October 2011

Health Reform Programme - Building new relationships

South Norfolk District Council elected members and lead officers have hosted a 'Getting to Know You' working lunch with colleagues from the Board of the emerging Southern Clinical Commissioning Group (GP leads and lead officers).

Supported by the East of England Local Government Association, the purpose of the event was to begin to build new relationships in the context of the changing face of the NHS and Local Government, and start a discussion about partnership opportunities which will improve outcomes for the people of South Norfolk.

Sandra Dinneen, Chief Executive, South Norfolk District Council said "All of us came away from that first meeting feeling very positive and having put in place firm foundations for much closer working. More practically, at South Norfolk Council we will open our neighbourhood forums and our community magazine to the commissioning group so it can better engage with our residents, and look at reviewing the paperwork residents have to fill in for disabled facilities grants and housing applications.

"We in local government, and our partners in the NHS, are going through an exciting period of real change, so our coming together like this with a vision for closer working, will mean real benefits for the communities we both serve."

Benchmarking resident satisfaction

As you may be aware, the national LGA has recently launched LG Inform, a new prototype service to provide easy access for local authority staff and councillors to key data about their council and its area and to enable comparison to other councils. For more information and to use LG Inform please visit www.local.gov.uk/inform.

Understanding resident views is a key element of assessing the value of a service, but comparable data on resident views is not easily or cheaply available. The LGA has therefore commissioned Ipsos MORI to develop a set of questions and accompanying guidance that councils might use to collect general resident satisfaction data. This will enable authorities to input their local results into LG Inform, and make comparisons of their results with those of others.

A full consultation on the questions and content of the accompanying guidance will be carried out in early 2012. However in the meantime, to assist us with developing questions that will be of most use to the sector, the LGA are keen to hear:

what resident satisfaction questions you are already using
how you collect this information
any resident satisfaction questions that you would find it particularly useful to be able to benchmark on
anything you would like to see in the guidance (we aim to keep it brief but we anticipate issues such as question order, impact of different collection methods and the impact of the time of year for fieldwork will be covered).

Please send this information or any other thoughts on the project to the dedicated email address by Friday 25th November: lgsatisfaction@ipsos.com. You will also have an opportunity to feed back on the final suggested set of questions in early 2012.

Sustainability East Leadership Programme

100 guests including Members and Chief Executives from local authorities across the East of England were treated to a thought provoking evening at a gala dinner at Westminster College Cambridge on 3rd October.

The event included talks on global pressures and the impacts of climate change on health from Professor Hugh Montgomery and David Pencheon, Director of the NHS Sustainable Development Unit. The dinner, which was chaired by Will Day, marked the beginning of the Sustainability East Leadership Programme.

Read More...

Last few places left on Free Workshop: Evaluating the impact of events inspired by the Games

Nations and Regions East are running a free workshop on Friday 4th November 2011 at the Cambridge FA centre from 11.30am to 2.00pm including refreshments and lunch.

The workshop is open to Local Authorities and organisations that are currently or planning to deliver events inspired by the London 2012 Games and will demonstrate a free online application that has been developed in the West Midlands. The online tool can provide a standard and robust mechanism for the measurement of the economic and social impacts of events and activity for 2012 programmes including Cultural Olympiad events, sporting events and Torch relay events, although the tool has a much wider application beyond 2012.

Read More...

EACH Project Launch

On the 18th of October the Embedding Ambassadors in Community Health (EACH) project launch took place at Homerton College in Cambridge.

The event was extremely successful and attended by a multitude of community organisations, the NHS, Police and Local Authorities representing the needs of local minority ethnic groups, particularly focussing on Asian women.

The launch programme engaged attendees to identify and discuss health issues and barriers to healthcare for recently arrived women in the East of England, exploring existing examples of good practice and identifying areas that require development. The event stressed the importance of shaping intercultural awareness. These and many other issues will be used to form the basis of a series of inter-cultural awareness workshops to be provided by BME organisations to local NHS frontline staff over the course of the next three years.

More information about the project can be found at:
http://www.eelga.gov.uk/campaigns-and-projects/strategic-migration-partnership/each-project.aspx

The Low Carbon Innovation Fund: Open for Business

The Low Carbon Innovation Fund (LCIF) supports low carbon SMEs in the East of England. This includes companies that wish to develop low carbon products or supply low carbon services and those seeking to reduce their operational CO2 output by investing in low carbon equipment or processes.

