corporate plan 2012-15 - tameside are pleased to present tameside council’s corporate plan for...

Corporate Plan 2012-15

Part 1

March 2012

Contents

1. Foreword by Executive Leader and Chief Executive 4 2. Achievements in 2011 6 3. Tameside: A good place to live and work 9 4. Our Vision for Tameside 11 5. Prosperous Tameside 14 6. Safe Tameside 18 7. Attractive Tameside 20 8. Healthy Tameside 22 9. Learning Tameside 25 10. Supportive Tameside 28 11. A high performing Council delivering efficient and responsive services 31 12. Medium Term Financial Plan and Financial Information 34

33

1. Foreword by Executive Leader & Chief Executive

Executive Leader: Cllr Kieran Quinn

Chief Executive: Steven Pleasant

We are pleased to present Tameside Council’s Corporate Plan for 2012-2015. This document sets out a challenging programme of improvement over the next three years as part of our ambition to deliver ‘great lives, excellent services’. It also details our responses to the current financial and economic challenges and how we are going to make a fair future for Tameside. This Plan reflects the Sustainable Community Strategy and the Big Conversation, which will affect the future shape of council services and takes account of progress made over the last twelve months.

Our Corporate Plan translates the vision in the Sustainable Community Strategy and the political direction of the council into our areas of priority. These are the things that we will continue to focus on delivering over the next three years. Alongside responding to the unprecedented levels of cuts to funding that we face for the next three years, we will still be focusing on tackling key challenges

such as ensuring the success and prosperity of the local economy within Tameside to make sure that the borough thrives. We will also be focusing on anti-social behaviour, satisfaction with parks and open spaces and keeping our streets clean, because residents tell us these are the things that matter to them. We will continue to support the old and vulnerable, tackle health inequalities and continue to work hard to reduce youth unemployment and continue to increase educational aspirations.

We are approaching these challenges by looking at changes to ways in which our services are delivered, by introducing new and innovative methods of delivery and working more in partnership with other agencies. We have launched the Big Conversation which is the largest and most comprehensive programme of consultation ever undertaken by the council. We are asking residents and service users for their views about the services they access and how those services could be delivered in the future. This will ensure that everyone has had an opportunity to air their views and have them taken into account.

Although there will be tough times ahead, we also have much to be optimistic about and much to celebrate. Even though responding to significant cuts in the first year of the Spending Review we are still able to list many achievements for the borough. Last year over £11million was spent with local businesses alongside our commitment to pay invoices within 10 working days for local

companies. Investments in improvements to our town centres have continued, with the Ashton Bypass completed and works underway on the Metrolink which will bring benefits in terms of new business opportunities. A £1.2 million investment for Hyde Town centre is also planned for this year.

Our Building Schools for the Future programme has continued to be a success with £14.5million being spent with local businesses and £57million spent within a 10 mile radius. More than a hundred new jobs in the programme have been created and many more safeguarded including 53 apprenticeships for young people.

Our Apprentice 50/50 scheme and Apprentice Fair both performed well in 2011, with 20% of 16-18 year olds in Tameside being involved in apprenticeships. These figures put Tameside as one of the top 20 performing boroughs in the country.

Our You Choose initiative has been a huge success. It has helped to raise and maintain awareness of recycling by giving money saved through recycling back to the very people and communities who are doing the work. The outcomes from the eight events that we have completed, which invite residents to have their say on which community groups should have a share of the cash, are impressive with £500k of additional funding going to 149 different groups.

£1.6million has been saved from the costs of putting waste into landfill thanks to the 37%

44

recycling rate achieved last year. To deliver the next step improvement in Tameside we are introducing new food waste caddies and introducing weekly collections for our brown bins.

Our best ever GCSE results were achieved in 2011 rising by 7% to 81% for pupils achieving five or more A*-C grades which is 5% above the national average. Results for 5 or more A*-C grades including English and Maths have also risen, to 55%, up 5% on last year.

Crime in Tameside has continued to fall, last year there were 2728 fewer people, businesses and families who were victims of crime compared to 2008/09. Our Integrated Offender Management initiative has reduced re-offending rates by 60%.

