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ITEM CA7

OXFORDSHIRE’S LOCAL AREA AGREEMENT

Outline Submission to Government Office for the South East

1. Oxfordshire is a county alive with enterprise, beauty, learning and history at the heart of England. It has become internationally renowned as a place of architectural and natural beauty and a centre of excellence for academia and research.
2. It is the South East of England’s most rural county; with 615,000 residents across 1006 square miles the county has the lowest population density in the South East region. Over three quarters of the land is devoted to agricultural management and almost 40% of the county is designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty or an Area of High Landscape Value.
3. The County is a popular tourist destination not only for its rural beauty but also the urban attraction of the numerous market towns and the dreaming spires of Oxford. Oxford City is host to both Oxford University and Oxford Brookes University, and has earned a global reputation for both its architectural and academic splendour.
4. Oxfordshire has consistently high levels of employment and the resident workforce is amongst the most highly qualified in the country. Key industries based here include international publishing, high tech business and biotechnology, car manufacture and motor sport.
5. Economic prosperity and the quality of the environment make Oxfordshire an attractive place to live and work and so bring pressures to create more jobs and develop housing, schools and services.
6. In consequence the predominant need is to sustain the economy, protect and enhance the environment and to improve public services and value for money. The LAA reflects this approach.

Oxfordshire’s approach to the LAA

Building on existing partnerships

7. In Oxfordshire there are 5 LSPs at a district level, each with their own plans and strategies. At a countywide level Oxfordshire Community Partnership (OCP) brings together key local organisations from the public, private, voluntary and community sectors to focus effort on the issues that matter most to local people and communities.
8. Partners in OCP have been engaged in work over the past 3 years to identify themes and priorities that have helped to inform this LAA.

Community Strategy themes

9. Consultation with key stakeholders throughout Oxfordshire between 2003 and 2004 identified the following overarching themes, which form the basis of the countywide Community Strategy and are mirrored in the district community strategies:

• Key Workers and Housing
• Safe and Supportive Communities
• Transport
• Economic Prosperity
• Education and Lifelong Learning
• Environment
• Health and Wellbeing
• Recreation, Culture and Leisure

10. Action to date has been focused on the short-term wins rather than the long-term projects required to deliver major change.
11. In the last year OCP has been taking a data led view of future needs as well as focusing on customer and community aspirations and is reflecting on the longer-term action it wishes to promote. This understanding has been used to inform the development of the following vision for the future of the county:

"We want Oxfordshire to be a thriving county which adapts to a changing world but remains a special place to work, live and visit"

12. The development of the Oxfordshire LAA reflects this vision and the key priorities identified by the Oxfordshire Community Partnership.

Delivering the LAA

Governance arrangements

13. The Local Area Agreement presents the opportunity to improve the delivery of public services and to further strengthen ‘joined up’ governance particularly amongst the statutory agencies
14. The Oxfordshire Community Partnership has established a Public Services Board to oversee the development of the LAA. The Board brings together the key public service decision makers to improve partnership working and to deliver improvements to public services in the county.
15. This Board represents a high level commitment to partnership working in the county. All PSB members attend meetings with a level of authority and the ability to commit their organisation. A list of board members is attached (see Annex 1). Additional members are likely to be invited to join the board as the LAA develops.
16. An LAA Programme Board has been established to do the detailed development work and a lead officer for each of the LAA blocks has been given the responsibility for co-ordinating proposals with partners.
17. To aid county/district council liaison the County and District Chief Executives meet monthly to co-ordinate the local government input into the LAA and to ensure that aspirations of the six LSPs are reflected in the agreement. Arrangements are being developed to link effectively with agencies not directly represented on the Public services Board e.g. PCTs

LAA Priorities

Improving Community Governance

18. The Oxfordshire LAA partnership is perceived as a vehicle for improving customer service. We are approaching this task from the following perspectives:

• Joining up Governance – The creation of the Public Services Board will help to ensure that we align organisational strategies and operational plans for the community good. However the Board also provides an opportunity for dialogue to ‘oil the wheels’ and strengthen Oxfordshire’s voice in the region and with government. The Public Services Board has already started to use the forum as an opportunity for discussion of problems not necessarily related to potential LAA targets e.g. future configuration of PCTs and Strategic health authorities and this is helping to develop consensus and understanding.
• Added Value – We do not see the LAA as super business plan that incorporates all of the functions and priorities of the key agencies in the County. Instead we are focusing on the significant areas of concerns identified through community strategies and needs assessments. See details below
• Customer Service – As an over-arching theme we are also looking at opportunities for partners to work together to improve the access to information and quality of the service. As well as improving the customer experience we hope to improve the reputation of public services and interest and commitment to local democracy. In particular we are planning to focus on:
• Better information points and self help technology based information systems
• Commitment to the Local Government Association/IDeA ‘Reputation’ initiative which requires action to address ‘clean, green & safe issues as well as improving communication and engagement with the community

