PARTNERSHIP WORKING
Manchester Partnership exists to improve residents' quality of life by delivering the Community Strategy.
Partners are committed to a challenging set of targets that relate to the Strategy's priorities, the Local Area Agreement (LAA) and the Local Public Service Agreement (LPSA). There are targets described as 'local' as they address issues of specific importance to Manchester, and also 'floor targets' which are set nationally.
There are a number of operating levels within the Manchester Partnership. A restructure was accepted in December 2006 and revisited in July 2007 following the publication of a revised Community Strategy 2006-2015.
The Manchester Board held its first meeting in December 2006. It provides leadership and focus, it sees the big picture. It's made up of non-executive members from across key public service agencies as well as senior members of voluntary, faith and media/cultural sectors. It works with the Public Service Board to make sure partners are delivering on Manchester's priorities.
The Public Service Board (PSB) has the responsibility of delivering the Local Area Agreement - the three-year action plan for the new Community Strategy. The PSB met for the first time in November 2006. It drives the work that will reach the targets specified in the Local Area Agreement, it improves performance and adds value by concentrating on big cross-cutting issues that are the biggest challenges for Manchester. It is made up of leaders from key service delivery agencies; community networks; Learning and Skills Council; JobCentre Plus; Primary Care Trust Manchester; Manchester City Council and others.
Five key partnerships are Economic Development Board; Crime and Disorder Reduction; Children's Board; Sustainable Neighbourhood's Board and Adult''s Board. These have responsibility for leading on the development and actions to deliver the spines within the Community Strategy, engaging executive members, and determining resource allocation to deliver on the priorities.
The Management Group continues while further developments include five district public service boards, closer links with neighbourhood partnerships co-ordinated through Ward Co-ordination with wider engagement with residents.
The structure from 17 July 2007 is described in this diagram.
The original thematic partnerships are:
· Economy and local employment
· Children and young people
· Sustainable neighbourhoods
· Crime and disorder
· Health inequalities
· Transport
· Culture
Locally based partnerships include Strategic Regeneration Frameworks (SRFs) that link together neighbourhoods within an area. Their frameworks set out the long-term vision which is supported by an SRF action plan for that area's development.
Neighbourhood partnerships include Manchester City Council's Ward Coordination teams; Crime and Disorder Local Action Partnerships (LAPs); Health in Manchester Local Area Groups (LAGs) - to name but a few. These bring together representatives from community organisations, ward councillors and service providers who work with residents to identify their needs and to make sure those needs are met through effective partnership working.