e-Bulletin, August 2007
Welcome to the August newsletter of Partners IN Salford, the city's local strategic partnership (LSP). Please tell your colleagues about our newsletter. If you received notification of the newsletter from a colleague, you can sign up to receive it directly by e-mailing partnersinsalford@salford.gov.uk If you would like to submit anything for circulation, please contact us on the above e-mail address. |
Partnership business
Our all-new website!
You're reading this on the re-vamped www.partnersinsalford.org! We hope you like the new look. The site has been developed to make partnership information even more accessible and to make sure that we share data and working practices as much as possible.
It's your website...help us to make it work!
Let us know what you would like to see on the site and we'll add it if we can. You can also help us to make it as useful and up-to-date as possible by:
- Taking a look at the Partnerships IN Salford database. This is our online searchable database of partnerships in the city. It's a work in progress though, because the situation is changing constantly, so if you spot any omissions or inaccuracies, please e-mail partnersinsalford@salford.gov.uk.
- If you are a member of one of the partnerships in the database, send us your minutes and key strategic documents and we can house them on the site for everyone's benefit.
- Adding your planned consultations to our consultation calendar and your completed consultations to our consultation findings library. Also, please refer to the consultation findings library and the consultation calendar when you are planning your engagement work to see whether something similar has been done, or is in the pipeline.
The Salford Agreement
As usual, work on the Salford Agreement, our local area agreement, is moving fast. Here's the key news and developments:
Summary leaflet
Our short summary of the Agreement is now available. You can download it here or order hard copies by e-mailing partnersinsalford@salford.gov.uk or ringing 0161 603 6804.
Please read it if you are a manager of a partner organisation and discuss it at your next team meeting so that you can help your staff stay up to date. We particularly want frontline staff to have access to this document - please let us know if you want more copies.
Delivery planning
The process of putting together delivery plans to enable us to meet our targets in the Salford Agreement is nearly complete.
The process began in March and has entailed a series of workshops, in which partners, aided by a team of neighbourhood renewal advisors, looked at the effectiveness of our exisiting approaches to each of the five objectives of the Agreement.
The plans were brought together and challenged by a group of officers in July. This challenge session also generated a number of important cross cutting issues which need to be addressed to achieve the transformation that we are seeking. In July, the whole strategic partnership looked at and challenged the plans and the executive considered and challenged a draft delivery plan this month. The version of the plans that the executive considered can be read here.
The delivery plan will be refined further and endorsed in September.
Locality piloting
During the delivery planning activities, we recognised that to make inroads into some of the issues in the city we would need to radically change the way we work together as partner organisations. It was recommended that we adopt a 'whole systems' approach.
This approach will be piloted in small areas of the city, looking at particular issues in each area:
| Location | Theme | Focus on working with |
| Broughton | Worklessness and health | Residents on benefits and in poor health |
| Little Hulton | Worklessness and health | Lone parents who are already working with the local family centre |
| Ordsall | Cleaner, safer, greener | All residents |
| Kersal | Young people who are not in education, employment or training | Young people outside school but also those in school |
Read the powerpoint presentation about locality planning.
Whole systems
The executive have now agreed to start planning for a city-wide whole systems event in spring 2008 with the intention of finding common ground around the most pressing issues so we can agree clear actions. One of the international experts in this field, Sandra Janoff has expressed an interest in working with Salford when she visits the UK this autumn.
We'll keep you informed.
Read the report that went to August's special executive about whole systems
Performance management of the Agreement
Recent development work to the council's online performance management framework (PMF) system, means that all partner organisations can now access it and use it to monitor how we are doing in meeting our Salford Agreement objectives.
Partners have been trained in the use of this system and the first quarterly performance report was made to the management group in July.
Funding
The latest information (which differs from the information in the final version of the Agreement) about pooled funding streams is available at the bottom of our Salford Agreement webpage.
Local Area Agreements: a bigger difference
This is a useful guide to the next generation of local area agreements.
Download Local Area Agreements: a bigger difference
Meetings and events
For our list of future meetings and events, please visit our meetings and events page, or you can read the papers and minutes from previous events in the archive. (Again, this is a part of the Partners IN Salford website that you can add to if you wish!)