19. The priorities identified in this block reflect the 5 outcomes identified in ‘Every Child Matters’ and the general development of services for children and young people to reflect the needs and priorities in Oxfordshire. An overarching partnership has been set up to provide strategic direction and oversight of the children and young people’s plan and to develop and manage the implementation of those elements of the LAA that impact on the lives of children and young people.
20. Our priorities will be in the following areas:

Be Healthy

21. Promoting healthy and active lifestyles for all children and young people in Oxfordshire, is seen as a key preventative strategy focused on:

• emotional health and wellbeing
• tackling childhood obesity
• diverting young people away from any involvement in crime and drug misuse
• educational enjoyment and achievement

22. Feedback from children and young people also highlights the importance to them of increasing the availability of "more things which are fun to do".
23. The aim is to develop a coherent strategy for promoting healthy lifestyles across a wide range of partners in Oxfordshire, including health services, education, play and leisure services, transport, voluntary sector, social care, district councils.
24. The strategy will include:

• county/district council investment in access to sport, play, leisure and arts activities
• increasing the number of healthy schools
• increasing the number of children who walk or cycle to school

24. The strategy will be developed in partnership with children and young people through the development of local children and young people’s fora.

Stay Safe

25. The County Council’s Best Value Review of Children’s Services concluded that families often have to reach crisis point before they receive help and support that there is a need to increase the early, practical support for vulnerable families to prevent abuse, neglect and family breakdown.
26. It is proposed to strengthen the services available to families when problems start to develop, including:

• increasing the support available to families through Children’s Centres, Extended Schools and local multi-agency teams
• improving the quality of information about the support available to families from the different services and providers
• greater involvement of the voluntary sector in the development of family support services

27. This work will be taken forward in partnership with parents through the development of local parent fora.

Enjoy and Achieve

28. There is a need for a concerted effort to ensure that young people leave school with the skills they need for further education, employment or training. Educational achievement at secondary level is in line with national levels but poorer than in similar authorities. Not enough schools in Oxfordshire have good ‘value added’ scores. The achievement of vulnerable groups of children is a particular concern.
29. It is proposed to initiate a public campaign to raise standards of educational achievement. This will involve a wide range of stakeholders, including children and young people, parents and carers, schools, employers, further and higher education, health, voluntary sector, LSC, Connexions, County and District Councils. The campaign will focus on:

• engaging children and young people and families in learning
• promoting physical and emotional health and wellbeing in schools
• dissemination of good practice from schools where educational achievement is strong
• targeted support for schools where educational achievement is a concern
• targeted support for vulnerable groups of children and young people

30. Involving - The recent Best Value Review of Children’s Services found much good practice in consulting and engaging children and young people, but without effective co-ordinated across the agencies.
31. In consequence we are proposing to develop a coherent partnership approach to engaging children and young people which builds on existing good practice, but is co-ordinated across the different agencies, including County and District Councils, health, voluntary sector, Connexions, Children’s Fund, etc.
32. Positive behaviours -The incidence of youth offending has reduced for the last four years. However, there are still areas, for example in Oxford City and Banbury, where youth offending levels are high. Schools continue to express concern about the challenges they face in dealing with children and young people with significant behaviour difficulties in schools. Young people express concern about bullying.
33. It is proposed to strengthen multi-agency support to promote positive behaviour and wellbeing in schools and communities. This will include:

• Support for parents to promote positive behaviour
• The development of nurturing programmes
• Training for schools in social, emotional and behavioural skills
• The development of multi-agency behaviour support teams
• Increased funding for behaviour support delegated to schools
• the development of school collaboratives to tackle issues of behaviour together

34. Unemployment rates in Oxfordshire are about half the average for England. However, four wards in Oxford City (Blackbird Leys, Northfield Brook, Littlemore and Barton) have jobless rates over 10%, more than double the Oxfordshire average.
35. About one in ten children in Oxfordshire live in low income households. Blackbird Leys and Northfield Brook feature in the top 10% of income deprived wards in England. These wards have more than one in every ten people living on low income. Three out of five districts (South, Vale and West) are in the top 10% least deprived local authorities in England. Oxford City has a rate of child poverty 0-4 years (24%) and 5-19 (19%) that is double that for any other district and higher than the national average.
36. There is a need to target multi-agency support to these areas in order to:

