Local Strategic Partnerships (LSPs) and Local Area Agreements (LAAs)
Under the proposals of the Local Government White Paper, CDRPs and their work will become part of the Local Area Agreement and will be managed under a new performance framework. Local Strategic Partnerships and Local Area Agreements are local structures that run alongside CDRPs and are starting to have a significant impact on the community. The implications for CDRPs are that LSPs are now taking the lead in community issues, including community safety. So, although CDRPs will still be separate entities, they will become part of a much more extensive local partnerships which will direct and resource much of their work.
Local Strategic Partnerships
LSP’s are non-statutory, multi-agency bodies, which match local authority boundaries and aim to bring together at a local level the different parts of the public, private, community and voluntary sectors. Originally established in the most deprived local authority areas, they are now receiving additional resources through the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund (NRF) and are seen as a way of improving the delivery of services to local people across the whole of England.
Local partners working through an LSP are expected to act strategically to deliver decisions and actions which join up partners and activities across a range of issues, enabling each of them to meet their own targets and goals and tackle cross-cutting issues more effectively. They are seen as a key to improving social cohesion, the relationship between different communities in an area and their relationship with statutory authorities.
The core tasks of LSPs are to:
- Work with local authorities to prepare and implement a community strategy, with the aim of improving the economic, social and environmental well-being of an area
- Bring together local plans, partnerships and initiatives
- Develop and deliver the Neighbourhood Renewal Strategy (where applicable)
- Work with local authorities as they develop Local Public Service Agreements (LPSAs), Local Area Agreements (LAA) and Safer and Stronger Communities (SSCF)
Local Area Agreements
LAA’s are three year agreements based on local Sustainable Community Strategies. LAAs include agreements on the use of the Safer and Stronger Communities Fund (SSCF) and are in place in all local authority areas in England. They bring together a number of central government funding streams which share a number of closely related objectives. Both LAAs and the SSCF are part of the wider public sector reform programme aimed at empowering local communities. LAAs set out the priorities for a local area agreed between Central Government (represented by Government Office / GO), and a local area (represented by the local authority and other key partners through the LSPs). This is a national rolling programme aimed at simplifying some central funding, joining up public services more effectively, and allowing greater flexibility at local levels.
The primary objective of an LAA is to deliver genuinely sustainable communities through better outcomes for local people. LAAs also have the secondary objectives of:
- Improving Central and local government relations
- Enhancing efficiency and strengthening partnership working
- Offering a framework within which local authorities can enhance their community leadership role
LAAs are structured around four policy fields:
- Children and young people
- Safer and Stronger Communities
- Healthier Communities and older people
- Economic development and enterprise
These are part of the Government’s 10-year strategy to develop better working relationships with local government, and are in particular driving forward the principles of the Devolved Decision-Making review in terms of rationalisation of funding streams.
The key features of LAAs include:
- An agreement with local parties setting out outcomes to be delivered
- Outcomes based on local priorities and national standards
- Greater flexibility to use resources to meet local needs
- Rationalising government funding streams
- A bigger role for regional government offices
- Encouraging joint action by partners
- Building on community leadership role of local authorities
Further information about Local Area Agreements can be found at www.communities.gov.uk
