Item 7

Hertfordshire Forward:

Update: Sustainable Community Strategy Review 2010 v2

1. Background

On the 10 May PDPG were presented with a paper setting out the SCS review with the aim of:-

  1. Gaining broad based support across Hertfordshire through a process that is well led and managed by Hertfordshire Forward partners
  2. Addressing the key strategic and long term issues facing Hertfordshire
  3. Responding to external perspectives

Following that paper, an evidence base has been compiledconsisting of the:

  1. Joint Strategic Needs assessment
  2. Quality of Life Report
  3. Policing Strategic Assessments
  4. Early work from the Local Economy Assessment
  5. Equality mapping

In addition, there have been three independently facilitated consultation events with key stakeholders across Hertfordshire:-

1.1 People and Place: ‘Issues for Hertfordshire’

14 June 2010

Here the evidence basewas presented to stakeholders with a summary of the keyissues and challenges facing the county.Hertfordshire Forward debatedon thekey challenges and prioritised - ‘Narrowing the Gap’, ‘TheEconomy’ and ‘Sustainability’ as the focus in the current economic and financial climate.

1.2 ‘Tackling deprivation and disadvantage in Hertfordshire’

29 July 2010

Following the event on the 14 June, a specifically designed workshop was set up with the key purpose to determine how, collectively, the partnership in Hertfordshire could tackle disadvantage and deprivation within our communities by:

  1. Delivering the right local services to local people
  2. Prioritising what needs to be done
  3. Finding and agreeing practical solutions, and
  4. Dealing with this in the context of current financial constraints

1.3 ‘The New world of Planning’

10 September 2010

This workshop facilitated by the Hertfordshire Chief Technical Officers Association, examined the new ways of working as Hertfordshire responded to the emerging new world of planning and development signalled by the Coalition Government through the abolition of regional government and Regional Spatial Strategies. The workshop supported the SCS review in understanding the implications of housing growth, development and planning and the long term implications for a sustainable Hertfordshire.

2. Our Challenges = Ambitions

With the supporting evidence base laying the foundations for the direction of the review and the recent key stakeholder consultation events facilitated by independent consultants and HCTOA,fourkey ‘challenges/ambitions’ emerge for the SCS:-

  1. A Resilient and Prosperous economy
  2. Narrowing the Gap (reduce wealth and health inequalities)
  3. A sustainable & well planned county
  4. A cleaner & greener county

3. Going Forward

The collation of the evidence base and the independently facilitated stakeholder consultations events have not, as expected, identified any ‘new’ issues/challenges unknown to Hertfordshire Forward.

Effectively the review of the SCS is more about re-focusing the current set of priorities to meet the four challenges identified above.

The work carried out so far has endorsed the key message that Hertfordshire Forward need to focus on the ‘high level’ challenges that the partnerships face in the current financial and economic climate. Partners and stakeholders have advised us that to deliver on our challenges/ambitions we need to work on the following principles: - a focus on early intervention: on education & skills, culture, aspirations and early years, a comprehensive engagementprocess with our communities and businesses and to adopt a ‘Think Family’ approach.

Taking forward the ambitions for the new SCS will imply, at this stage, agreement from the existing partnerships on highlighting key priorities that deliver on the challenges/ambitions. These high level priorities will need to be branded within the partnerships and will form the ‘action plan’ for delivery the ambitions.

Although the SCS will inevitably only focus on the four ambitions and the priorities, the existing partnerships will undoubtedly continue to deliver on their own individual action plans for their specific strategies as represented by the examples in Fig 2.

ACTION: it is proposed that the SCS review and the identified challenges be introduced at the Hertfordshire Forward Conference in November. This will be the start of the three month consultation with the public, stakeholders and partners.

4. A new delivery mechanism?

At the time of the review of the SCS, the coalition government has committed itself to reducing ‘top-down’ performance management arrangements, and the use of central targets for public services. The emphasis for Hertfordshire Forward will shift from upwards reporting via Government Office East, to outward reporting to citizens.

Initial plans for a new government overall approach to monitoring the work of central departments will be set out in the spending review framework and may influence the delivery mechanism for Hertfordshire Forward.

The Coalition Government have invited local authorities to set up ‘Local Enterprise Partnerships’ with a remit for economic development, planning and housing co-ordination. Hertfordshire have submitted a bid to set up a LEP for the county and outcome of this bid is not expected till the end of October/November 2010.

In addition, a Public Health White Paper will be published by the end of 2010. It will set out the cross-Government strategy on public health and plans for the new Public Health Service (PHS). It is envisaged that a new ‘Health and Wellbeing Board’ will emerge.

The future of the new performance management programme and the development of the LEP and Health and Wellbeing Board(Fig 3) will unquestionably affect the current structure of the Hertfordshire Forward Family, yet it will also provide an opportunity to review how the revised SCS challenges/ambitions can be delivered.

5. Summary

The review of the SCS has highlighted four mainambitions for Hertfordshire Forward:

  1. A Resilient and Prosperous economy
  2. Narrowing the Gap (reduce wealth and health inequalities)
  3. A Sustainable & well planned county
  4. A cleaner & greener county

In delivering on these challenges Hertfordshire Forward need to work on the following principles:

  1. A focus on early intervention: on education & skills, culture, aspirations and early years,
  2. A comprehensive engagementprocess with communities and businesses
  3. Adopt a ‘Think Family’ approach

The review of the SCS is not a ‘root and branch’ overall but a re-focus of the priorities to meet the challenges facing Hertfordshire. The SCS will have a sharper focus on the key challenges in the county, whilst accepting that partners will continue to deliver on other priorities.

Whilst we have the challenges and the principles by which to deliver the ambitions the potential governance re-structuring will need to reflect on how best to deliver. The delivery of the ambitions is the next phase.

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