June 2011

East of England LGA e-bulletin: June 2011
NEWS STORIES	EVENTS & CONFERENCES	USEFUL INFORMATION

WELCOME BY CHAIRMAN

Welcome to the East of England Local Government Association e-bulletin.

The Association brings together leaders and portfolio holders from across the East of England to discuss and act on the issues that really matter to them.

I hope that you will find these updates useful and make use of the services and support on offer. Please also take time to visit the Association's website - www.eelga.gov.uk.

Robert Gordon, Chairman, East of England LGA

NEWS

Sixteen new Council Leaders in the East of England

It has been a busy few months in local government with elections taking place across the East of England and we welcome sixteen new Council Leaders to the Association:

Jennie Jenkins, Babergh District Council
Andrew Proctor, Broadland District Council
Nick Clarke, Cambridgeshire County Council
James Jamieson, Central Bedfordshire Council
Peter Moakes, East Cambridgeshire District Council
Lesley Wagland, Epping Forest District Council
James Waters, Forest Heath District Council
Stephen Ames, Great Yarmouth District Council
Jason Ablewhite, Huntingdonshire District Council
David Ellesmere, Ipswich Borough Council
John Archer, Maldon District Council
Helen Eales, North Norfolk District Council
Brenda Arthur, Norwich City Council
Julian Daly, St Albans City and District Council
Mark Bee, Suffolk County Council
Colin Law, Waveney District Council

The next meeting of the Assembly of the East of England LGA, which brings together Council Leaders from across the East of England, will be held on 8th July 2011, 10:45 - 13:00 at Essex County Council offices in Chelmsford. Baroness Hanham will talk about her barrier-busting role across Whitehall, colleagues from Essex County Council will share the lessons so far from their 'Community Budgets' pilot and Stephen Jones, LG Group Finance Director, will discuss proposals on the Local Government Resource Review.

For further information contact Jonathan Skinner, East of England LGA, Jonathan.skinner@eelga.gov.uk or 01284 729409.

Next steps for the NHS reforms

The NHS Future Forum published its report on the Government 'listening exercise' on 13 June 2011. The majority of the findings of the report were accepted by the Government and a formal response published on 14 June 2011. The Government response can be accessed via the DH website:
http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_127444

The Health and Social Care Bill will be amended to reflect the changes that have been outlined. Further details of the changes and timeframes are expected in the next couple of weeks.

In brief, the NHS Future Forum Report and the Government response is characterised by: an increase in the emphasis upon a patient-centred system ('no decision about me, without me'); an increase in the focus upon integration; the creation of clinical senates; a reduction in the emphasis upon competition; and allowing GP commissioning consortia (renamed Clinical Commissioning Groups) to progress at a pace that suits local need, as opposed to national timelines.

The key changes that relate to Health and Wellbeing Boards include:

a new duty to involve service users and the public
requirement to be involved in the development of Clinical Commissioning Group commissioning plans with stronger expectation, set out in statutory guidance, for the plans to be in line with the health and wellbeing strategy
a clear role in the promotion of integration and joint commissioning
authorisation of Clinical Commissioning Groups and also input into their Annual Assessment
a focus upon the role of elected members.

For the past 9 months significant work has been happening across the East of England to prepare for the health reforms. Going forward, East of England NHS, East of England LGA and Improvement East are developing a joint programme of activity for local government and their health partners to learn about the impact of the reforms and identify their respective roles and responsibilities, as well as facilitate and create opportunities for new partnerships, joint endeavours and whole system collaborations to be taken forward. This builds on work already taken forward by the partners.

The joint programme includes:

Induction workshops for health portfolio holders /members with health lead to be held on 18th July and 21st July (click on the links for further details).
Regional Event: Health Reforms: what is our ambition for achieving collaborative outcomes?(to be held in September)
Bespoke 'Getting to Know You' workshops aimed at local areas where relationships between local government and health will be fairly new. A pilot is currently being developed in South Norfolk and the aim is to make this available to other areas in the East of England
Ensuring existing East of England networks have an opportunity to engage with Health Reforms and implications eg. Leaders Assembly, CEX's Forum, Adult Services and Health Portfolio-Holder Network.
Regular information about health changes for local government

Further information on these areas of support will be available in the next e-bulletin.

Bid to European Integration Fund a success!

The East of England LGA Strategic Migration Partnership team has been successful in a bid for European Integration Funding for the next three years.

The project, entitled : 'Embedding Ambassadors in Community Health' (EACH) will provide intercultural training for over 600 frontline NHS staff, aiming to better enable them to understand and meet the health needs and expectations of Asian women across the East of England. It will focus particularly on the top five Local Authority areas where numbers of Asian mothers are highest - Luton; Peterborough; Bedford; Watford and Cambridge.

The project will also aim to address need in other parts of the region if partners express an interest in being involved.

Read more...

East of England LGA presses for a more streamlined bottom-up LG Group

William Nunn, Vice-Chairman of the East of England LGA met with leaders of eight other voluntary council groupings and Baroness Eaton, Chairman of the LGA to press for stronger links between the LG Group and the councils.

This is to ensure a more effective two-way dialogue, and to enhance the range of complementary services and support.

The meeting agreed to instruct further work to help make this relationship more relevant (beyond the current presence of a representative from each voluntary association on the LG Group Executive). This also reflects the LG Group Business Plan being re-drafted to give a greater prominence to the value of groupings such as the East of England LGA.

Transition Board concludes transfer to new economic development operations

Following the Government's commitment to close Regional Development Agencies and reform their functions, Council Leaders were keen to ensure a smooth transition to new economic development structures.

