WHAT IS COMMUNITY PLANNING?
Community Planning is a process which helps public agencies to work together with the community to plan and deliver better services which make a real difference to people's lives.
The aims of Community Planning in Scotland are:
- making sure people and communities are genuinely engaged in the decisions made on public services which affect them; allied to
- a commitment from organisations to work together, not apart, in providing better public services.
There are two further key principles in addition to the two main aims outlined above:
- Community Planning as the key over-arching partnership framework helping to co-ordinate other initiatives and partnerships and where necessary acting to rationalise and simplify a cluttered landscape;
- the ability of Community Planning to improve the connection between national priorities and those at regional, local and neighbourhood levels.
The Local Government in Scotland Act 2003
The Local Government in Scotland Act 2003 contained a package of measures intended to support local determination and to deliver better, more responsive, public services. The three core elements are interlinked, Best Value, Community Planning and the Power to Advance Wellbeing. Community Planning is intended to provide "trust within a framework", empowering Local Government, with its partners, to take ownership and drive forward improvement in local services. Community Planning was not a new concept, partnership working had been under way for many years before Community Planning was given a statutory basis in the Local Government in Scotland Act and this experience informed the legislation. The Act places duties on:
- Local authorities - to initiate, facilitate and maintain Community Planning, including consulting and cooperating with communities;
- Core partners - Health Boards, the Enterprise Networks, Police, Fire and Regional Transport Partnerships - to participate in Community Planning; and
- Scottish Ministers - to promote and encourage Community Planning.
In particular, it was envisaged that, by bringing different interests together and involving communities, CPPs could have an impact on the complex long standing issues that face some areas, for example poverty and health inequalities. While all CPPs have produced a Community Plan to support their work, it is intended that the focus is on the process of involvement, decision making and implementation, rather than on producing a paper plan. In keeping with the move to local determinism, reporting on Community Planning is to communities rather than to the Scottish Government.
Community Planning in practice
The Local Government in Scotland Act is not prescriptive about how Community Planning should be carried out, recognising that what is appropriate will depend on local circumstances. CPPs are operating in all 32 local authority areas with a variety of themes, structures and mechanisms for political involvement.
In addition to those with a duty to participate, organisations such as Jobcentre Plus, Further and Higher Education institutions, Scottish Natural Heritage and business representatives are involved in a number of partnerships. The Third Sector is also involved, represented in a variety of ways in partnerships, often as advocates of community and interest groups or through involvement in the planning and delivery of services. Below the high level partnership there are often a number of themed groups which deal with the practical business. Some CPPs have organised their work around geographical areas or neighbourhoods in Local Community Planning Structures, to help in planning services and community engagement.
Incorporation
Under Section 19 of the Local Government in Scotland Act, it is possible for the CPP to establish the Partnership as a legally distinct corporate body. This is done by application to Scottish Ministers, detailing what the corporate body will do and providing evidence that CPP members are broadly in agreement. A Ministerial order making power can then be triggered. An affirmative resolution of Some CPPs have considered or are considering this option but, do date, none have taken it forward.
Community Engagement
Effective engagement with communities is at the heart of Community Planning. There is no restriction on the type of community to be consulted, they can be linked to a place or can be a community of interest, for example young people. Information from engagement feeds in to the planning and delivery of public services, making them more responsive to the needs of users and communities. Partnerships should work together to coordinate community engagement activity and the information gathered. They can draw information on community views from a number of sources for example, the experience of service users, specific consultations, visioning exercises etc. Many Partnerships use the National Standards for Community Engagement to inform their work.
CPPs are also obliged to report on progress to communities, giving information on how they have implemented their duties and how services have improved as a result.
Audit
Community Planning is examined as part of the Audit of Best Value and Community Planning, on a cyclical basis. The Accounts Commission can also hold local authorities to account if issues arise outside the audit process. In very extreme cases, there is a process for ministerial enforcement available but this has never been used. In 2006, Audit Scotland undertook an Initial Review of Community Planning which took an overview of Community Planning Partnerships and made recommendations for the then Scottish Executive (now Scottish Government), for CPPs themselves and for the individual partners.
Single Outcome Agreement
In 2007, a Concordat between the Scottish Government and Local Government set out the terms of a new relationship, based on mutual respect and partnership. As part of the concordat package each Local Authority developed a Single Outcome Agreement (SOA) with the Scottish Government, based on the national outcomes and indicators and, under a common framework, local outcomes to take account of local priorities. The SOA is a strategic document, setting out the priority issues for the Local Authority area. Around half of the SOAs developed for 2008-9 involved the CPP and the 2009-10 SOAs have been developed with the full involvement of CPPs.
Through Community Planning Partnerships (CPPs), local leaders work with communities, the third and private sectors to develop the long term vision for the area and work towards that vision.
The CPP provides:
- the link between the Local Authority and other agencies in aligning national with local priorities
- the mechanism for identifying priorities for each locality and areas of work where collaboration between partners will have a greater impact than an agency working alone.
While Local Government has the facilitation role in Community Planning, all partners have an important part to play and, as a minimum, statutory partners and other public bodies in the CPP must sign the SOA.
The clear strategic framework provided by the Scottish Government's purpose, five strategic themes and the national outcomes have resulted in greater consistency in the interests of partners at a local level. This common direction of travel across the public sector should support partnership working. The outcome agreement allows for maximum freedom in funding decisions at the local level, a greater degree of flexibility and more efficient targeting of resources. Rather than working with ring fenced allocations, Partners will identify the priorities for joint working within the outcome agreement and align/pool resources around projects where they identify an advantage in doing so. The breaking down of barriers between organisations and the requirement to achieve more with the resources available should foster innovation and new ways of working in partnerships.
Strategic roles for CPPs include:
Setting out the vision and identifying local outcomes for the area in consultation with communities - how the 5 strategic priorities play out for the CPP and identifying local priorities, to feed in to the implementation of the Outcome Agreement,
- Responsibility for managing funding and commissioning work/services relating to outcomes where there is a significant collaborative element. These may have been identified by the CPP or Scottish Government for targeted action e.g. regeneration, focus on alcohol.
- Governance over any service delivery arrangements put in place to support collaborative delivery.
- Holding each other to account for progress towards outcomes.
Support roles for CPPs include:
- Engaging with and reporting to the community
- Coordinating data collection and sharing to build a picture of local issues and analyse need,
- Monitoring and reporting progress against outcomes,
- Sharing learning and evaluation,
- Sharing some services to improve efficiency or customer service, e.g. asset management.
Further information
Further information is available through:
- The Community Planning Statutory Guidance, which gives advice about what is intended by duties e.g. reporting, enforcement, engagement, equal opportunities, etc
- The Community Planning Advice Notes, which give more detail and good practice examples on the following subjects:
- National Framework: National Priorities
- Partnership Models and Structures
- Involving the Private Sector
- Effective Partnership Working
- Effective Community engagement
- Building Organisational Capacity
- The Role of Elected and Board Members
- Information Sharing
- Performance Monitoring and Management
- Engaging Children and Young People in Community Planning
There is more information on current activity in CPPs and a Community of Practice for Community Planning Managers on the Improvement Service Website.
Contact the Scottish Government Community Planning Team at:
Area 3-J (South)
Victoria Quay
Edinburgh
EH6 6QQ
Tel: 0131 244 4956
Fax: 0131 244 3350
community.planning@scotland.gsi.gov.uk