• reduce the proportion of 16-18 year olds not in education, employment, or training
• increase the proportion of 19 year olds who achieve at least level 2
• increase the take-up of childcare
• increase the percentage of 3 and 4 year olds in early years settings

37. The number of children looked after in Oxfordshire is in line with national levels. However, their educational achievement and school attendance is lower than in similar authorities. The percentage receiving cautions and convictions is also higher. There is a lack of placement choice within the county, leading to some unnecessary out-county placements.
38. There is a need for a concerted, joint agency focus on:

• Raising standards of educational achievement
• Improving school attendance
• Reducing cautions and convictions
• Increasing placement choice in-county

39. The County Council Best Value Review of Children’s Services identified the need to strengthen multi-agency support for children with disabilities, so that more children’s needs can be met successfully in-county. In particular, there is a need to improve in-county support for children with complex health needs/chronic illness/mental health difficulties.

Healthier Communities and Older People

40. People in Oxfordshire are amongst the healthiest in the country and health services are of a high standard. Nonetheless we aim to promote healthy lifestyles, address health inequalities and support older people to enjoy independent lives. In the short term organisational change in the NHS and resourcing problems will limit the range of action we can implement. Nonetheless we plan to address the following priorities in addition to those listed under ‘Children & Young people’.

Healthy Lifestyles

41. We will focus our partnership effort on initiatives to encourage the cessation of smoking, to address teenage pregnancy and tackle obesity. District councils, the County Council and public health services in the Primary Care Trusts are also collaborating to encourage increased levels of participation in healthy and appropriate exercise through health walks, membership schemes at gyms and exercise classes in day centres and other settings where specific groups meet for support and social contact.

Access to Services

42. We are developing a range of informal cross agency arrangements to improve the delivery of information and/or equipment particularly to older people and especially those living in isolation with deteriorating health and personal circumstances. An example of this is the Fire and Rescue service in one part of the County cooperating with health visitors in the delivery of stair gates and other safety equipment.
43. A more systematic approach will be developed with a simple assessment process so vulnerable people can have their needs identified and met. Key in this is the Fire and Rescue Service, Community Nursing and other community NHS professionals and Social & Health Care staff.

Safer and Stronger Communities

Community Safety

44. Within Oxfordshire we have five robust and effective Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships, each with strategies agreed and being successfully implemented. We also have a Drugs and Alcohol Team, which is attaining high performance against Government drug targets for adults.
45. In addition to CDRPs and the action groups that are tasked with implementing the strategic priorities, there are a number of cross county groups that bring together a range of partner organisations. These include the County Community Safety Network, the Youth Offending Service Steering Group and the Local Criminal Justice Liaison Group.
46. The LAA provides an opportunity to further develop this countywide co-ordination, enhanced by the restructuring of Thames Valley Police to create an Oxfordshire-wide BCU.
47. Our priorities will be as follows.

Crime Reduction

48. All five CDRPs have specific targets to ensure we achieve a 15% reduction in crime in the county over three years measured in the British Crime Survey comparator crimes. In particular it is proposed to strengthen cross county and multi-agency collaboration to enhance performance in relation to the Prolific and Other Priority Offenders’ initiative, focusing on all three strands (Catch and Convict, Prevent and Deter, and Rehabilitate and Resettlement)

Drugs

49. Misuse of illegal drugs, alcohol and tobacco has major implications for health, crime/disorder and public perception of safety. Much youth crime is committed under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol. It is of concern that there is evidence of increasing use of Class A drugs among older teenagers. Work will be taken forward that extends from reducing the illegal sale of tobacco and alcohol to children and young people, right through to the establishment of a coherent treatment service for the minority abusing heroin, cocaine and crack.
50. Oxfordshire DAAT is responsible for the local implementation of the National Drugs Strategy and has a high level of performance in relation to the adult treatment targets. Further development of services for young people is now underway. The LAA is seen as providing a vehicle for improving the integration of DAAT activities into the wider community safety agenda developed at CDRP level.

