Meeting documents
Cabinet
Wednesday, 2nd March, 2005
Annex 1
Appendix 1 Local Area Agreements
As of 01/04/2005 mini Local Area Agreements and a new funding stream (combining a number of old funding streams into one pot) `Safer, Stronger Communities' will come into place.
Local Area Agreements (LAA's) are the agreements between the members of the Local Strategic Partnership (LSP) on the spending for the `Safer, Stronger Communities' fund. Monies that previously went directly to the Community Safety Partnerships have now been amalgamated into this fund and will be allocated via the Local Strategic Partnerships1.
The money that previously went to the Community Safety partnerships will be ring fenced to deliver the outcomes previously required by now defunct funding streams. The Local Area Agreement for Bath and North East Somerset will be built upon the aims and deliverables of this strategy, as all of the funding for our Local Area Agreement on `Safer and Stronger Communities funding' comes from previously labelled Community Safety funding2.
With this new arrangement in mind this strategy goes further than is required under the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 All additional work, as designated by Government guidance on Local Area Agreements and `Safer, Stronger Communities' funding, have been met in this document.
Specifically:
B7 Linkages to the Community Strategy and Economic Development Plan (Bath and North East Somerset equivalent to a Neighbourhood Renewal Strategy).
B7 The strategy has undergone `Rural Proofing'.
B7 The strategy has undergone a full `Equalities Impact Assessment' (not just Race specific).
B7 Has links to the `Voluntary Sector Compact'.
B7 Makes provision for negotiation on a `Pooled Budget' for Community Safety to be run along the lines of the Drug Action Team (DAT) pooled budget.
The `Safer Stronger Communities Fund' will be delivered under three funding strands:
B7 Children and Young People (although the Youth Offending Team budget falls outside of this funding programme)
B7 Safer Stronger Communities Fund
B7 Healthier Communities and Older People (although the Drug intervention monies from the National Treatment Agency fall outside of this funding programme)
With this in mind there is a matrix at the back of this document (appendix 3) that illustrates how each of the interventions in this strategy meets the criteria for the relevant funding stream. To ensure a balanced delivery programme in line with the amended funding stream.
Community Strategy
Community Safety is one of the main strands of the Community Strategy, with a representative of the Partnership sitting on the Local Strategic Partnership. Be Safe is the Community Strategy strand that pertains to the work of the Community Safety and Drugs Partnership. Both partnerships have work well and closely together with Community Safety initiatives clearly identified under each of the 6 strands of the strategy and are perceived to be a major contributor to the delivery of the Community Strategy.
Neighbourhood Renewal Strategy
In Bath and North East Somerset we do not have a Neighbourhood Renewal Strategy but we do have a ten year Economic Development Strategy and this document the most similar in its objectives and outcomes to a Neighbourhood Renewal Strategy. It has six themes and Community Safety initiatives feature heavily in four of these themes.
Rural Proofing
Rural Proofing is part of the Governments commitment to ensuring that rural communities are considered in all strategies where rural communities are encompassed in the geographical boundaries covered by a strategy. Bath and North East Somerset is both an urban and rural conurbation and therefore this strategy requires rural proofing.
A rural proofing exercise has been undertaken on this strategy and can be found as Annex 5.
Equalities Impact Assessment
It is a requirement of the Local Area Agreement that all strategies undergo a `Race Equalities Impact Assessment' to ensure that all Minority Ethnic Communities have been considered in the formulation of the strategy and that it does not disadvantage any of these Communities.
In Bath and North East Somerset we undertake full `Equalities Impact Assessments' to ensure that our strategies do not disadvantage any of the six Equalities strands (Race, Disability, Age, Gender, Religion Belief and Sexuality) and to ensure that each has been considered in the formulation of the strategy.
An `Equalities impact assessment' has been undertaken on this strategy and shows no adverse effects on any of the Equalities strands due to the implementation of this strategy and indeed shows that all Equalities elements have been fully incorporated into the aims and objectives of this document.
The `Equalities impact assessment' can be found in appendix 7.
Voluntary Sector Compact
The Voluntary Sector has always been, and still is, an important partner in the formulation and delivery of Community Safety work in the Bath and North East Somerset area. The Voluntary Sector (and not for profit sector) are funded to deliver a number of the initiatives in this and our previous plans. Three Voluntary Sector bodies sit on the Community Safety and Drugs partnership as do a number of individual Voluntary Sector bodies.
The Community Sector is also a fundamental source of information and delivery in Community Safety initiatives, via Community Safety Action Groups (grass routes level activist supported by the partnership) and Local Area Task Groups. Both sit on the Community Safety and Drugs Partnership and also have alternate feed in mechanisms in order to shape policy for local areas.
With this in mind the partnership expects to adopt the Voluntary Sector Compact in April 05 as a framework in order to support its continuing work with both sectors.
Pooled Budget
The partnership currently runs a successful pooled budget for the Drug Action Team, under section 31 of the Health Act 1999. At present there is a virtually pooled budget for the Community Safety work, where the council and the police manage their own budgets in consultation with the Partnership who have overall control of Home Office funding (now Safer Stronger Communities funding).
Informal discussions about moving to a formal pooled budget, similar to that for the Drug Action Team, for Community Safety work are underway. However, this would need to be in full consultation with both the Police and Council governance structures and it is therefore too early to say whether this is a workable option.
It is also acknowledged that such a pooled budget would in itself assist in brining further external funding to the partnership.
1 In the first year the money for this partnership will still go directly to the CSDP the LSP will have delegated responsibility for the monies as of 06/07
2 In some areas regeneration monies also form part of the Safer Stronger Communities budget.