e-Bulletin, June 2008
E-Bulletin
June 2008
Welcome to June's e-Bulletin. Please forward this to colleagues and members of your team or discuss any of the items at your team meetings.
Please e-mail ideas, information and short articles to partnersinsalford@salford.gov.uk
Find out more about Partners IN Salford here.
Contact us
partnersinsalford@salford.gov.uk
0161 603 6800
Partners IN Salford
Salford Opportunities Centre
2 Paddington Close
Salford
M6 5PL
Partnership business
Salford's new local area agreement (LAA) - handed in!
We're pleased to let you know that at the end of May we handed our new local area agreement into Government Office for the North West (GONW). GONW will now make recommendations to central government, with the aim of it being officially signed by the end of May.
The LAA will boost the city's public services and in turn help local people to achieve their ambitions. It will provide the focus for the partnership over the next three years.
To find out more, read the short leaflet for partners and our indicators and targets
Timescales for the new LAA have been very challenging, so thanks to everyone who has played a part in putting it together so far.
When the LAA is given its ministerial sign-off, we will undertake a full communications campaign, but in the meantime if you have any queries about the LAA or questions that we could answer in a future e-Bulletin, please don't hesitate to contact us by e-mail at partnersinsalford@salford.gov.uk or by phone at 0161 603 6800.
Sustainable Community Strategy (SCS)
As you may know, we are also working on updating our current community plan to make it fit the government's requirements for a sustainable community strategy. The development of this is ongoing and will include thorough consultation.
Salford information observatory
Salford City Council has launched its information observatory - a one-stop source of key research and intelligence for use internally within the council but also across the wider partnership.
The rationale for the observatory project is that -
- There are considerable resources within the council and in the wider Salford Strategic Partnership applied to the collection, collation and analysis of research and intelligence. Is the best use being made of these resources?
- Research and intelligence could be communicated and shared more effectively
- Research and intelligence is often available, but from a large number of different sources. It would be more efficient for there to be one central source
- Research and intelligence is often not made available by ward, community committee area or local area agreement priority
- There are obvious research and intelligence gaps such as disaggregated data for example by neighbourhood, ethnicity or gender
- There are no standard reporting tools or techniques as regards research and intelligence, for example the use of Geographical Information Systems (GIS)
- The development of policy and strategy is often not based on firm evidence
The Local Area Agreement (LAA) process has emphasised the need for effective research and intelligence to support the setting of LAA priorities and the confirmation of the achievement of performance levels. The imminent Comprehensive Area Assessment (CAA) process requires the production and effective use of research and intelligence at neighbourhood level. The need for the effective production, co-ordination, analysis and sharing of key research and intelligence is therefore clear.
The Salford information observatory is now available for use and as a basis for future development.
In the past months, meetings have been held with the Greater Manchester Police and the Primary Care Trust regarding the observatory and positive feedback has been received. Discussions with other partner organisations will take place in the coming months with a view to the observatory becoming the source of key research and intelligence for the city.
Other key recent actions have been the implementation of an observatory ‘champions’ group which currently involves nominated officers from all the council’s directorates to steer the future development of the observatory. It is anticipated that the representation on this group will be expanded to include partner representatives in the near future. Also, a formal set of management arrangements have been developed which identify governance arrangements such as adding in and maintaining content on the observatory, how to ensure the quality of the information held on the observatory and issues such as data protection.
We will keep you informed on the observatory project and key partner officers will become more involved in the coming months. However, should you wish to find out more about the project, then please contact Neil Watts at neil.watts@salford.gov.uk or on 0161 793 3446.
Future Search comes to Salford
The partnership will be hosting a Future Search meeting in July. A Future Search is a highly structured meeting that lasts for 16 hours over three days and involves everyone who is involved in or affected by a particular theme - attendees come from all walks of life. The principal experts in this methodology are Sandra Janoff, who is running Salford's Future Search, and Marvin Weisbord.
Our Future Search will be about ‘Seizing Salford’s moment – Connecting People with Opportunities’, in recognition of our major priority being to ensure that Salford people benefit as much as possible from the economic growth of the city.
Sandra is flew over to the UK in April to meet our planning team. Find out more about Future Search here - www.futuresearch.net , and Salford's Future Search.
Peer challenge review
Last autumn, the strategic partnership was visited by a small team who reviewed our partnership, and suggested ways that we could work together better. Read their report here.
From this report we have developed an improvement plan which has now been approved by the executive and board. Over the next twelve months work will take place to follow up the recommendations from the review.
Read the improvement plan and report for more information.
Local performance framework - FAQs
The way that local authorities and their partners are assessed, is, as you will know, in the process of changing.
The Department of Communities and Local Government has published frequently asked questions about the new national indicator set and the way our performance will be managed.
Improvement and Development Agency online library
The IDeA has launched a new online Partnerships and Places Library, housing hundreds of documents which showcase best practice and partnership working to improve local outcomes.
Greater Manchester's Multi Area Agreement (MAA)
The Greater Manchester authorities are working together on an MAA, a cross-boundary local area agreement. MAAs bring together key players in flexible ways to tackle issues that are best addressed in partnership – at a regional and sub-regional level, complementing, not duplicating the LAA. Greater Manchester's MAA was submitted to Whitehall on 6 June.
Download the Manchester MAA proposal.