Recent events include:
Salford Strategic Partnership meeting - 16 July
The full partnership met on 16 July in a specially scheduled meeting to discuss the delivery plans for the Salford Agreement. So that we could get the views of as many partners as possible, the meeting took on its usual interactive style with partners asked to visit a 'gallery'. The gallery featured a booth for each objective and one for the cross cutting themes that had previously been identified.
The actions for each objective were displayed in the gallery and objective lead officers were on hand to stimulate discussion and answer questions. During the session, partners visited the gallery and selected the actions that their organisation could make the most difference to, and also three key actions that should be partnership priorities, irrespective of whether their organisation could contribute.
Strategic Partnership executive meeting - 22 June
The executive met on 22 June. Items of partnership business discussed included the partnership's annual performance submission, the Salford Agreement and a consultation by Greater Manchester Police about their new vision.
The executive were then joined by visitors from the Prime Minister's Strategy Unit (PMSU) who talked to partners about our commitment to connecting people in Salford to the new jobs and economic development that will take place in the city over coming years. (You may hear this initiative refered to by the shorthand of 'Connecting People'.)
PMSU presented their work on achieving cultural change, which suggests that policy makers need to better understand how people have different barriers and expectations. A more segmented approach to providing services is therefore needed rather than 'one size fits all.' Salford hopes to continue this dialogue with central government so that we have the most up to date guidance and support.
Read the executive papers, including the PMSU's powerpoint presentation.
Special Strategic Partnership executive - 17 August
The executive also met last week in a meeting that was specially arranged so that the executive could comment on the draft Salford Agreement delivery plan. The lead officers for each objective of the Agreement were in attendance to answer any questions from the executive.
Partnership peer review
In the autumn the partnership will take part in a peer challenge for which we will be visited by a team likely to comprise a chief executive, a council leader, two other people representing organisations on other LSPs and a facilitator. These people will spend two days with the partnership which will involve interviews, focus groups and meeting observation. Before their visit they will receive a full set of information to help them understand how our partnership works, how it has developed and what its ambitions are.
The peer challenge model has been developed through a partnership between SOLACE (Society of Local Authority Chief Executives) Enterprises, Warwick University Business School Local Government Centre and IDeA (the Improvement and Development Agency). It is carried out against a quality benchmark and has been used with selected Local Strategic Partnerships. The findings will help us to improve the way we work and particularly to prepare for the challenge and change ahead.
Read the briefing note about the peer review
The partnership's annual performance review
A self-assessment of our performance was submitted to Government Office for the North West on behalf of the partnership and we will receive their response this month. In the past, LSPs have been rated using a traffic light system, but this won't be the case this year - this submission is a transitional one before new assessments are brought in next year.
Towards a sustainable community strategy for Salford
Making the Vision Real, our Community Plan for Salford was published in December 2005 to set out our shared vision for the city and clear goals, priorities and targets for the period 2006 - 2016.
Government has since brought in guidelines regarding the need for sustainable community strategies, so we are currently looking at re-shaping our community plan to fit these guidelines.
Read more in the management group report
New partners join the executive...
The membership of the partnership executive was recently expanded. Steph Mitchell, the chief officer of Salford CVS has joined the group to give an additional voice for the voluntary and community sector. Because of the importance of improving the skills of local people, it has been agreed that the further and higher education sectors in the city are represented. Professor James Powell, Pro Vice Chancellor of Enterprise and Regional Affairs will now sit on the executive on behalf of the university, and Salford's three colleges will also nominate a joint representative.
In addition, Cllr David Lancaster, the deputy leader of the council will join the executive.
...and new members of the full strategic partnership
We're pleased that all of the council's Cabinet members have joined the full strategic partnership to secure closer ties between the council's priorities and those of the partnership. It's been confirmed that Lisa Buklovskis will attend on behalf of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender forum. In addition, Damien Bourke is the new representative of the North West Development Agency, replacing Ruth Pugsley.
Leaving the partnership
Mike Keegan, a member of the executive and the full strategic partnership, has now left Jobcentre Plus for a new role with the Pension Service. The new district manager for Greater Manchester Central will be appointed over the coming weeks and we will let you know who it is in due course.
Read all about it!
Cllr Merry's column in the 9th August Salford Advertiser was all about working in partnership.
