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Policy Watch
Issue 5 Au g u s t 2 0 0 9
Building Britain’s future
The government recently announced plans for a number of reforms to the public sector The ‘Building Britain’s future’ programme outlines 12 government commitments for public sector reform over the coming months and forms the backbone of the draft legislative programme. Key themes relevant to local services include reforms to training for young people, a £150 million Innovation Fund, NHS patient guarantees, guaranteed personal tutors for children, reform of the school league table system, a youth citizenship programme, commitment to further develop Sure Start, more local police accountability, and further emphasis on low carbon technologies for the future. The plan is set out across seven themes:
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C o n t e n ts
St.Helens LINk Consumer white paper Total Place Social care green paper Child Poverty Bill St.Helens Compact Strengthening local democracy About Policy Watch 2 2 2 3 3 3
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Rebuilding trust in a modern democratic Britain. Real help now that builds a stronger Britain. Investing for the future: Building tomorrow’s economy today. Fair chances for all: Building the next generation of public services. Fair rules: Building a strong society. Strengthening family and community life. Britain in a fairer and safer world. Continued on the back cover
St.Helens Equality, Inclusion and Cohesion Strategy 2009-12
The St.Helens' Equality, Inclusion and Cohesion Strategy is the start of a process through which we hope to increase knowledge and capacity, raise expectations and set in place processes that will yield long-term benefit for those living in, working in, or visiting St.Helens. Community cohesion increases when equality and inclusion are supported. Positive community action, strong leadership and effective partnerships are essential for cohesion to succeed. The strategy encompasses the recommendations from the Audit Commission’s review of the LSP’s approach to cohesion (August 2008) and reaffirms partners continued commitment to achieving socially inclusive sustainable communities. For more information go to www.sthelens.gov.uk
www.sthelenstogether.org.uk
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A LINk to a better service
St Helens Local Involvement Network (LINk) has been set up to ensure that local health and adult social care services meet the needs of local people. It will gather people’s views and experiences of health and social care in order to influence the planning, development, commissioning and delivery of services. LINk is currently developing its work plan and has been asking members of the public for their priorities in terms of local services. Membership of LINk is free but you do not have to become a member to have a say. For more information, contact St Helens LINk on 01744 457119 Email: sthelenslink@sthelenscvs.org.uk
LSP website
The official website for St.Helens Together LSP has recently been completely revised and updated and will soon be officially launched. The website contains a wealth of information such as who is involved with the partnership, what they do, and how this benefits local residents. The website also contains all of the partnership key strategy documents and minutes from partnership and thematic group meetings.
A better deal for consumers - white paper
A new white paper has been published by the government that sets out a new approach to financial and other consumer markets. The document explains how a new approach will be able to tackle the major challenges that the global financial crisis and economic downturn has created for consumers. This will include reshaping consumer regulation to reflect the new ways people shop, and ensure that the UK’s regime remains one of the best in the world. Key proposals include a ban on unsolicited credit card cheques, new powers for the courts to ban persistent rogue traders, a review by the Office of Fair Trading of the market for high cost credit and the creation of a national specialist team to tackle internet scams. The paper focuses on four themes: help for vulnerable customers, new approach to consumer credit, empowering customers, and modernising consumer law. For more information go to www.bis.gov.uk
Total Place
Thirteen areas, including the Manchester City Region have been chosen to pilot Total Place; a new initiative to identify how local public agencies can work better together to deliver front-line services more efficiently and improve the quality of life for their communities. The project will map flows of public spending in local areas and make links between services, to identify where public money can be spent more effectively. This forms part of Sir Michael Bichard's work on the Operational Efficiency Programme looking at the scope for efficiency savings in the public sector. Interim findings of the project will be released in October 2009. For more information go to www.localleadership.gov.uk
www.sthelenstogether.org.uk
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Shaping the future of care together - green paper
The problems surrounding the delivery and funding of adult social care are well known. This green paper argues from a national viewpoint that the current system can be seen as unfair to people who have assets and who may be required to sell their homes to fund their personal care. In addition, information and advice can be inconsistent, service standards vary widely, eligibility criteria mean only those with greatest needs receive support while preventative support is neglected, and people have few rights or entitlements. Following years of debate, the government launched a consultation in May 2008, ‘Case for change – why England needs a new care and support system’, from which the findings have fed into this green paper. The paper proposes a National Care Service whereby people will be able to expect six elements: prevention, national assessment, joined up services, information and advice, personalised care and support, and fair funding. For more information go to www.dh.gov.uk
St Helens CVS gains NAVCA award
Well done to St. Helens CVS who have been awarded the National Association for Voluntary and Community Action Quality award. The award is a rigorous, externally audited NAVCA accredited award that evaluates the quality of services offered by local Infrastructure organisations. Only 40 areas out of 290 have been awarded this quality mark so far. The award demonstrates the positive impact that the CVS has upon local voluntary and community groups and communities in the borough.