Our meetings
As usual, papers and minutes from the partnership can be found on our website at www.partnersinsalford.org/meetings-and-events-archive.
At recent meetings, partners have discussed the Salford West framework, Spotlight, the progress and future aspirations of the city's communities of identity, and of course the LAA.
Salford news
Salford PCT's five year Strategic Plan
Salford Primary Care Trust is developing a five year Strategic Plan. This document will describe the organisation’s plans for commissioning services and how the Primary Care Trust will develop to meet World Class Commissioning standards.
As leader of the NHS in Salford, the focus of the Strategic Plan will be to ensure investment decisions are based on the needs of the population, based on the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment developed in partnership with Salford City Council. In addition to maintaining and improving current services, the Primary Care Trust will also place a greater emphasis on prevention, self-care and personalisation of services and choice.
In order to deliver our objectives to improve the health and wellbeing of the Salford population, partnership working will be a prominent feature of the Strategic Plan.
Work has already started on the development of the Strategic Plan, which must be submitted to NHS North West in September. A series of engagement events have been held with strategic partners and the public to ask about the nature of future healthcare provision in Salford. These events have produced some consistent messages and further engagement events are being planned.
Part of the wider context of our Strategic Plan is NHS North West’s new vision for health and healthcare. This is currently being consulted on and can be viewed at www.northwest.nhs.uk/healthierhorizons
The development of the Strategic Plan will continue over the next few months and further information will be made available on the Salford Primary Care Trust website at www.salford-pct.nhs.uk
Cultivating Communities conference
'Cultivating Communities'is a regional conference showcasing the best of community led environmental initiatives and partnership projects in Salford and across the North West. It will be held on 24th June from 10am to 4.30pm at Buile Hill Park.
Contact Meral.Mercan-darby@sali.org.uk or Sue.bowen@salford.gov.uk
Salford Refugee Week - 15th - 22nd June
Download the programme to find out more
New Deal for Communities (NDC) news
Some highlights from the NDC area this quarter...
- A major milestone was reached this April with the first residents moving into Unity Quarter, the new housing development on the old site of Kersal High School. Read more about the development here
- NDC are working on their succession strategy which will detail how the future of the area will be secured after NDC funding finishes in 2011.
- 438 private and 259 public sector houses in the area have already been improved with improvements to a further 479 private dwellings and 73 public sector dwellings underway
- 200 teams from across the region took part in the Salford Mini Soccer Festival on 7 & 8 June. www.salfordminisoccerfestival.co.uk
- The new Social Media Centre, located in the Salford Innovation Forum and intended to train local people in media skills is now up and running. Two social media producers, Mick and Teresa, are now in post and already getting involved in community events
Get involved with overview and scrutiny!
The role of overview and scrutiny is to look at the quality of service provision and other related issues that affect the lives of the people in Salford.
There are six scrutiny committees which listen to the comments of local people to check how the council and its partners are performing and where necessary seek improvement.
Overview and scrutiny are now looking to develop their work programme for the coming year and would welcome your views. Are there any services or issues that you would like to bring to their attention; this could include services for children and young people, health and social care, environmental or housing issues.
You can find out more about scrutiny and how you can become involved at: www.salford.gov.uk/council/scrutiny, or if you have any community events or meetings coming up and would like someone from the team to attend, please get in touch.
You can contact one of the team on 793 3515 or email: scrutiny.support@salford.gov.uk
New website for Central Salford
Take a look at the brand new website for Central Salford here - www.centralsalford.com
Training opportunities
Greater Manchester Centre for Voluntary Organisation have some training courses taking place over the next few months. Visit their website to find out more.
For more information, please contact Gill Dixon
Tours of the BBC
The BBC are offering tours of BBC Manchester specifically for Salford residents and workers. The tours take a look behind the scenes and offer visitors the chance to find out more about the BBC's move to Salford Quays in 2011.
Admission is free and there is an official booking line - 0870 603 0304 (calls from a BT line cost up to 8p per minute, some operators and mobiles may vary & calls may be recorded for training purposes.)
Tours will take place at 10.00 am and 12.30 pm each Wednesday. Young people must be 12 years or over to attend the tour.
Think Family
The details of a £16m 'Family Pathfinder' programme have now been announced - naming 15 local areas, including Salford, where disadvantaged families will be offered intensive help and support.
Each of the 15 areas has successfully bid to lead the way in testing and developing a ground-breaking 'think family' approach to help their most vulnerable families.
'Think Family' - an approach developed by the Cabinet Office's Social Exclusion Task Force - aims to ensure that adults' and children's services join up to respond to the needs of whole families.
Find out more on the social exclusion task force website
The Big Drink debate
The biggest ever survey on alcohol has been launched in the North West this month in a bid to understand why the region has one of the biggest alcohol problems in the country.
In Salford, binge drinking, underage drinking and violence through drinking are just some of the problems we face with over 100 people admitted to hospital on a weekly basis through alcohol related illness and injuries.
The Big Drink Debate is being launched by Our Life and Government Office North West. It aims to find out people’s views are on drinking and how it affects our health, safety and well being.
To have your say, go to
http://www.nwph.net/alcohol/bigdrinkdebate/intro.aspx
Thanks for reading. If you have any comments or questions please don't hesitate to let us know on 0161 603 6804 or partnersinsalford@salford.gov.uk
0161-603 6800 
