What are Local Area Agreements?
The Local Area Agreement (LAA) forms part of the Government's
policy to devolve more decision-making to local level, and to
strengthen the community role of councils. The aim of LAAs is to
simplify some central funding, help join public services more
effectively and allow greater flexibility for local solutions to
local circumstances.
The Local Area Agreement (LAA) is the centrepiece of partnership
work for the next three years, and is fundamental to achieving
ambitions and priorities for an area.
The Government has issued a
National Indicator Set to replace Best Value Performance
Indicators. The 198 indicators define all the government’s
priorities for councils working alone or in partnership. They cover
big picture issues such as community safety, worklessness and
health improvement. Many link to the government’s national Public
Service Agreement priorities. All 198 indicators have to be
monitored and reported on locally.
Each Local Area Agreement must consist of up to 35 National
Indicators that are a priority for an area and 16 statutory
education indicators.
Kent Agreement
The Kent Agreement is the Local Area Agreement for Kent. Kent
was a pilot for LAA in the first round in 2005. This agreement
ended on the 31st March 2008.
The Kent Agreement 2 (or KA2) s the next three-year agreement
between Kent County Council (as the upper tier local authority) and
central government; setting out agreed priorities for Kent. It will
run from 2008 – 2011.
The Kent
Partnership (the county-wide local strategic partnership for
Kent) has developed the priorities and targets within the Local
Area Agreement, and is negotiating these with the Government Office
for the South East (GOSE).
Kent County Council is responsible for developing the Local Area
Agreement, and acts as the “accountable body” for the Government
funds involved. District councils are one of several key partners
in the negotiations with Kent County Council, with other public
bodies, including the Primary Care Trust, Police, Fire and Rescue.
Voluntary and community groups have also been represented through
Kent CAN and representatives such as Action for Communities in
Rural Kent.
There are 8 themes in the Kent Agreement 2:
1. Economic Success – Opportunities For All
2. Learning For Everyone
3. Improved Health, Care & Well-being
4. Environmental Excellence#
5. Stronger & Safer Communities
6. Enjoying Life
7. Keeping Kent Moving
8. High-Quality Homes
These are based on the themes outlined in Kent’s Sustainable
Community Strategy – Vision for
Kent.
The Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007
strengthened the link between the LAA and the Sustainable Community
Strategy. It also set a new legal duty to co-operate on a number of
key public services, such as Health, Police, Fire and Rescue, to
co-operate in negotiating and fulfilling LAAs. Thus there is scope
to influence and join priorities and services of the public sector
in an area.
Councils also gained new powers to scrutinise these public
service organisations.
Headline priorities have been identified for each of the 8
themes and National Indicators to measure performance agreed.
There is no specific Local Area Agreement grant for the new
LAAs. It is up to local partners to decide how to fund the
achievements of the priorities. Many of the government's
ring-fenced and specific grants will now be paid through one
area-based grant to councils. This becomes a general council
revenue grant; it is not LAA grant.
The ambitions of the LAA, agreed with government, will be at the
core of the forthcoming county-wide Comprehensive Area Assessments
(CAA).
The new Comprehensive Area Assessment, which comes in from 2009,
will focus on improving the quality of front-line services, rather
than how an individual organisation performs. It will therefore
reflect the work of other local public bodies where they work in
partnership with councils, such as the PCT or the Police. It will
also place a big emphasis on local people’s views about their area
and its services. For further infromation, please see the Audit Commissions
Website.
Within Kent, it has been agreed that each LSP in the county,
will develop a Local Action Plan outlining its contribution to the
KA2 targets. The East Kent Local Strategic
Partnership will develop an East Kent Local Action Plan rather
than individual district plans.
Please see the
Kent Partnership Website for all the latest papers and
information on the Kent Agreement 2.
E-mail: policy@dover.gov.uk
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