Voscur Reps Report - September 2006
UPDATE ON LOCAL AREA AGREEMENT
The first deadline came and Bristol nearly managed to hand its LAA homework in on time. A draft LAA 'Outcomes Framework' arrived at the Government Office for the South West (GOSW) in early July stating what Bristol wants to prioritise and focus on over the next three years in relation to the four broad areas of work (themed 'blocks'): Children and Young People; Health and Older People; Economic Development and Enterprise; and Safer and Stronger Communities.
The work didn't come back with a mark out of ten but, looking at a summary of GOSW's feedback, perhaps it would have scored around 5 with the comment "Could do better. Bristol needs to aim for a higher score than just 'pass'!" Actual comments in GOSW's feedback included, "…does not yet include a statement of purpose, rationale or themes"; "There is more scope to reflect Bristol's issues and priorities"; "Little sense in which the LAA is adding value to work already taking place"; "The content of some blocks illustrates partner involvement. Others, particularly the Stronger [Communities] section and the Economic Development and Enterprise block, do not."
Voscur continues to help our sector, as partners, to input into the LAA. For example, we have been giving information and getting feedback at our Assemblies (via a game of bingo at our July meeting!), and working with partners in the ChangeUp consortium to hold consultation events. Following one such event at the end of July, we have produced a report of what the VCS have said about the Outcomes Framework and sent this to GOSW and Bristol City Council officers who are leading on developing the LAA, as well as partnerships which discuss the LAA. The report is available on our website - www.voscur.org
WHAT'S ACTUALLY IN THE LAA?
The LAA (which will start in April next year) will include targets to show whether things have improved or not. It takes the form of a table that includes:
> several broad 'outcomes' for each 'block' (e.g. Reduced worklessness and a skilled workforce)
> one or more measureable 'indicators' for each outcome (e.g. the number of people claiming incapacity benefit in Bristol)
> 'baseline' data (figures or percentages) related to that indicator (e.g. 18,575 people claiming in 2005/06)
> target data for improvement in the city (e.g. 17,658 claimants in 2007/08 and 17,128 in 2008/09).
Many of the outcomes and indicators are mandatory, i.e. set by Government, but the point is that each area around the country can also add their own outcomes and indicators, and that is what we are all supposed to be discussing and agreeing.
In order to help you see what is in Bristol's draft outcomes framework, we have summarised below the outcomes and indicators for each block (theme).
AT A GLANCE - WORK CURRENTLY IN BRISTOL'S LAA
CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE
· Reducing teenage pregnancy.
· Walking trips to schools.
· Increasing school attendance.
· Increasing school children's achievement in English, maths and science.
· Increasing GCSE achievement of 'looked after' children.
· Increase the number of 19 year olds with at least NVQ level 2.
· Increase the number of 14 to 19 year olds participating in work-related learning.
· Increasing the number of 16 to 18 year olds in education, employment or training.
· Improving access to 'Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services'.
· Reducing the impact of domestic violence on children and young people.
· Reducing the number of 'looked after' children.
· Reducing the number of young offenders (10 to 17 year olds).
· Reducing the rate of young people re-offending.
STRONGER SAFER COMMUNITIES
· Reducing crime
· Reducing the rate of re-offending
· Increasing the number of offenders who access treatment for drug misuse.
· Helping people to feel safe.
· Reducing drug related litter.
· Increasing the number of people in effective treatment for drug misuse.
· Increasing the number of drug users who move into stable accommodation.
· Reducing the number of drug related deaths.
· Reducing anti-social behaviour.
· Informing people about what is being done to tackle anti-social behaviour in their area.
· Helping parents to take responsibility for the behaviour of their children.
· Helping people to feel they are treated with respect and consideration in their area.
· Helping to reducing domestic violence.
· Helping to support victims of domestic violence.
· Reducing the number of alcohol-related violence.
· Helping residents to influence decisions affecting their local area.
· Helping people from different backgrounds in an area to get on well together.
· Helping people to carry out volunteer work.
· Increasing environmental quality (increased perceptions of cleanliness).
· Improving parks and green spaces.
· Helping to get abandoned vehicles removed.
· Increasing the level of recycling.
· Helping to reduce the levels of litter, especially in the most deprived areas.
