs with local partners as per the Lyons Review but that councils must be prepared to be convened as well - they should be influenced by their local partners as well as enabling them to work together.  He also raised the idea of community mediation – that people within communities have the chance to be heard and influence the agenda.

Phil Woolas MP, Minister for Local Government & Community Cohesion, gave the ministerial address – his full speech is available but here are some highlights:

• shifting power from central to local level is a ‘marathon not a sprint’ – but it’s past the ‘tipping point’ and is agreeing political consensus with the Local Government Association (LGA)
• local government shouldn’t seek permission from central government but think ‘we can do something unless Government says we can’t’ – as per the power of well-being
• the answer isn’t more money but the more innovative and efficient use of it
• the thirty-five targets within each LAA will be chosen locally, which means at county level in two tier areas but if sustainable community strategies involve parish and town councils upwards, then local issues can come to the fore
• we need public rather than civil servants – people who work for the good of the public rather than primarily for the agencies that serve them.

David Galliers from the West Midlands Local Government Association talked about the under utilisation of universities and local research – especially community researchers, who provide a wealth of local data.

Irene Lucas, Chief Executive of South Tyneside Council, emphasised that LSPs through LAAs shape localities, not Whitehall and that South Tyneside has developed culture, well-being and sense of place as a LAA block in its own right.  It’s not for councils to ‘flex their muscles’ in convening partners but LSPs agreeing who is best placed across the LAA agenda to lead on specific areas.

Stuart Etherington, Chief Executive of the National Council for Voluntary Organisations highlighted that voluntary groups are so varied in size and formality, that it’s very difficult to identify and then involve them all in place-shaping activity.  The dynamics of these relationships between voluntary groups and local strategic partners are therefore key and the third sector needs more capacity to engage in these ways of working.

Campbell Robb, Director General, Office of the Third Sector, introduced Communities & Local Government’s (CLG’s) Third Sector Strategy consultation document, which focuses on: ways of working – between CLG and the third sector, local partnerships in place-shaping, strategic partners and funding, and sustainable investment.  Three-year funding will really assist this in terms of place-shaping and sustainability, as will the National Programme for Third Sector Commissioning.  The Office of the Third Sector is also setting up an innovation exchange of third sector practice with NESTA.

Carolyn Downs, Chief Executive of Shropshire County Council, emphasised the need for local evidence from the range of local partners and citizens to support sustainable community strategies.  Even though Shropshire is so rural, its work on citizen engagement has see a rise from approximately 50 to over 70 per cent in terms of people feeling they’re influencing local decisions – and a voluntary and community sector assembly is being developed to incorporate the views of more third sector organisations prior to LSP related meetings. 

Rob Wye, Director of Strategy & Communications at the Learning & Skills Council emphasised that skills and learning should be considered across the board, e.g. through all LAA blocks – however they are decided locally – not just with regard to children and young people. 

Some topical points came out of the panel session with Sir Simon Milton - Chairman of the Local Government Association, Carolyn and Rob:

• For those areas currently involved in local government reorganisation (LGR) decisions, of course work isn’t easy but it’s key for partnerships to prepare for those decisions – whatever the outcome – so the work continues and doesn’t falter.
• As one of those areas, Shropshire’s LSP has never discussed LGR – its LAA has been signed off, discussions and on-going activity are focused around that work.
• Involving the private sector is also vital – and difficult with so many businesses, so umbrella groups are proving useful to involve them and using focused areas of LAAs, e.g. the economic and development block.
• Performance management regimes across Government Departments must fit together if the proposed duty to corporate is to really work – otherwise there could very well be conflicts between partners.  So it can be useful to focus on issues that involve all partners, e.g. NEETs (young people not in education, employment or training), where many partners can contribute to tackling an issue.

Last but not least, I then attended a break-out session with Will French from the Royal Town Planning Institute on the links between spatial planning and LSPs and LAAs.  And there are quite a few – especially amongst the many independent Treasury Reviews, e.g. Barker, Eddington and Stern reporting on land use planning, transport and the economics of climate change respectively.  Most striking for me were the benefits on outcomes of joining these area.  Take healthy communities alone – the connections with parks, open spaces, transport, walking and cycling provision, air quality, access to places and services and so forth – not just issues for Local Development Frameworks and the physical environment but also for LAAs and the related impact on lives.

So all in all, a very comprehensive and detailed day (and believe me there was yet more!), from corporate to service angles, from citizen to partner involvement, from public, private to third sector, from national policy to local agenda.