Logo for the Government Office of the South East The Vale of White Horse, Oxfordshire
Home
News
About Us
Publications
Contact Us
A-Z
Help
Home > Local Government > Local Strategic Partnerships

Local Strategic Partnerships

Local Strategic Partnerships (LSPs) work with local communities to identify and tackle key issues such as crime, unemployment, education, health and housing in a more co-ordinated manner than has happened before. They are non-statutory bodies that bring together local public, private, community and voluntary organisations, generally at the level of District, County and/or Unitary councils. More information on the national picture

Local Strategic Partnerships (LSPs) are single non-statutory bodies that bring together local public, private, community and voluntary organisations, generally at the level of District, County and Unitary councils.  They work with the local community to identify and tackle key issues such as crime, unemployment, education, health and housing in a more co-ordinated manner than has happened before. More information on the national picture

Community Strategies

The Local Government Act 2000 placed local authorities under a duty to prepare a Community Strategy to enhance the quality of life of local communities through action to improve the economic, social and environmental wellbeing of an area and its inhabitants.

LSPs provide a means of joining up services and tackling issues in a coherent and integrated way. They play a significant role in developing Sustainable Community Strategies and are instrumental in the negotiation of Local Area Agreements; the instrument through which central government and local authorities and their partners agree a limited number of improvement targets for each area.

LSPs and Local Area Agreements

The Local Government White Paper 'Strong and Prosperous Communities' (October 2006) set out ambitious proposals for a new local performance framework. It identified the need for strategic leadership, bringing together local partners to focus on the needs of citizens and communities and shape the places where they live.

The new style local area agreements (LAAs) are at the heart of the new local performance framework. Local authorities and other local service providers have come together with national government to develop agreements for each of England’s 150 top-tier local authority areas; 19 in the South East. Each LAA contains up to 35 priorities, selected from the national indicator set and agreed with Government, in addition to which local partners may agree a number of local targets. Details of each LAA are available on www.localpriorities.communities.gov.uk.

As well as placing LAAs on a statutory footing, the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 also placed a duty on all upper tier authorities to prepare an LAA, and a duty on named partners to co-operate in agreeing LAAs targets and to have regard to those targets in their work.

The Audit Commission national study (April 2009) 'Working better together? Managing local strategic partnerships' reviews arrangements for performance, resource management, and governance. The report identifies LSPs as evolving and maturing, local and national partners still need to recognise the key dynamics that support partnership working. Too few LSPs take an area-wide approach to performance and resource management. Some LSPs have well developed performance arrangements, but less developed resource management. And most LSPs have progress to make on their improvement journey if they are to deliver sustainable community strategy and LAA outcomes.

LSPs that have good, shared systems for performance management (with performance reporting, resource allocation, and risk management) will find it easier to show that they are on track to achieve agreed outcomes than those that do not.


Support is available to LSPs from the Progress through Partnership project which is funded by Improvement and Efficiency South East. Details about all the LSPs in the South East and the support available can be found at www.progressthroughpartnership.org.uk.

 

See also on our website

Internet links

Contact information

Government Office for the South East
Bridge House
1 Walnut Tree Close
Guildford
Surrey
GU1 4GA
tel: 01483 884853


  Text Only  |  Print View
  
    
  Advanced Search
  Feedback on this page
  Go to another region
Go to another region
  Go to National homepage
  
  
Local Strategic Partnerships in
 List item 1  South West
 List item 2  London
 List item 3  East of England
 List item 4  Yorkshire and The Humber
 
 List item 5  National

WAI AAA conformance logo, link opens in a new window