Consultation Response: Local Area Agreement Reward Scheme
Consulting body: Department for Communities and Local Government
Date: September 2008
Details: This consultation paper outlines proposals to update and stretch targets for local government into the new Local Area Agreement reward scheme. This ties incentives for local areas to achieve above a certain percentage of each of their targets in their Local Area Agreement to gain financial reward.
WRC broadly supports this scheme, with some comments on equalities and engagement. Compliance for this scheme should include the new Duty to Involve starting April 2009, which places responsibility onto local authorities to inform, consult and involve local people, including under-represented groups. It should also include the Equality duties, which place responsibility onto public bodies to actively address discrimination on the grounds of gender, race and disability. Data collected for this scheme should be disaggregated according to equalities, to show local authorities’ commitment to meeting their Duty to Involve and their Equality Duties.
Documents: WRC response to the Local Area Agreement Reward Scheme consultation (479KB) Sept 08
Consultation Response: Principles of Representation
Consulting body: Department for Communities and Local Government
Date: February 2008
Details: The Women’s Resource Centre responded to the Department for Communities and Local Government’s ‘Principles of Representation’ consultation, which is draft guidance for the voluntary and community sector on engaging with Local Strategic Partnerships (LSPs). Key points made in our response were the need for government agencies to support effective engagement of the third sector in LSPs, including financially, through reducing bureaucratic barriers, and through a greater focus by government on the ‘voice’ role of the sector, not just its service delivery role. We also called for the need for greater clarity on ‘equalities’ and ‘representation’, and the role played by specialist equalities voluntary and community organisations. Women’s organisations are currently not engaged with LSPs and ideas for best practice to change this were put forward.
Documents:
WRC response to the DCLG Principles of Representation consultation (128KB) Feb 08
Briefing: The crisis in Rape Crisis and sexual violence policy drivers
Date: November 2007
Details: The Women’s Resource Centre, NAVCA and Rape Crisis (England and Wales) produced a briefing for local infrastructure organisations (LIOs) on the crisis in Rape Crisis and sexual violence policy drivers. The briefing described the policy drivers LIOs can use, such as the Gender Equality Duty and the Sexual Violence and Abuse Action Plan, to ensure that sexual violence is included in local agendas, particularly Local Area Agreements which were being negotiated at the time of publication. Through raising awareness of the policy drivers and pressing for implementation, LIOs can play a vital role in assisting the Rape Crisis sector and ensuring that survivors of sexual violence have local support services that meet their needs.
Documents:
WRC, NAVCA and Rape Crisis (England and Wales) briefing for LIOs on The Crisis in Rape Crisis and Sexual Violence Policy Drivers
Sexual Violence briefing for LIOs (103KB) Nov 07
Briefing: Public Service Agreements (PSAs) and National Indicators (NIs)
Date: November 2007
Details: The Women’s Resource Centre produced this briefing about why Public Service Agreements (PSAs) and National Indicators (NIs) are an important tool for women’s organisations in influencing local spending priorities. At the time of publication, Local Strategic Partnerships were in the process of developing their Local Area Agreements (LAAs), which are based upon PSAs and NIs. It was an important moment in which to try and influence this process because LAAs determine which issues are prioritised in local areas and therefore where funding is directed. The briefing provided the women’s sector with the key actions they could take to try and influence their LAAs, and detailed which PSAs and NIs would be most beneficial to lobby for and increase their chances of future funding.
Documents:
WRC briefing on the Public Service Agreements and National Indicators (163KB) Dec 07
Consultation Response: Local Strategic Partnerships
Consulting body: Office of the Deputy Prime Minister
Date: March 2006
Details: The Women’s Resource Centre responded to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister’s consultation,’ Local Strategic Partnerships: Shaping their future’, on proposals for changes to the role of Local Strategic Partnerships (LSPs), including commissioning, disaggregation of data and local voluntary and community sector participation. Our response highlighted the lack of resourcing for the sector despite the stated goal of achieving a diverse representation from the voluntary and community sector. There are many barriers stopping women’s organisations from getting involved in their LSPs, including lack of capacity and uneven playing field with other partners. We agreed that inspectorate bodies should disaggregate their data.
Documents:
WRC response to the ODPM Local Strategic Partnerships consultation (120KB) Mar 06