Gloucestershire Conference News

Report from the Accountable Bodies Group Meeting of 15 June

Download the full notes here.

 

Total Place update
A new report published on 25 March by HM Treasury sets out a radical transformation to the way public services will be delivered in future.  You can download the report here.

The 2010 Budget set out how the Government will protect key public service priorities while reducing the deficit. Total Place shows how this can be delivered in practice through a fundamental shift in the way public services are delivered that has never been attempted before.

For the first time all local spending from across all local agencies is being looked as a whole to focus on designing services around the needs of the customer and cutting out waste and duplication, ensuring money is being used effectively.

The Total Place report sets out the sweeping changes being introduced following wide-ranging testing of the approach in 13 pilot areas. The report presents a series of commitments that will give greater freedoms and flexibilities to support a new relationship between Government and places.

The new ways of working pioneered by the pilots will be replicated in all areas across England; the best performing authorities will be supported to go further and faster with new far reaching freedoms through a 'single offer', and a much wider group of local authorities and their partners will be encouraged to pioneer new working in policy areas where they are strongest via 'devolved responsibility'.

This work will be supported through stronger leadership at regional, sub-regional and local levels to deliver the total place principles.

The full report can be found on the HM Treasury website.

RELATED LINKS
Read this article about Total Place on the South West Councils website.

In Gloucestershire:
Gloucestershire has a Regional Improvement and Efficiency Pilot funded Total Place project, focusing on ‘dysfunctional families’.  The project commenced in December 2009 and to date there has been very little VCS involvement.  Concern about this lack of involvement and absence of adequate governance has been expressed by Jess Mace on behalf of the VCS at the Community Strategy Executive Board.   A paper is expected at the next CSEB meeting in May with more information.  Watch this space for updates!

For more information contact , 01452 522 600. 

 

Feedback from Community Strategy Executive Board meeting
Jess Mace attended the CSEB meeting on Monday on behalf of the VCS.  Key items and decisions were:

  • The Local Area Agreement Performance Reward Grant allocation to Local Authorities has been cut by 50%.  Note: the VCS in Gloucestershire are still expecting an allocation of this grant and the VCS Assembly Board is developing a process by which this fund can be administered
  • It was agreed that the draft Compact Commissioning Code was ready to go out as part of the Gloucestershire Compact refresh consultation August – October 2010.
  • Data was presented comparing outcomes in the most deprived Support Output Areas to outcomes in the county as a whole.  It was agreed that continued focus on this work was important and partners were encouraged to complete Equality Impact Assessments on de-commissioning decisions as well as commissioning decisions
  • Gloucestershire’s Total Place pilots were discussed, with an updated governance structure agreed. The VCS is involved in both the older peoples and families Total Place project boards.
  • The draft county Housing Strategy is still being developed and is likely to be out for consultation in September, not June as previously hoped.

To read the meeting papers visit http://www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=99488.  or for more information contact Jess Mace Jessm@glosassembly.org.uk.

 

Gloucestershire Environment Partnership: Gloucestershire NI 186 Delivery Plan
The Gloucestershire Environment Partnership have produced a comprehensive report detailing the County’s NI 186 Delivery Plan.  The plan outlines the targets for carbon reduction outlined in the NI 186 agreement, and describes ways in which the county can meet them.

Download a copy of the report (in pdf format) here. Please note, this is a large file.