The LCIF makes use of £8m from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) which is matched with £12m private co-investment. LGIF contributions are in the range of £50k- £500k and each investment utilizes public and private funds at a ratio of approximately 40:60 percent. The fund makes straight equity deals or convertible loan arrangements.

The fund supports the regional aspiration of becoming 'a leading, world class low carbon economy' and is managed by Turquoise International in partnership with the Low Carbon Innovation Centre (LCIC) at the University of East Anglia (UEA). The fund is set to run until December 2015.

For more information, check out www.lowcarbonfund.co.uk or to make contact with the fund managers, visit www.lowcarbonfund.co.uk/LCIF/Login.action

EVENTS & LEARNING:

Regional Pay Briefing 2011

Date: 24 November 2011, 14:00 - 16:00
Venue: Barbican Room, Shire Hall, Cambridgeshire County Council, Castle Hill, Cambridge, CB3 OAP.

The Local Government Group (LGG) will be conducting Regional Pay Briefings in November/December 2011 to ensure that National Employers have the greatest understanding of authorities' views as they consider their approach to next year's pay round. LGG urge every Authority to be represented at these important meetings - especially Leaders, senior members and senior officers.

For further information please contact Michelle Kirk, Head of Employers Services, East of England Local Government Association, michelle.kirk@eelga.gov.uk or Val Seaman, HR Officer, Valerie.seaman@eelga.gov.uk

To book your place/s for the briefing visit: www.eelga.gov.uk/events/view-event.aspx?ID=2735

Localism for the new councillor

Date: 25th November 2011, 10:00 - 16:00
Venue: West Suffolk House, Western Way, Bury St. Edmunds, IP33 3YU

The Local Government (LG) Group are delivering a series of regional events for councillors elected in 2011, centred on the Localism agenda. This is part of the LG Group's core offer to councils on member development, in partnership with the regional employers' organisations and regional local government organisations.

Working in partnership with the East of England LGA, the East of England Event will be held on 25th November, 10am - 4pm, at West Suffolk House, Bury St Edmunds.

The events are free to attend and will include sessions at each event exploring:

the challenges that the Localism agenda presents for councillor
the emerging role of the councillor as community facilitator
how councillors can develop their skills in some key areas
the role of and the support available from, the LG Group and the regional employer bodies.

You will also have the opportunity to meet and network with other new councillors from across the region and from your own party.

To book you place email: NCRbookings@local.gov.uk

For Further information contact: Alison Edward, telephone: 020 7665 3857or email: Alison.edwards@local.gov.uk

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.

Training

We run a range of training opportunities for elected members and for officers on key skills and issues, such as change management, performance management, equalities, member appeal panels and bullying and harassment.

Our regular training programme can be found here.

We are also currently offering training on mediation skills which will be delivered across various dates in October 2011. Further information can be found here.

USEFUL INFORMATION ABOUT THE EAST OF ENGLAND LGA:

East of England Brussels Office
The European Team, based in Brussels, helps councils and other partners engage with Europe, signposting potential partnership opportunities, providing key information and obtaining increased access to European funding. To find out more visit: www.east-of-england.eu

Employers' Services
Employers' Services provides a range of tailored human resources, learning and development and organisational development support to local councils and the wider public and voluntary sector. To find out more visit: www.eelga.gov.uk or contact: valerie.seaman@eelga.gov.uk

Improvement East
Improvement East is the Improvement and Efficiency Partnership for all 58 local and fire and rescue authorities in the East of England to help deliver better services for local people as efficiently as possible. To find out more visit: www.improvementeast.gov.uk

Strategic Support
Strategic Support works to maintain and improve the liaison between member councils and Government Departments/agencies and facilitates engagement in the transition processes of key policy areas (for example sector self regulation, economic development or public health). There are also a range of externally funded campaigns and projects which sit within this function of the Association. To find out more visit: www.eelga.gov.uk

Feedback
The East of England LGA would like to hear from you. Please contact info@eelga.gov.uk with comments or suggestions on any aspect of our work.

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