Nottinghamshire Partnership
E-Bulletin – No 2 – June 2008
Welcome to the second edition of the newsletter for the Nottinghamshire Partnership.
What has happened over the last month?
Nottinghamshire’s Local Area Agreement 2008-2011 is an action plan which sets out the priorities and detailed targets to be achieved by the Nottinghamshire Partnership over the next three years.
Our Local Area Agreement was recommended for sign off by the Nottinghamshire Strategic Partnership Board on 16 May 2008. It was signed off by the Nottinghamshire County Council Cabinet on 4 June 2008 and was most recently approved by the Department for Communities and Local Government (Whitehall) on 1 July 2008.
The focus now moves to the delivery of our Local Area Agreement and how the Nottinghamshire Partnership will use this to make a difference to public services and the quality of life for people in Nottinghamshire.
Delivery planning is underway and is being led by the Programme Managers, who head each thematic partnership and their sub-groups. The content of these delivery plans will be influenced by the following considerations:
- How can we foster new thinking and innovative approaches to the way we deliver services?
- How do we improve our collaborative working across partner agencies and community groups?
- How do we ensure logical links between county and district level delivery plans?
- What new work should we be considering and commissioning?
On 7 August 2008, Programme Managers will present draft delivery plans, including mapping of existing work and financial streams to the Nottinghamshire Partnership Management Group.
Driving innovation and change in the way we work – how do we move away from ‘doing what we have always done’?
There have been suggestions for a workshop to feed into the delivery planning process, in which a wide range of partners from across the service provision spectrum would be brought together. The ‘Making It Happen’ planning day is envisaged as a day-long event, where ideas about new ways of working and difficult service delivery issues would be discussed and worked through in a open and free-thinking forum.
Let us know whether you think this workshop is a good idea or not. We would also like to hear any other ideas you might have about how we can foster innovation and creativity in the way we deliver our services to the public. Your views can be emailed to: nottinghamshire.partnership@gmail.com.
Governance and accountability structures – who is repsonsible to whom and for what?
The existing governance structures within the Nottinghamshire Partnership are being reviewed over the summer by the Governance Working Group. This work will:
- Look at governance arrangements in other partnerships and identify good practice that we could draw on
- Clarify the roles, responsibilities and lines of accountability between the many partnerships and sub-groups that comprise the Nottinghamshire Partnership
- Recommend appropriate levels of decision making and intervention within the governance structure
- Look at the levels of governance and the links between elected members, officers and districts
- Pay specific attention to the roles of Programme Managers, the theme partnerships and the sub-groups, particularly in elevating their authority and responsibility
We welcome feedback about the existing governance structures and how you think these could be improved. Feedback can be emailed to: nottinghamshire.partnership@gmail.com.
Measuring our performance
A performance monitoring system has been developed to capture data and information relating to the new LAA. This system has been called PRISM and will shortly be made available to everyone on the Nottinghamshire Partnership website under the 'How are we doing?' page.
PRISM currently holds the baseline figures and targets that were agreed with Government. More detailed performance information will be populated as it comes in. Every six months, a progress report will be produced for the Partnership which will show how we are tracking against our agreed targets. The information in the system will be avabile for viewing by everybody and therefore does not require special access permission.
Performance officers in all the key partner organisations have been provided special permission to directly access PRISM for data entry. If you think that your organisation does not have access to PRISM and should have, as a key partner within the Partnership, then please email Chris Common, performance manager for the Partnership: chris.common@nottscc.gov.uk.
The Nottinghamshire Partnership is also looking at how we can improve the way we manage performance across our partner agencies. A framework is being developed and will soon be rolled out across the Partnership.
Downloadable version
Find out more
For more details about the work of the Nottinghamshire Partnership, visit our website or call the Nottinghamshire Partnership Manager, Susan Lewis-Roberts on 0115 977 3211.
To sign up to receive future editions of this e-bulletin e-mail susan.lewis.roberts@nottscc.gov.uk.