· Improving service delivery and the quality of life in the most disadvantaged neighbourhoods.
· Increasing the condition of social housing.
HEALTHIER COMMUNTIES AND OLDER PEOPLE
· Reducing premature deaths in Bristol.
· Reducing the number of people under 75 who die from cancer, stroke or heart disease.
· Helping to stop people dying younger in neighbourhood renewal areas compared to the rest of the city.
· Reducing the number of smokers in the most deprived areas of Bristol.
· Reducing death rates from circulatory diseases or lung cancer in the most deprived areas.
· Increasing the physical activity of older people and or disabled people.
· Increase the numbers of children who are vaccinated (especially in the most deprived areas).
· Helping people to participate in community, social and cultural activities (including volunteering and those that promote spiritual health).
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND SOCIAL ENTERPRISE
· Increasing the number and/or survival rates of businesses in Bristol.
· Increasing entrepreneurial activity in the most disadvantaged communities.
· Supporting the sustainable growth and reduce the failure of locally owned businesses in disadvantaged communities.
· Increasing the number of businesses seeking start up advice in Neighbourhood Renewal areas.
· Helping to attract appropriate investment and franchising into disadvantaged areas (making use of local labour resources).
· Helping previously workless residents in Neighbourhood Renewal areas to gain employment.
· Reducing the number of Job Seekers Allowance claimants.
· Reducing the number of people claiming Incapacity Benefit.
· Increasing the number of people gaining NVQ level 2.
· Increasing the number of residents from disadvantaged communities to seek debt advice.
· Helping to prevent the number of household incomes within disadvantaged communities falling below £15k per annum.
· Increasing housing supply.
WHAT'S NEXT?
The next deadline is the 30th September when a draft of the whole LAA has to be handed in. All the associated data and targets for the indicators must be included and it must say which funding streams will be aligned or pooled within the LAA.
Because not everything can be prioritised it is likely that the main focus of the LAA will fall on two areas of activity:
· Learning and achievement for children and young people families
· Reducing inequalities in health and wellbeing, with a particular focus on older people.
This means that where there is a choice to be made in deciding a target in any of the four blocks, these two priorities will be given precedence.
If you have any comments about the LAA then please contact Matthew Symonds at Voscur
Email: matthew@voscur.org Tel: 0117 909 9545.
YOUR VOICE ON THE HOUSING STRATEGY GROUP
Paul Hazelden from Crisis Centre Ministries, is the Voscur rep to the Housing Strategy Group (HSG), which meets just three times a year to look at the high level issues relating to housing in Bristol. We asked Paul about his input into this partnership.
What kind of input do you have as a representative of the voluntary and community sector (vcs)?
Much of my contribution to the group is hard to document but lot of it involves questioning and commenting on details in the discussions. It involves reminding other partners of the impact of the point under discussion on the vcs and general public, when the main focus has been on the policy maker, the regulator and the developer. I have also pointed out, for example, that not every housing related group in Bristol is represented on the Homelessness Consortium, as a number of voluntary agencies are not involved, which seemed a surprise to many people.
I have also pointed out that it is not clear from the Black & Minority Ethnic (BME) Housing Needs and Aspirations Study whether the current housing strategy is right from a BME perspective.
Can you give an example of when partners have not agreed with your point of view?
The Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS) includes a target of 92,500 additional dwellings in the West of England, 28,000 of which are to be created in Bristol over the next 20 years. I am not convinced that such plans can be implemented, or that a top-down approach is the best. A much simpler approach is to look at where we want to be in 20 years' time, and consider whether our current planning policies will help us get there. I wasn't able to convince other partners of this.
Do you have an example of when your opinion has been agreed with and you have felt your input has helped progress the work?
When we look at the 'Housing Strategy Action Plan' progress report, lots of time is taken up by discussions around the meaning of the text. One person says it ought to say something, and another says the words used already imply it, etc. If the people who helped draft it can't agree on the meaning of the words used, what hope is there for the people who are supposed to implement it? I suggested that the plan is backed up by a supporting document that unpacks the meaning of the actions in the plan, and also the intended scope and underlying ethos. What do we really mean by 'sustainable development' - and what are we willing to pay in order to achieve it? There was general agreement to this idea.