A report called on local authorities, health trusts, and care providers in England to work with housing organizations in a more integrated way. It set out how better partnership working could help support care closer to home, give people more independence, and deliver greater efficiencies.
Source: Sarah Davis, Jeremy Porteus and Clare Skidmore, Housing, Health and Care, Chartered Institute of Housing
Links: Report | CIH press release | Children & Young People Now report | Inside Housing report | Local Government Chronicle report
Date: 2009-Dec
A report examined the existing framework in England for local strategic partnerships and local area agreements; possible consequences of the economic recession for partnership working; proposals for reinforcing the skills base of local partnerships, and changing the culture within which partnerships worked; and ways of strengthening collaborative working across the public sector and achieving better solutions at local level.
Source: New Routes to Better Outcomes, Improvement and Development Agency (020 7296 6693)
Links: Report part 1 | Report part 2
Date: 2009-Aug
A report presented the findings from a survey sent to all English local strategic partnerships in 2008. It said that there was evidence that the trend towards a 'culture of partnership' was becoming more embedded.
Source: Hilary Russell, Leigh Johnston and Davy Jones, Long Term Evaluation of Local Area Agreements and Local Strategic Partnerships: Report on the 2008 Survey of All English Local Strategic Partnerships, Department for Communities and Local Government (web publication only)
Date: 2009-Jul
A report examined the variations in the number and types of economic indicators adopted across different localities within the 2008 local area agreement process, by identifying the factors that influenced indicator selection and the extent and nature of the relationship of the adopted indicators to processes of local economic development.
Source: Stephen Syrett, David North, Rob Baldock, David Etherington and Sue Engelbert, Local Area Agreements (LAAs) and Local Economic Development, Department for Communities and Local Government (web publication only)
Links: Report | DCLG press release | New Start report
Date: 2009-Jul
Nine new unitary local authorities were established in England on 1 April 2009, replacing 44 districts and counties in the areas concerned.
Source: Press release 1 April 2009, Department for Communities and Local Government (020 7944 3000)
Links: DCLG press release | CRC press release | BBC report
Date: 2009-Apr
An audit report examined arrangements for performance, resource management, and governance in local strategic partnerships. Too few LSPs took an area-wide approach to performance and resource management. Some LSPs had well-developed performance arrangements, but less-developed resource management. Most LSPs needed to make further progress if they were to deliver sustainable community strategy and local outcomes.
Source: Working Better Together? Managing local strategic partnerships, Audit Commission (0800 502030)
Links: Report | Audit Commission press release
Date: 2009-Apr
A report said that local authorities in England should provide an extra 50,000 apprenticeships over the following three years, create 75,000 'work taster' jobs, and be given more flexibility over existing funds and longer-term budgets to tackle unemployment.
Source: Stephen Houghton, Claire Dove and Iqbal Wahhab, Tackling Worklessness: A review of the contribution and role of English local authorities and partnerships – Final Report, Department for Communities and Local Government (web publication only)
Links: Report | DCLG press release | Personnel Today report
Date: 2009-Mar
A report examined the benefits that local authorities, and their residents, enjoyed when they worked with user-led organizations. These benefits ranged from helping local authorities deliver greater personalization to improved engagement with hard-to-reach population groups.
Source: Putting People First: Working together with user-led organisations, Department of Health (web publication only) and other government departments
Links: Report
Date: 2009-Mar
The government published the final report on implementation of key proposals in the White Paper on local government (published in 2006). It focused in particular on performance, governance, and empowerment.
Source: Strong and Prosperous Communities: The Local Government White Paper – Final implementation plan, Department for Communities and Local Government (web publication only)
Links: Report
Date: 2009-Mar
A report examined how local authorities were returning services that had previously been externalized to private sector contractors to delivery by directly employed teams. 'Insourcing' would became an increasingly attractive option for local authorities during the economic recession.
Source: Insourcing: A guide to bringing local authority services back in-house, Association for Public Service Excellence (0161 772 1810)
Links: APSE press release | Guardian report
Date: 2009-Feb
Researchers examined ways to strengthen support to local authorities and their partners in using local information and research in decision-making. They investigated the sources of demand for local information and research; how research was carried out locally; and how local information and analysis was supported by national, regional, and sub-regional organizations.
Source: Tom Smith, Keith Dugmore and Derrick Johnstone, Supporting Local Information and Research: Understanding demand and improving capacity, Department for Communities and Local Government (0870 1226 236)
Links: Report
Date: 2009-Jan