Anti-social Behaviour

51. Action to address anti-social behaviour comes in many forms, from work with disaffected youths, action to tackle environmental crime through to action to reduce alcohol related disorder. Action in these areas will help to overcome the often disproportionate fear of crime revealed in the Crime and Disorder Audits undertaken in 2004. Co-ordinated strategies already established within the context of the Prevent and Deter strand of the Prolific and Priority Offenders’ initiative will be developed further to intervene early and effectively to address anti-social behaviour.
52. We are developing co-ordinated strategies aimed at early intervention and co-ordinated communications to reassure the public.

Domestic Violence

53. Reducing domestic violence is a priority across the county and we will implement a wide range of initiatives, to achieve earlier disclosure of incidents of domestic violence, improved availability and quality of advocacy services, better support for victims and action to reduce the probability of repeat victimisation.

Stronger Communities

54. Oxfordshire residents find the County a good place in which to work and live. However some communities are finding it increasingly difficult to sustain local facilities and housing for local people is a significant problem. Community self help has declined as the pace of life has intensified and this has added to a decline in interest in local democracy.
55. We want to reverse this trend and we will focus action in four areas:

• Strengthening the Voluntary & Community Sector Infrastructure – In Oxfordshire the VCS infrastructure is weak. Despite the best efforts of the VCS infrastructure organisations, voluntary organisations in the county don’t have the access to the level of advice and support they need to flourish. The local authorities and key infrastructure organisations have commissioned research (the OVID project) to identify gaps in provision, duplication of effort and funding needs. It is anticipated that the LAA will incorporate action to address deficiencies identified. We also plan to include the Rural Social & Community Programme and we will engage with the voluntary and community sector and in particular the Oxfordshire Rural Community Council to develop the business case and appropriate partnership arrangements.
• Volunteering – We want to encourage more people to volunteer to support local organisations and communities. A number of the LAA partners have committed themselves to staff volunteering schemes to encourage staff to volunteer.
• Involving – Partners already have extensive mechanisms for consulting and involving local people. However we need to do more to involve ‘hard to reach' groups and especially young people. We plan to improve our processes for engaging hard to reach groups, to share best practice and to co-ordinate our efforts.
• Access to services – Action to improve the accessibility of services and information is being planned over the medium to long term. Technological advances allow us to make major improvements in public services.

56. Oxfordshire’s economy has strengths in a wide range of sectors of the economy including publishing, biosciences, motor sports and car production, ICT and the nuclear industry. Its biggest employment sectors are largely public sector: the local authorities (including schools), universities and health trusts.
57. The natural and built environment help the County to attract and retain the high value high tech enterprises that are vital to the economy’s sustainability. With growing pressure on limited natural resources – especially energy, transport and water – the long term sustainability and financial viability of businesses also depends on reducing their environmental footprint. Therefore preserving and enhancing the environment and reducing natural resource use are important for the long term success of the economy as well as for the environmental benefits.
58. The economic base of the county continues to renew itself despite intense global competition and technological, demographic, institutional (including planning) and environmental change. However different parts of the county are highly interdependent on each other for their economic prosperity while also facing problems particular to their rural, market town and urban geographies. Addressing these particular concerns is vital not only for the areas concerned by also for the economy as a whole.
59. Despite the overall strength of the Oxfordshire economy and in particular the high level of employment, the county has a lower productivity per head than comparable economies in the region. There are concerns that traffic congestion, lack of affordable housing for employees, lack of skills in particular areas and sectors and a lack of ambition to address underlying problems all represent dangers to sustained economic success and prosperity
60. There are two broad approaches being pursued to increase productivity:
61. Active Support – including increasing the skills of the labour force, providing support and information to entrepreneurs, encouraging inward investment in key sectors, improving communication infrastructure or encouraging business practices that increase profitability and sustainability.
62. Removing barriers - including planning, red tape and regulation, and barriers to participation in the economy – e.g. lack of access to affordable housing.
63. Our aim is to focus on action to strengthen, support and sustain the following:
64. Oxfordshire’s Brand - The brand is used by all partners and agencies involved in the county to drive improved economic performance. It helps businesses attract and retain the staff they need and helps adults and children develop the skills they need to thrive. The brand attracts business that is necessary to sustain the economy’s prosperity in the form of start-ups, inward investment and international trade. The brand contributes to a stronger tourism sector, and to a more entrepreneurial culture amongst the county’s population and agencies. We need to ensure that are action support a positive image and brand for Oxfordshire. In particular we want to create a Cleaner and Greener Oxfordshire. The state of the natural and built environments attracts visitors, employees and enterprises to all parts of the county while also reinforcing the Oxfordshire brand. A clean and attractive environment also discourages anti-social behaviour. We are developing a range of initiatives in this area.
65. Commercial, social and voluntary Enterprises - Innovative and entrepreneurial business practices reflect and reinforce the Oxfordshire brand, but they need support and advice appropriate for different sectors and types of enterprise (tourism, Small and Medium Enterprise, large businesses, venture and inward investors, exporters, social enterprise etc).
66. Thriving Communities - Rural, market town and urban communities are good places to live and do business. They have cultures that reflect and contribute to the Oxfordshire brand. However inhabitants need access to goods, services and jobs and need to have the attitudes and skills to support enterprise and the community. Pockets of significant absolute and relative deprivation need to be addressed. Businesses need access to a suitably skilled workforce and markets. Support is provided to address problems and to nurture success alike.
67. Recruitment & Retention of Suitably Qualified Staff:

