Quick hits - partnership reports

Some reports covering partnership issues in the public domain you might find interesting:

Delivering efficiently: strengthening the links in public service delivery chains (link to a pdf file)
A report by the heads of the National Audit Office and Audit Commission.

A ‘delivery chain’ refers to the complex networks of organisations, including central and local government, agencies, and bodies from the private and third sectors, that need to work together to achieve or deliver an improved public sector outcome defined through a central government Public Service Agreement (PSA) target.

Advice and guidance for the networks of organisations delivering central objectives locally. It includes a checklist (and lots of cool photos of chains).

Department for Education and Skills: Joint planning and commission framework for children, young people and maternity services (link to a pdf file)

Covers:

• assessing local needs - incorporating user and staff views
• joint commissioning arrangements - addressing issues of pooled resources, and
• monitoring and reviewing services and processes

Department for Education and Skills: The role of district councils in improving outcomes for children (link to a pdf file)

This 12 page report is really for counties and districts and how they can work in partnership within the framework of Children's Trusts to achieve better outcomes. For districts it focuses on their roles in housing, leisure, planning, environmental health and community safety in improving children's lives. Includes a summary of relevant legislation and a checklist for identifying partnership working opportunities.

Review of GIS-based information sharing systems (Home Office onlie report - link to a pdf)

Although I've only skimmed this, this looks pretty interesting. The opening paragraphs in the executive summary states:

Information sharing amongst Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships (CDRPs) is essential for supporting the following objectives:

• to enable the initial and periodic review of crime, disorder and other
  community safetyissues;


• to help partnerships become evidence-based, driven by factual information
  and multiagencyanalysis products that can be used to help influence and direct
  their decisionmaking; and


• to ensure that targets remain valid and that activity is
  sustained.

The use of GIS-based information sharing systems by CDRPs has been increasing in England and Wales. The first systems began to emerge in 2000 and now there are over 20 systems, operating at either a regional, county or district level.

This report reviews some existing systems and then summarises the learning. It covers not just the systems themselves but also the lessons about information sharing and using data within partnerships.

Mainstreaming regeneration (ESRC/ODPM working paper - link to a pdf file)

Looks at what mainstreaming is and what it's involved in local strategic partnerships (LSPs) and local area agreements (LAAs). Discusses neighbourhood renewal and the continuing challenge of dealing jointly with cross-cutting issues.

These will also be linked permanently through the resource pages of the PM Partner collaborative website.