Warwickshire News Mine

Over 150 delegates from local and central government, health, police, voluntary and community organisations – together with representatives from the business sector - gathered in Warwick to sign up to a new and more productive way of working.

The event, billed as a ‘partnership summit’, was hosted by Warwickshire County Council. Chief Executive Jim Graham set out the challenge facing local public services. He told delegates that new Government rules would require public sector providers to pool rather than duplicate their efforts, putting their joint resources into what is best for the neighbourhoods of Warwickshire.

“By April 2007 every local authority will have in place a Local Area Agreement – a contract between local and central government that weaves together disparate groupings and organisations into a common cause and common improvement targets.

“It is an opportunity to agree a set of results that will better people’s quality of life, and it’s something we would want to do even if we didn’t have to. But it’s not a short-term issue and will need long-term commitment if we are really going to harmonise the way we link to the public.”

He said he wasn’t interested in creating an extra layer of bureaucracy. Nor did he want to threaten the independence of the organisations taking part. But he insisted that it was vital the public understood that only by working together could better services be put in place. He called for a positive attitude, a determination to make partnership work, and a willingness to take risks and trust one another.

Other speakers included Dr Paul Gray from Surrey County Council. He said the challenges of bringing together different services in a large shire county such as Surrey had been immense, but the benefits had been even greater. One of the most significant achievements had been the pooling of budgets.

Andy Parker from Warwickshire Police said he saw the Local Area Agreement as “a catalyst for change” in joining up public services at neighbourhood level. Laurence Tennant from the West Midlands South Strategic Health Authority told delegates that closer co-operation could be made to work only if people wanted it to work.

Brian Woods-Scawen from the Coventry Solihull and Warwickshire Partnership brought a business perspective to the debate. He pointed out that some parts of north Warwickshire were still struggling from decades of underinvestment and if the whole of Warwickshire was to benefit a new partnership model was needed: “There is a great opportunity to make enterprise central to what we are doing by capturing talent and investment for the benefit of the whole of Warwickshire. But we have to work out what partnership really means.”

Dave Scott from the Warwickshire Environment Trust spoke of the need to establish clear parameters for action.

At the end of an intense day of debate it was agreed that the County Council should take the lead on putting together the Local Area Agreement proposal for Warwickshire, working closely with the district councils and other partner organisations.

Link to WCC