The Transition Board brought together EEDA Board members, Local Government Leaders and representatives of key business interests to provide continuity of leadership during EEDA's closure and the establishment of Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs). The Board's membership was continually refreshed to take account of the emergence of LEPs.

Operating as a task-and-finish basis, the Board has concluded its work as:

EEDA has now finished its business as normal and is operating with a skeleton staff to meet its contractual requirements;
Five Local Enterprise Partnerships have been established:

            - Greater Cambridge Greater Peterborough
            - New Anglia
            - Hertfordshire
            - Kent, Essex and East Sussex
            - South East Midlands

At its final meeting, the Board heard that local economies throughout the East face challenges as severe (or in cases more severe) as other parts of the country that are typically highlighted as needing extra support.

Read more...

Council Leaders to shape Local Government Resource Review

The two-phase Local Government Resource Review seeks to give local authorities greater financial autonomy and strengthen the incentives to support growth in the private sector and regeneration of local economies.

Phase 1 focuses on the relocalisation of business rates, and the extent to which uplift could be used to support other financial instruments like Tax Incremental Financing (TIF).
Phase 2 will focus on the potential of Community Budgets but no further details have been released.

Though Government has not yet published its consultation paper on the relocalisation of business rates, the LG Group has already run its own consultation with councils with a view to proposing a sector-led model. The main elements of this model are...

Read more...

Supporting councils on state aid rules for European funding

The East of England Brussels Office is organising an extraordinary meeting of the European Officers Group (EOG) for all economic development and regeneration managers on the review of Assisted Area Status (State Aid map) post-2013.

The joint meeting will provide an opportunity for discussion between local authority officers and representatives from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BiS) on the current state of play, forthcoming guidelines review, how the future map will be established, possible implications on regional growth fund/enterprise zones, and the impact it will have on European funding.

The joint meeting is hosted at Tendring District Council's offices in Weeley, Essex from 2pm on Wednesday 29th June.

Read more...

OECD highlights the East of England as a global 'Knowledge ad Technology Hub'

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has named the East of England as a knowledge and technology hub in a recent report on Regions and Innovation Policy.

The report emphasised the importance of innovation in boosting job creation and increasing economic growth. In the context of the financial and economic crisis, this is particularly central since knowledge is embedded in the organisational structure of firms, networks and institutions.

In the quest for increased innovation and competitiveness, local authorities have gradually become relevant actors. The East of England is one such area highlighted as a knowledge and technology hub. This allows the East of England to be compared to regions in other top knowledge-intensive countries such as Finland, Sweden, Germany and the United States. Most notably, the East of England has been compared to California in the United States, where the prominent and well established Silicon Valley lies.

Read more...

Public health and wellbeing in the East

The East of England Public Health and Social Care Directorate produces a regular short newsletter on public health issues, "Public Health and Wellbeing in the East".

The latest edition focuses on children's health, and is aimed at leaders in health, local government, public services, business, and voluntary organisations across the region. It looks at some interesting ways in which we can work together to improve health and wellbeing for children and families. Ensuring a good start in life is important not just for children but for the health of the whole population, as recommended by the recent 'Marmot review' on health inequalities.

The publication can be accessed at http://www.eoe.nhs.uk/page.php?page_id=2170

Streamlined offer for member councils of the East of England LGA

Over the next few months the Association will be developing a joint offer comprising its constituent services, including Strategic Support, Employers' Services, the European Office, Housing, Migration Projects as well as Improvement East to provide a clear single gateway to access local government support.

As part of this single offer, from next month, expect to receive one e-bulletin comprising all these services.

EVENTS AND CONFERENCES

Taking the Lead: a practical approach to self-regulation and improvement

Venue: Homerton Conference Centre, Homerton College, Cambridge, CB2 8PH
Date: 7th July 2011, 9.30am - 3.30pm

Having won the argument for a reduction in the burden of inspection and assessment the Local Government (LG) Group will be delivering a core programme of self-regulation and improvement support to councils during 2011-12. The programme is designed to equip councils with a core set of tools they can use to help manage and monitor their own performance.

This event is part of the first series of events for local authority portfolio holders and senior officers who want to take advantage of this support and proactively self manage their performance, with a view to delivering improved services to the public.

These free events have been designed to be as practical, valuable and informative as possible, where delegates can reflect, discuss and exchange ideas with peers. They will bring together inputs from LG Group, Improvement and Efficiency Partnerships, regional LGA and others interested in self regulation and improvement.

Read more...

Portfolio-Holder Networks

The Portfolio-Holder Networks enable councils, through their political leadership, the opportunity to collaborate on a number of important areas of policy. Further details on the range, purpose and operation of these network can be found here.

These meetings are exclusively for councillors with a responsibility for the particular area of focus and there is no charge for attendance.

Dates and details of future network events can be found here.

Leading by Example
Date: 24th June 2011 May 2011, 9:00 - 16:30
Venue: East of England LGA Offices, Flempton House, Flempton, Bury St Edmunds IP28 6EG

1 day pilot

Leading by Example is a unique programme which examines the impact of positive and negative behaviour in leadership. Supported by powerful, practical illustrations it will help you develop a leadership style based on your values and characteristics which will inspire and support your team.

What is the programme about?

It is an introduction into a proven leadership style based on modelling positive behaviour.
It highlights the importance of clarity around roles, accountability and performance and introduces practical structures and processes to support and maintain them.
It contrasts working with individuals to influencing groups
It uses real life examples from a wide range of leadership experiences to enhance context and understanding.
It considers the impact and use of vernacular when leading