The Audit Commission national study 'Working better together? Managing local strategic partnerships' reviews arrangements for performance, resource management, and governance.
The report identifies local strategic partnerships (LSPs) as evolving and maturing, local and national partners still need to recognise the key dynamics that support partnership working. Too few LSPs take an area-wide approach to performance and resource management. Some LSPs have well developed performance arrangements, but less developed resource management. And most LSPs have progress to make on their improvement journey if they are to deliver sustainable community strategy and LAA outcomes.
LSPs that have good, shared systems for performance management (with performance reporting, resource allocation, and risk management) will find it easier to show that they are on track to achieve agreed outcomes than those that do not.
Working Better Together?: Delivery Chain Toolkit
Local agencies often find it difficult to understand how their different contributions fit together into a delivery chain. They can even be hindering each other’s efforts. The Audit Commission has worked to produce a Delivery Chain Toolkit (external link) to provide local strategic partnerships (LSPs) and their partners with the materials to plan and run delivery chain analysis workshops - it can be found on the improvement network website www.improvementnetwork.gov.uk