• Skills - Businesses, training providers and schools need to work together so that young people leave school with the skills and attitudes that businesses require. We need to encourage employees at all levels to continue their professional development as part of a working culture that is entrepreneurial and innovative. Support will be provided so that particular sectors of the economy (including retail, construction and others to be identified) and groups in particular communities have the skills that the economy needs
• Affordable Housing – In recent years the affordability of housing has become a serious problem. As well as threatening the viability of local communities the high cost of housing has increased wage costs, created barriers to recruitment and added to road congestion as employees travel increasingly long routes to work. Partners will work collaboratively to reduce the barriers to affordable housing over the long term

68. All partners are committed to high quality programme management for the LAA overall, including appropriate project management of each of the four blocks and then of each target once developed and agreed. Lead roles for project implementation will be shared amongst the partners.
69. Risk management arrangements establishing how risk will be handled at each level (from individual targets up to the Local Public Service Board) have been put in place. This includes an escalation route for those risks that cannot be handled at a lower level.
70. We are in the early stages of developing a partnership performance management system for the LAA. Our aim is the development of a clear, robust and well-structured approach to performance management, shared and owned and understood by all partners. The Public Service Board has agreed a methodology to enable us to achieve that aim, which comprises:

• Ensuring the LAA is embedded in partner organisations by: obtaining high level support; allocating lead roles; establishing links to key local plans; sharing intelligence openly and regularly.
• Ensuring the outcomes, indicators and targets are high quality by: utilising performance management expertise within each partner organisation; seeking external evaluation of outcomes and measures.
• Ensuring strong mechanisms are in place for monitoring, reviewing and taking appropriate action by: mapping those processes already used within partner organisations; putting in place regular high level monitoring; identifying mechanisms and information flows for reporting against the LAA; establishing a co-ordination mechanism for managing reporting.
• Ensuring information underpinning the LAA is robust by: mapping data sources; seeking to establish a shared mechanism for collecting and distributing data; planning for the development of an integrated performance management system for use by all partner organisations.

71. It is our objective to put as much of this methodology in place as possible before April 2006, although some aspects (such as the planned integrated performance management system) will take longer to fully establish.

Freedoms and Flexibilities

72. We are still at an early stage in developing thinking on freedoms & flexibilities. Each of the four project teams is considering potential issues for and barriers to delivery of identified outcomes and targets.
73. However, given those freedoms & flexibilities already identified in the ODPM guidance we consider it unlikely that the Oxfordshire LAA will seek significant additional freedoms.

Pooled Funding

74. As with freedoms & flexibilities, we do not anticipate that there will be very many funding streams identified beyond those already set out as eligible for inclusion in the LAA. It is likely that partners’ concerns will concentrate more on whether funding should be aligned or pooled, and if the former, how soon we should move to pooled arrangements. These will be issues for further discussion and resolution during the next two months.

Next Steps

75. We have much to do to refine the development of the LAA over the next few months but we now have a firm base from which we can make rapid progress.
76. We have:

• Effective governance arrangements and a high level of commitment and involvement
• A clear big picture view of the long term needs of the County and the areas where we can collaborate and add value
• A commitment to a set of principles about project and performance management and
• A commitment to share Reward Grant and to reinvest those resources in future partnership projects

77. Over the next 3 months we aim to:

• Sharpen the focus on action plans and target setting
• Ensure that resources are aligned with implementation requirements
• Set up the performance monitoring arrangements
• Communicate our plans with the community and with all those who need to support and participate in the LAA include the voluntary and community sector
• Keep the membership and effectiveness of The Public Services Board under review and fine tune the arrangements where necessary
• Maintain an open and collaborative approach with GOSE

September 2005