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ITEM CA7
OXFORDSHIRE’S
LOCAL AREA AGREEMENT
Outline
Submission to Government Office for the South East
Oxfordshire
in context
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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
- 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.
- 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
- 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
- Action to date
has been focused on the short-term wins rather than the long-term projects
required to deliver major change.
- 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"
- The development
of the Oxfordshire LAA reflects this vision and the key priorities identified
by the Oxfordshire Community Partnership.
Delivering
the LAA
Governance
arrangements
- 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
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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
- 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
Children
and Young People
- 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.
- Our priorities
will be in the following areas:
Be Healthy
- 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
- Feedback from children
and young people also highlights the importance to them of increasing
the availability of "more things which are fun to do".
- 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.
- 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
- 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
- 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.
- 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
- This work will
be taken forward in partnership with parents through the development
of local parent fora.
Enjoy
and Achieve
- 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.
- 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
Make
a Positive Contribution
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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
Economic
Wellbeing
- 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.
- 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.
- 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
Children
Looked After
- 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.
- 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
Children
with Disabilities
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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.
- 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
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Our priorities
will be as follows.
Crime
Reduction
- 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
- 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.
- 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
- 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.
- We are developing
co-ordinated strategies aimed at early intervention and co-ordinated
communications to reassure the public.
Domestic
Violence
- 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
- 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.
- 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.
Economy
and Enterprise – Thriving Communities
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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
- There are two broad
approaches being pursued to increase productivity:
- 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.
- Removing barriers
- including planning, red tape and regulation, and barriers to participation
in the economy – e.g. lack of access to affordable housing.
- Our aim is to focus
on action to strengthen, support and sustain the following:
- 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.
- 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).
- 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.
- 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
Project
& Performance Management
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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
- 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.
- 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
- 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
- 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.
- 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
- 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
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