Safer, stronger communities fund (SSCF)
You can now read project summaries for each of the SSCF funded projects for 2006 -07 on the SSCF page of our website. In particular, you may be interested to read the 'lessons learnt' from each project.
The two SSCF funded neighbourhood development officers should be your main point of contact if you have any queries about the projects. The officers are currently working on a leaflet explaining SSCF to communities and also a DVD of the 2006-07 projects - we'll let you know about these in a future e-Bulletin.
Neighbourhood development officer for Winton: Andrea Parker, 0161 603 4293
Neighbourhood development officer for Little Hulton: Marie Johnson, 0161 975 7412
Salford news
GCSE results
Provisional figures provided by the city's secondary schools indicate that Salford's rate for children achieving five or more GCSEs at grades A* to C has increased this year to 60%. This is an increase of 8 percentage points from 2006, and since 2004 this is an increase of 22 percentage points. We are also delighted that our % of 5 A*-Cs including English and maths has improved by 5 percentage points. Salford has already been congratulated by senior civil servants in the Department for Children, Schools and Families.
This improvement is a result of the hard work, talent, support and determination of many partners, not least young people, school staff, governors, elected members and officers.
Salford Travel Partnership (STP) - become an associate member
The Salford Travel Partnership are a relatively new member of Partners IN Salford and are looking forward to raising the profile of sustainable transport and how it impacts on the work of other partners.
The Travel Partnership are now working to deliver the recently launched Sustainable Transport Strategy to all residents, businesses and community organisations in the city. To do this effectively, the Travel Partnership would like to invite all LSP partner organisations to become associate members. Membership is free and means that associates receive all minutes and agendas of meetings and are able to attend meetings and raise transport issues if they wish to do so; can receive advice and assistance in becoming "sustainable" in transport actions/policies and attend events organised by the Salford Travel Partnership.
All that is asked of associate members is that they are committed to raising the issue of sustainable travel with their staff or members and will, where appropriate, look to promote this and consider preparing a travel plan for their staff. (STP will happily advise on this).
If you believe that we must reduce the congestion and emissions in and around our city then please join STP so that we can work together to this end.
For more information please contact Chris Rice on 0161 295 2458.
Core strategy
The Spatial Planning team of the city council are currently working on a Core Strategy for Salford, a strategic planning document that will guide development within the city to 2026.
Given the role and scope of the Core Strategy it is important that it reflects the policies and priorities of the council as a whole, as well as its partners. The report we link to below seeks to inform LSP members of the emerging document and presents draft over-arching elements that will set the strategic direction and approach framing the rest of the document (including a spatial portrait; vision to 2026; and the identification of key issues and objectives). The Spatial Planning team would encourage LSP members to contact the team to provide comment on the content and focus of these elements, and to discuss the key issues and priorities that should be addressed within the wider strategy document.
Please contact Jimmy McManus on 0161 793 2796 or by e-mail at jimmy.mcmanus@salford.gov.uk
Read the current draft strategy here
City strategy pathfinder business plan signed off
Our city strategy pathfinder business plan was recently approved and signed off. This means that Deprived Areas Funding has been released to the Greater Manchester consortium that Salford is part of. Read the confirmation letter from Jim Murphy MP, or find out more about city strategies here - www.dwp.gov.uk/welfarereform/cities_strategy.asp
Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service Home Fire Risk Assessment system
Salford Borough now has a draft strategy for referring the most vulnerable members of society for Home Fire Risk Assessments, which will enable the fire service to locate those people most at risk from fire and to reduce that risk as far as possible.
The Fire Service has committed to responding to any referrals received regarding vulnerable people within 24 hours and is asking partners to refer any of their clients to the Fire Service as potential priorities for a Home Fire Risk Assessment by using the details on pages 4 and 5 of the attached information.
The finalised version of the guidance will be added to this site when ready.
HFRA priority referral guidance
Voluntary sector merger
The Local Voluntary Sector Infrastructure Consortium and Voluntary Sector Managers group have now merged to form the Salford Voluntary Sector Consortium, which is chaired by Steph Mitchell of Salford CVS. This group brings together key individuals from voluntary sector organisations on a two-monthly basis.
