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Understanding and Delivering High Performing LAAs (PA 131)

Delivering Local Area Agreements (LAAs) is the focus of much of the partnership working in any locality. Getting the processes right and adapting to the new CAA framework brings fresh challenges which everyone faces. In terms of delivering outcomes, most localities in the region are wrestling with the same intractable problems and issues. But those senior officers leading on the LAA have a wealth of experience and innovative ideas to share with each other.

Fundamentally, this project will provide a framework for the exchange of ideas and concrete solutions between those involved in LAA delivery. It aims to help foster a new era of mature collaboration and mutual responsibility for performance improvement, where localities are on the front foot and work together to find solutions to any problems. It will build on the relationships developed in the LAA Roundtable, which is convened by the Association of North East Councils (ANEC). Where we find solutions and innovations that have really worked, we'll look for ways to enable other areas to try them out.

Research to Reality

The Research to Reality project aims to connect strategic policy makers and practitioners working to deliver priority Local Area Agreement (LAA) targets with researchers and academics who can provide the latest and best research into the most (and least) effective interventions.

It is a partnership between the RIEP/Association of North East Councils, the Centre for Translational Research in Public Health (CTRPH) and the Institute for Local Governance (ILG).

A series of seven facilitated workshops with multi-agency participation will be held starting in November 2009. Five public health research topics have been identified for the initial workshops, all of which are priority issues and LAA targets for the North East. (Some of these are also relevant to Total Place pilots.)

Academics will provide research digests or meta-analyses in advance for delegates at the workshops which will:

Facilitate (two-way) knowledge transfer between academics and practitioners
Consider the available evidence and its implications for current and future practice.
Provide the evidence base for alternative approaches leading to achievement of targets and improved outcomes
Share innovative practice and improve networks between practitioners from different organisations at the strategic and practitioner level
Identify any areas of national policy where lobbying may be necessary (potentially through ANEC elected Members)
Identify areas of potential further research.

The seven workshops will take place between November 2009 and October 2010. The series and its impact will be closely evaluated.

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Performance benchmarking and contextualisation

RIEP will pilot the use of ESD toolkit (software already used in most local authorities to monitor and benchmark customer services value for money) to provide regional benchmarking on five key National Indicators. The indicators will be sub-dividable (e.g. by gender, age etc) to enable closer comparison.

The structure and facilities of ESD Toolkit will allow performance information to be linked to socio-economic and geographic data (using MOSAIC and GIS). This and other features available through ESD could provide a potentially rich and useful picture for authorities and their partners. The pilot will be evaluated in June 2010.

More information can be downloaded here