Supplementary memorandum from Department
for Communities and Local Government (DCLG)
COMMUNITY BUDGETS:
UPDATE NOTE
FOR CLIVE
BETTS
What are our commitments?
By April 2011 we will help establish a first phase
of Community Budgets. 16 areas (see annex) are able to agree with
local partners and Government what funding should be available
to turn around the lives of families with multiple problems and
to address barriers to service transformation.
In addition, Departments are working with other innovative
areas to help them pool and align local budgets around key local
priorities such as child poverty, health inequalities, local policing,
tackling re-offending, worklessness, or in small areas like neighbourhoods
and wards—which includes support for more integrated services
based on the Local Integrated Services (LIS) approach.
The intention is that all areas will operate Community
Budgets from 2013-14.
What progress have the first phase areas made
in developing their Community Budget?
All 16 first phase areas now have Community Budget
proposals which they are taking forward from next month. These
explain:
- who the partnership is;
- the resources in the budget;
- the barriers and flexibilities sought from Whitehall;
- the outcomes and success measures;
- their approach to tackling families with multiple
problems; and
- the plan for setting up the project post April.
How are we driving progress?
The Community Budget Group is chaired by Lord Bichard
and brings together senior representatives of Whitehall Departments,
the Local Government sector and the voluntary and community sector
to drive progress and ensure issues are tackled.
A senior Whitehall Champion has been allocated to
each area to assist in brokering resolutions with Whitehall Departments
to specific issues or barriers raised by their area.
Ministers have been involved closely throughout and
the Secretary of State, Baroness Hanham (who will provide the
day-to-day lead on Community Budgets) the Chief Secretary to the
Treasury and DfE Minister, Tim Loughton, recently met with Community
Budget authority Leaders to discuss ambition and emerging barriers
and flexibilities that require Whitehall action. A further meeting
will take place on 24 March.
How many other areas are Departments working with?
Altogether 28 councils are involved in the 16 community
budgets focused on Families with Multiple Problems. A further
48 councils have been involved in discussions with departments
about adopting other community budgets, but this list is constantly
changing as areas make contact with Departments.
What are other Departments doing to support the
development of the CB approach?
They have:
- set out a menu of central funding available for
pooling and aligning to support families in needs in Community
Budget areas—this is the starting point—and we are
encouraging areas to add to that list, as fits their proposals;
- written to their local agencies to encourage
them to get involved in discussions with Councils about designing
and contributing to their local Community Budget;
- begun to receive—and are already actioning—"asks"
from areas to change centrally-prescribed rules, systems and practice
that are constraining their proposals. For instance DFE is offering
the opportunity for Community Budget areas to access funding to
invest in innovation and the redesign of services to deliver better
outcomes and savings down the track as part of their CB proposals;
and
- engaged Community Budget areas on a range of
initiatives such as shadow Health and Wellbeing Boards and financial
incentive models.
What next for Community Budgets?
The plans set out by the 16 areas are only a starting
point for each Community Budget—we expect their approach
to widen and deepen over the course of 2011-12 and beyond.
Ministers want community budgets to encompass as
many funding and policy outcomes as possible, so that decisions
can be made freely and flexibly at the frontline.
The Government is fully committed to unlocking the
potential of CBs. They are challenging to do and for this reason
Baroness Hanham is bringing together a small group of CB areas
to make rapid progress in tackling complex issues.
Annex
Which 16 areas are implementing the first phase
of Community Budgets?
| Birmingham
Blackburn-with-Darwen
Blackpool
Bradford
Essex
Greater Manchester (a group of 10 councils)
Hull
Kent
Leicestershire
| Lincolnshire
London Borough of Barnet
London Borough of Croydon
London Borough of Islington
London Borough of Lewisham
The London Boroughs of Westminster, Hammersmith & Fulham, Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea and Wandsworth (a group of 4 councils)
Swindon
|
Which areas are working with Departments on local pooling and
aligning?
| Barnsley
Birmingham
Blackburn-with-Darwen
Blackpool
Bradford
Bristol
Calderdale
Cambridgeshire
Cheshire West & Chester
Cornwall
Devon
Greater Manchester
Hammersmith and Fulham
Hertfordshire
Islington
Kingston-upon-Thames
Leeds
| Leeds City Region
Leicestershire
Lewisham
Lincolnshire
Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Plymouth
Salford
Sheffield
Solent
South Tyneside
Stoke-on-Trent
Swindon
Tameside
Tees Valley
Torbay
Warrington
Worcestershire
|
In addition, the Ministry of Justice are talking to a range of
London Boroughs.
| 
