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What are Local Strategic Partnerships? |
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What are Local Strategic Partnerships? |
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Local Strategic Partnerships (LSPs) have been set up throughout England to improve local quality of life and ensure that public services work better. Private, voluntary and community sectors are expected to play a full and equal part alongside public agencies in bringing about critical changes and improvements. LSPs develop and pursue community strategies for their areas. These are intended to ensure that the most important things get done, and that priorities keep in tune with changing needs and opportunities. Promoting community cohesion is an important objective as part of an overall approach to economic, social and environmental well-being. All LSPs are required by government to create a Local Area Agreement (LAA). The LAA sets out the local priorities for the next 3 years with an aim to deliver better outcomes for local people. Each LAA has a unique overarching theme – one which is considered most important to the local area – Dudley’s being ‘Stronger Communities’. There are 3 overarching principles within Dudley’s LAA – these are closing the gap; community cohesion; and community engagement. The theme of ‘Stronger Communities’ is also the overall vision of Dudley’s Community Strategy 2005-2020 (see Section 6) Within each LAA the outcomes have been divided into 4 blocks each with a designated block lead. These four blocks are: · Children & Young People · Safe & Stronger Communities · Healthier Communities & Older People · Economic Development Within each of the four blocks there are both mandatory and non-mandatory outcomes. Mandatory outcomes are set by central government – some of these mandatory outcomes are only included in the LAA if the local area is in receipt of certain government funds such as Neighbourhood Renewal Fund (NRF) and Connexions. The non-mandatory outcomes are chosen because of their relevance and importance to the local area. As part of the National Strategy for Neighbourhood Renewal, LSPs in 86* local authority areas have the task of helping to turn round the fortunes of the most deprived neighbourhoods. Additional resources - including the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund (NRF) - have been made available by central government to help meet needs in these areas. There, LSPs develop and implement local neighbourhood renewal strategies to secure more jobs, better education, improved health, reduced crime and better housing. Community and neighbourhood renewal strategies are intended to influence the main budgets and practices of partner agencies - not just their resources at the margins. LSPs are also intended to bring more coherence to the diverse plans, services and initiatives of all the public agencies who contribute to promoting local quality of life. They offer an opportunity to rationalise existing partnership structures and join up partner activities - as part of the overall government drive to improve the delivery of public services. LSPs are not statutory bodies - therefore, their success depends on the voluntary participation of partners. That said, increasingly the performance of a range of public agencies is being judged by government on their achievements through partnership working. Increasingly, LSPs are expected to:
* 86 from 2006 onwards, following changes in eligible areas. |
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© Dudley Community Partnership, Studio Unit 47, Waterfront East , Brierley Hill , West Midlands, DY5 1XJ |
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