One of the ongoing issues facing Salford CVS and other voluntary sector organisations is their capacity to continually engage with the statutory sector, and in particular the demands on staff to attend meetings and to ensure that two-way communication between the sectors is effective. Whilst this will not be resolved through the merger of the above groups, it does provide a valuable opportunity for voluntary sector organisations to share information.
In light of current developments with the Salford Agreement and the need to ensure that the third sector is fully engaged in both the process and delivery, this merger is very welcome. Partners should bear this group in mind when considering the communication of key issues and any impact on the voluntary and community sector.
For more information, please contact Steph Mitchell on 0161 787 7795.
Housing strategies information drop in event
Come along to the Broadwalk training centre on Tuesday 11th September any time between 2pm and 6pm to find out more about the plans and strategies that the council's Housing Services are working on.
Read the flyer for more information
Irwell City Park
Irwell City Park is one of just 23 bids to survive to stage 2 of the BIG Lottery Fund's Living Landmarks bidding process.
Our proposals were submitted at the end of May 2007 and are now being considered by the BIG Lottery Fund who carried out a two day assessment visit this month. We expect a decision in November 2007.
www.salford.gov.uk/irwellcitypark
Salix Homes
Salix Homes, the new arms length management organisation (ALMO) is now up and running and is managing 10,500 council houses in Central Salford on behalf of the city council.
The creation of Salix Homes is part of an overall housing strategy by Salford City Council to maximise investment for housing in the city, delivering decent homes and to provide quality housing services.
To find out more, please visit www.salixhomes.org
End of term report praises Salford primary school pupils
Salford's primary schools are among the most improved in the country, a government report revealed this week.
Tests of the city's ten and 11 year olds in English, maths and science subjects show their performance is getting better all the time.
Compared with the other 150 education authorities in England and Wales, Salford's rate of improvement is fourth best.
Salford.gov.uk wins national acclaim
The city council's website www.salford.gov.uk recently won the coveted "local authority website of the year" award at the Good Communications awards.
The accolade is given to the local authority website that "has made outstanding progress in delivering legible and accessible information and online services to its citizens". Read more here.
We are reading IN Salford
This autumn look out for an exciting new city-wide initiative aimed at creating a community of readers in the city. The scheme will see the release of 10,000 free copies of Michael Morpurgo books into schools, libraries and the community. This will be complimented by events with Salford school children, a visit by the author and a webpage, postboxes and e-mail facility where readers can post their reviews.
The aim of the initiative is to start at a local level and all just do one thing in our classrooms, libraries, homes, offices and workplaces; then we begin to create a culture in the city which values, promotes and celebrates reading.
For more information, please contact Alison Elkin, secondary teaching and learning consultant on 0161 778 0449.
Building schools for the future
The outline business case for our bid for Building Schools for the Future (BSF) investment has now been approved, signalling the release of £150 million worth of funding to transform education and learning in the city.
BSF is a long term programme of investment and change aimed at transforming secondary education by providing 21st century learning environments for all secondary pupils across the city, providing more opportunities for pupils and a greater range of services at each school.
The programme will provide five new school buildings and refurbishments for another three schools.
There's a wealth of information at www.salford.gov.uk/bsf.
Greater Manchester challenge
In June it was announced that Greater Manchester will operate a city challenge scheme. The city challenge programme is a highly focused drive to further improve educational attainment in the region's schools; raising standards and improving choice and diversity.
A similar scheme in London has led to major improvements , and on this basis, in Greater Manchester this should lead to:
- A sharp drop in underperforming schools, particularly tackling English and maths standards.
- More outstanding schools
- Significant improvements in educational attainment for disadvantaged children
In bloom - Seedley and Langworthy judged alongside the world's best
Canadian and American VIPs visited Seedley and Langworthy in July as part of an international communities in bloom competition. The area is also the proud holder of the national urban regeneration award 2006 and the north American judges came to tour the streets and alley ways of the area and to meet residents who are involved in creating these beautiful community spaces.
Strategic Housing Partnership webpages
The Salford Strategic Housing Partnership have updated their webpage on salford.gov.uk. You can read all about the partnership and also access minutes and future meeting dates. Take a look at www.salford.gov.uk/housingpartnership
0161-603 6800 
