Stronger communities - Update February 2006
The latest news and developments from the stronger element of the Safer, Stronger and Sustainable Communities block of the LAA:
Measurement of the volunteering stretch target
Developing a delivery plan
Neighbourhood Policing
Governance of the SSSC block
The Stronger Communities conference
LSP Practitioners forum
Consultation Practitioners Forum
Volunteering stretch target
The voluntary sector is leading our stretch target which is about increasing the number of people volunteering. There are two measures being used to assess and quantify numbers of people volunteering: the first will be through a sample survey, and the second will be by direct measurement.
The sample survey will be done in September 2006 and will be part of the Best Value General Satisfaction Survey, which will cover 21,000 people across the county. The survey is statutory and is being done jointly by the county and district councils.
We will have two linked questions in the survey:
Q1a Thinking about how you spend your free time, have you given unpaid help in the last 12 months to any groups, clubs or organisations? Yes / No
Q1b Would you say that you have spent an average of 2 hours (or more) a week over the last 12 months giving this unpaid help? Yes / No
The direct measurement will be assessed by pulling together about 10 (or more) public, voluntary and private sector organisations which use volunteers to deliver their services, and asking for auditable figures on the number of volunteers in their service.
Both these methods will be used to get a baseline figure across the county, and then both will be repeated in 3 years’ time. If we can achieve a 2.5% increase in both sets of figures, then the voluntary sector and partners will share the £1.2 million reward grant.
Once the stretch target is agreed, there is a pump priming grant which will be used by Volunteering Notts to co-ordinate the programme.
Further information from Jon North at NAVO, telephone 01623 651170, email info@navo.org.uk , or Hilary Wells at Beeston Volunteer Centre on 0115 917 8080, email hilary@beestonvolunteercentre.org.uk.
Delivery Plan
We need to develop a delivery plan for the Stronger Communities part of the LAA which will identify what each organisation is doing to contribute to the outcomes.
We still have a couple more bits of work to do on the Neighbourhood Focus and Voluntary Sector targets. We have said that we will assess the baseline and set targets during the first year of the LAA on the following targets:
We also need to identify which organisations will be contributing to the other outcomes.
This will be a very helpful document, and will clarify responsibilities and reporting routes – but it will take a lot of putting together. I want to make this as pain-free as possible for all of us and would appreciate your help with ideas on how to go about doing it. It may be that the conference (see below) is the right place to draw up or sign off the delivery plan.
If you can help with this, contact Liz Lesquereux on 0115 977 3792 email liz.lesquereux@nottscc.gov.uk
Neighbourhood Policing
Neighbourhood Policing is going to be introduced across Nottinghamshire over the next couple of years, and the Police are working very closely with partners to make sure that the right community engagement mechanisms are in place in each locality. This is a very clear link between ‘Safer’ and ‘Stronger’ Communities; not only does it help us deliver the outcomes in the LAA, it will help us all to work more consistently together on community engagement matters. A countywide approach is being developed that will have district and very local implementation.
Further information is available from Don Rowe on 0115 977 4091, email don.rowe@nottscc.gov.uk
Governance
Gedling Borough Council is going to be the lead organisation for the Safer, Stronger and Sustainable Communities Block of the LAA, and we are starting discussions with them on how this should work in practice. There is not a single countywide Board which is responsible for overseeing this part of the LAA (but there are several existing groups which are responsible for various parts of it), and we will need to agree a mechanism for how progress should be reported and monitored. Your thoughts on this are welcomed
Stronger Communities Conference
We are beginning to organise a countywide conference for everyone involved in delivering the ‘stronger communities’ outcomes. We want to get a strategic countywide approach with district based delivery plans, so the conference will encourage colleagues to work in stakeholder / sectoral networks in the morning and district networks in the afternoon. We know that several district LSPs are developing their own community engagement strategies and this will provide an opportunity to share best practice. The conference will also encourage colleagues to develop models for community engagement at the most local levels to assist with the implementation of Neighbourhood Policing. We expect it will take place in early June.
Please let us know if you could help with the organisation of this event.
Further information from Sam Jones on 0115 977 73067, email: sam.jones@nottscc.gov.uk and Parvin Kapila on 0115 977 4092, email: parvin.kapila@nottscc.gov.uk
LSP Practitioners Forum
This forum brings together the county and district lead officers on LSP developments. They are currently discussing how the district LSPs will be delivering and monitoring appropriate parts of the LAA. If you want to contribute to these discussions please contact your LSP co-ordinator or get further information from Tony Jacobs on 0115 977 3871, email: tony.jacobs@nottscc.gov.uk.
Consultation Practitioners Forum
This forum brings together the lead officers for consultation across the public sector to work out which surveys and consultation could and should be aligned. If you want to know more about this forum or contribute to these discussions please contact Angela Smeeton on 0115 977 2937, email: angela.smeeton@nottscc.gov.uk
For any further information on the Stronger element of the LAA contact Liz Lesquereux on 0115 977 3792, email: liz.lesquereux@nottscc.gov.uk.