Community Budgets Political
Leadership Group
First Meeting
5th April 2011
1
Shared ambition
1. Creating strong foundations for the Community Budgets Group to
deliver the national roll-out of Community Budgets for Families
with Multiple Problems
2. Tackling the barriers/issues that are getting in the way of
developing ambitious Community Budgets
3. Developing a radical vision and model(s) for Community Budgets
2
2
Delivering the national roll-out
•Delivering on the first 16 will make the case for Community Budgets by
creating a strong narrative on what has been achieved and the benefits of
their Community Budgets
•Need to identify the learning from how the 16 have developed Community
Budgets to share with other areas
•Means we must tackle the key barriers to local transformation that have been
identified – other areas can follow this and benefit from the barriers that
have already been busted – and can continue to lead the way in tackling
new barriers
•The first 16 areas are well placed to develop the radical vision and model(s)
for Community Budgets
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2
Current list of issues
A number of issues have emerged from the first phase negotiations:
Cultural Issues
•Developing a narrative that demonstrates the win-win for all partners
•Working with GP consortia/PCCs
•Joining up supporting troubled families with the prevention agenda (e.g. Graham
Allen’s work on early intervention)
•New structures and governance
Systems Issues
•Data sharing
•Community-led Community Budgets
•Community rights to challenge services
•Accountability
•Simplifying assessment & other procedures
Financial Issues
•Innovative financial models (includes Social impact bonds and Payment by results)
•Cost benefit analysis and evaluation (evaluation workstream is underway)
•Apportioning savings between partners
•Devolving money/services to communities
•Mapping spending on Families with Multiple Problems
•Moving to virtual and actual pooling
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5
Developing a narrative that demonstrates
the win-win for all partners
•Areas have highlighted reluctance on the part of some local partners to
engage in the Community Budget process
•A quick win – develop a narrative that sets out benefits to each partner of
tackling Families with Multiple Needs through a Community Budget.
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4
Working with GP Consortia/PCCs
•Areas’ asks have covered flexibility on NHS clustering arrangements,
how to engage GP Consortia and commissioners and preserving joint
local authority and PCT commissioning arrangements
•DH has written to health bodies setting out the importance of participating
in Community Budgets
•The forthcoming workshop, led by DH, may further help
•There is a lot of structural reform taking place, with the introduction of
Police and Crime Commissioners adding to this
•The crux of this issue is how to engage the new bodies in the
development of a Community Budget when they have not yet been
established whilst maintaining existing relationships
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4
Joining up FMP with prevention
•So far the focus of attention has been on those families which are already
in crisis and in need of intensive support
•Increasingly, it will be important to also address the needs of those not
quite at this point but are on the cusp of needing intensive interventions
•Community Budgets should look to build in the prevention agenda so as
to stop families getting to the point where they need more expensive
support
•27 areas have said that they are willing to work with Graham Allen as an
Early Intervention Place
7
4
New structures and governance
Do Community Budgets need any particular structures and governance
arrangement to deliver an ambitious agenda (links to accountability)?
Is there anything reach requires a common solution?
Or
Should areas design their own solutions?
8
4
Data sharing
•A number of areas have raised concerns with Whitehall Departments
•There remains a lack of clarity over what specific barriers remain and
whether these relate to legislation, business practice or lack of awareness
of freedoms that have already been granted
•11th April workshop being set up by DCLG & LGG to explore the issues
•Could produce a single product - local-partnership focussed information
product bring all the key guidance into one place, best practice, solutions
to problems that areas have found and Q&A.
9
4
Simplifying assessment procedures
•As part of its work on safeguarding, the Munro review has secured some
flexibilities for five areas on assessment procedures
•Procedures remain complex and may not allow the most effective use of
resources
•The Munro team is shortly meeting areas, including Community Budget
areas, to further explore what further simplification of the system could be
taken forward.
•Could there be joint work with DfE to design a streamlined system to
either feed into the Munro review or the Government’s response to the
final report?
10
4
Financial issues
Includes innovative finance models, cost benefit analysis, apportioning
savings, devolving money to communities, moving to virtual and actual
pooling
•Cabinet Office is working with areas on Social Impact Bonds
•We need to be clearer about what is being sought on payment by
results but areas have pressed to develop a model in respect of benefit
and crime budgets
•An evaluation of Community Budgets is underway
•What needs to be taken forward? Can it be managed as one
workstream?
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4
Radical vision and model(s)
What might a radical vision and model(s) for Community Budgets look like?
•A single payment stream from Whitehall to deliver a set of outcomes,
underpinned by local commissioning of what is needed to deliver?
•Personal budgets?
•Community-led Community Budgets and community rights to challenge
services? Linked to local integrated services?
•Payment by results across all funding?
•Incremental development of Community Budgets and expansion beyond
Families with Multiple Problems?
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4
Support
Tackling the issues will take significant effort:
•How can the Group support leads?
•What role can the 16 first phase areas play?
•How can LGG help?
•What can departments/DCLG do?
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