Partnerships Programme Executive Summary

The Partnerships Programme began in April 2008 with £1.3m budget and 6 projects. On completion, following periodic reviews, it comprised £786,948 budget and 6 (different) projects.

Its stated overall purpose in 2008 was to provide a framework which enabled partnerships to thrive and excel in delivering outcomes. Through a focus on innovation and knowledge transfer, the region aspired to earn a national reputation for partnership excellence and effective delivery by 2011. (Nb. Over the course of the programme, Comprehensive Area Assessment, a means for measuring partnership performance and effectiveness, was introduced and abolished.)

The programme aimed to focus on the requirements for excellent partnership working and use RIEP resources to have a catalytic affect on partnership transformation.

Three themes were threaded through the Programme:

  • raising aspirations about what partnerships can deliver;
  • stimulating innovation, aiding knowledge transfer and supporting partnerships in terms of both delivering outcomes and managing processes; and
  • boosting our understanding of and willingness to adopt effective partnership behaviours.

Irene Lucas, Chief Executive of South Tyneside Council was the original Programme Sponsor. When she left the council in September 2009, Keith Harcus, Assistant Chief Executive took the sponsorship role.


Some headline achievements of the Programme:

  • All North East councils and Fire and Rescue Services engaged with this programme alongside colleagues from the three police forces, health organisations, the five universities, Job CentrePlus, voluntary and community organisations, the Environment Agency and others (over 90 organisations in all).
  • In total, over 905 people have engaged directly with the programme including:
    • 45+ helped to design, manage or roll-out projects
    • 260+ benefitted directly from partnership learning and development activities (Community Safety, Inspiring Partnerships)
    • 400+ took part in Total Place and Research to Reality workshops
    • 60 partnership board members gave and received Peer Feedback
    • 105 joined the active Partnership Champions network
  • 203 managers completed the Inspiring Partnerships development programme. 93% overall said the programme was good or very good. The programme scored 3.6/4 for, 'helping me to understand what I need to do to work effectively in partnership'.
  • Put in place a process to reimburse VCS partners participating in network events and case study development
  • We produced 12 Research Digests or summaries, 16 case studies, 14 reports plus other useful guidance notes and information - all to be installed on the BeBetter partnership forum up to 2012 and linked to the national LGID site
  • 'Wicked issues' and new ways of tackling them were explored collaboratively by practitioners, volunteers, think tank researchers and academics such as:
    • Alcohol related harm
    • Under 18 conception rate
    • Families with complex needs
    • Work and incapacity
  • £50,000 matched funding was brought in from Home Office / Ministry of Justice and over 490 days of free partnership consultancy and support accessed by North East partnerships and the RIEP through the Local Improvement Advisor system, worth £317,300.
  • An Information Sharing Protocol produced by community safety partners was agreed for use amongst partnerships in Durham and Cleveland areas, and submitted to the Home Office for national application.
  • The Local Government Group's "Inform" project builds on the pilot Performance Benchmarking Tool. This will be part of LGG's Knowledge Hub