Halton Strategic Partnership Board awayday – 12th May 2004

Background

The first Board away day of 2004 was held at the Halton Stadium. The day was split into two – a morning session reviewing performance and an afternoon of workshops.

Morning session - performance review

Dominic Harrex, the Halton Partnership Officer, gave a presentation about the progress made against our improvement targets in the Community Strategy, and against Government floor targets.

The presentation drew on statistics from central Government departments, Halton Borough Council, and information supplied by the five Specialist Strategic Partnerships and partner organisations.

The progress made was contrasted with the targets set by the Partnership for 2006 and beyond. Each target was rated red (achievement unlikely), amber (achievement uncertain), or green (achievement likely). The presentation focused on the red and amber targets.

The table below gives a summary of the ratings for the targets by priority.

	Red	Amber	Green
Health	1	4	2
Urban renewal	0	2	4
Life chances and employment	2	6	2
Wealth and equality	0	2	1
Safe and attractive neighbourhoods	0	1	3
Total	3	15	12

It is important to note that the majority of amber rated targets were making positive progress.

Each Specialist Strategic Partnership then made a presentation in which the ratings were put into context, and issues, opportunities and future plans explained.

(Details of these presentations are covered in the full away day report, copies of which are available from the Partnership Team – contact details on page 2.)

Afternoon session – workshops

Workshops took place for each Specialist Strategic Partnership, and Board members attended three workshops of their choice during the session. Each group produced discussion points on possible improvements or gaps which were reported back to the main group.

The key points fed back from each group are detailed below. Each Specialist Strategic Partnership will be asked to draw up a brief action plan detailing how they will address them.

Health - key feedback priorities

· Smoke-free borough (choice and freedom).

· Alcohol (mental health and well being).

· Aiming higher/raising expectations.

· Working and learning makes you feel better.

· NHS as employers – apprentices, basic skills.

· Alternatives to prescriptions.

Urban renewal - key feedback priorities

· Opportunity for a united campaign to promote and support the housing stock transfer.

· Promote ‘housing for life’ through joint housing and health strategy.

· Need to develop skills of local people to ensure renewal can take place – construction and housing renewal – business development.

Life chances and employment - key feedback priorities

· Employers – all sizes, all sectors – exercise – identify demand/take risks.

· Skills – employability – new ways, new partners, apprenticeships.

· Early intervention – long term change start younger, make sure that vulnerable people are identified.

Wealth and equality - key feedback priorities

· Better partnership working – challenging and changing practice.

· Short-term impact on people’s lives – raising profile.

· Better access for and engagement of local people – grassroots approach using variety of methods.

Safe and attractive neighbourhoods - key feedback priorities

· Marketing and publicity.

· Generation mediation.

· Alcohol.

Evaluation results

95% of respondents rated the overall away day as ‘good’ or ‘excellent’.

Contact

Copies of the full away day report are available – please contact Matt Atherton on 0151 424 2061 ext 1023 or email matthew.atherton@halton.gov.uk.