Child Poverty Bill
The government has introduced a Child Poverty Bill to parliament with the aim of ending child poverty by 2020. The bill builds upon existing provisions and contains some far reaching implications for local authorities and local strategic partnerships. The bill builds upon the provisions set out in the ‘Ending Child Poverty: Making It Happen’ consultation that was published earlier this year. Local authorities and named partners will have a duty to co-operate in tackling child poverty, including carrying out a needs assessment and producing a joint local child poverty strategy. This specifically includes the ability to create pooled funding. Sustainable Community Plans must also take specific note of child poverty in setting out the priorities for the area. The duties on local authorities and partners would come into force two months after the bill has received royal assent (expected Spring 2010). For more information go to www.parliament.gov.uk
St.Helens Compact 2009-12
The St.Helens Compact has been renewed and widens the approach to cross-sector partnership working. The new Compact extends the partners to include groups from the voluntary, community, faith and voluntary sports sectors, Halton & St Helens NHS and St.Helens Council. The St Helens Compact provides a clear framework within which sectors can understand what to expect from each other; and contributes to ‘Building more cohesive, active and empowered communities’ and a stronger ‘Environment for a thriving Third Sector’. For more information go to www.sthelens.gov.uk
St.Helens Policy Watch Team Second Floor Town Hall Victoria Square St Helens WA10 1HP Phone: 01744 456 597 Email:
duncansmith@sthelens.gov.uk josephong@sthelens.gov.uk
St.Helens Together Policy Watch is a quarterly newsletter to keep local strategic partners and community members up to date with national and local policy initiatives. We will provide the latest information for each of the LSPs thematic groups. If you have any questions or want to contribute to Policy Watch you can contact one of our researchers. Duncan Smith Joseph Ong Economic development and enterprise Children and young people Healthier communities and older people Communities and neighbourhoods Safer communities
. . . From the cover story
Following this, the government has published a green paper (Strengthening local democracy), which sets out consultation on a range of proposed measures to promote democratic renewal and strengthen the power and responsibility of local government. A number of proposals are put forward that the government is considering and asks for responses and further suggestions to build upon them. This takes forward some of the ambitions set out in the ‘Building Britain’s future’ programme. The proposals have wide ranging implications for the local strategic partnership including looking at the usefulness of existing local partnership arrangements. Proposals are also put forward for an extension of sub-regional governance arrangements. This could potentially place existing arrangements such as the Liverpool City Region Multi-Area Agreement on a statutory footing and increase the level of economic co-operation between areas. Key aims include:
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St.Helens Together Policy Watch is a quarterly briefing for LSP partners. If you would like the briefing in another format please contact the Policy Watch team.
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Strengthening councils’ ability to lead and coordinate services in their area, possibly giving councils more scope to scrutinise the spending and decisions of local service providers. Exploring whether there are barriers to using existing powers and whether there are other powers which councils should have. Ensuring councils have the powers and responsibilities they need to tackle climate change. Exploring how the powers and responsibilities of sub-regional structures should be matched by clear and accountable leadership. Exploring how to articulate, develop and support the relationship between central and local government so that respective functions are clear and transparent to citizens.
The consultation closes on 2 October 2009. For more information go to www.clg.gov.uk
www.sthelenstogether.org.uk