We continue to strive to deliver excellent services at a low cost to our taxpayers. We have been judged as providing excellent Value for Money by the Audit Commission in 2010/11. Our external auditors have also praised us for the effective plans that we have put in place for the next year, which seek to secure jobs in the borough and continue to deliver value for money services in response to the significant reduction in council funding.

Although there is much to be proud of, we know that there is much more to do to deliver our ambition, especially facing the current tough choices. Significant improvements in the quality of life for our residents will only be achieved through effective partnership working. Working together

through the Tameside Strategic Partnership (TSP) more than 70 local organisations share a vision for the future of the borough - to create a prosperous economy where people learn and achieve, feel safe and healthy, and take active responsibility for their environment. The Tameside Investment Partnership has also shown that it can be a catalyst for change and improvement and looking forward will be a practical, efficient and cost effective way for delivering services.

We recognise the need to continue to strengthen our services and partnerships. However, the council has a great track record in identifying and tackling difficult issues and raising the quality of life for our residents. We are committed to continuing this drive for improvement into 2012 and beyond despite the tough decisions that will have to be taken. We want Tameside to be a fair place, fair to all our residents, fair to local businesses and fair to disadvantaged and vulnerable people that rely on our help and support.

55

2. Achievements 2011 Set out below are some of our key achievements from 2011:

• Our Tameside Works First programme has continued to be a success. At least £11 million has been spent in the past year with local suppliers. Over £14.5 million has been directed to local companies via the supply chain for the Council’s Building Schools for the Future programme.

• There were 1505 16-18 year olds on apprenticeships in 2011, which is 37% more compared to last year. In partnership with Tameside College and local businesses in total nearly 2,000 apprenticeships have been created across the borough.

• We are continuing to respond to the effects of the recession on the local economy and have supported 156 new businesses to start up in 2010/11. We have also supported local suppliers by paying 88% of our invoices within 10 working days.

• We were one of the few councils in the country to successfully secure Regional Growth Fund to support our local economy and we are investing in our town centres to ensure their long term future and create new jobs.

• Residents’ satisfaction with the local area is 85%.

• We are continuing to support our residents in the borough by preventing 10% more cases of homelessness compared to last year and

supporting 99% of our vulnerable people to maintain independent lives. Our Welfare Rights Team have used their expertise to ensure that 95% of people who come to us for help with mortgage repossessions remain in their own homes, that £3.6 million in benefits have been obtained for the residents of Tameside and £4.3 million of debt has been rescheduled into affordable payment arrangements.

• The Toasty Tameside free insulation scheme has so far helped 1,100 households within Tameside which is the third highest result in Greater Manchester. By the end of October 2011 the national Warm Front Grant had assisted 213 households in Tameside which has brought £636,914 into homes in the borough.

• Our Children’s Service have been rated highly in 2011. The Boyds Walk residential unit, which is part of the ISCAN service (integrated services for children with additional needs) received its fourth consecutive ‘outstanding’ rating from OFSTED.

• Our Park Café in Bayley Hall Hyde has received the Dr Lucija Cikes award for ‘socially disadvantaged groups’ as part of Tameside Council’s wider success in the Entente Florale Europe-wide environmental awards.

• We have achieved our best ever exam results. Our pupils’ GCSE results are at a record high and improving at the second fastest rate across Greater Manchester.

• There are further improvements in skills attainment for both younger and working age people. 76% of pupils achieved a Level 4 or better qualification in English and Maths at Key Stage 2 which is above the England average. 60% of 16-64 year olds are qualified to Level 2 or higher and 40% are qualified to Level 3 or higher.

• We have been working hard to continue to encourage our young people to stay in education or in work. The proportion of 16-18 year olds NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training) continues to fall (from 8.1% in 2009 to 7.1% in 2011) and persistent absence in secondary schools dropped to a low of 3.9%.

• Building Schools for the Future has been a great success with new schools at Mossley Hollins; St Damian’s and New Charter Ashton and White Bridge Dukinfield all complete. Five more schools were handed over in January 2012: Denton Community College, Elmbridge School, Hyde 11-18 Community College, Thomas Ashton and Droylsden Academy. We are continuing to reap the benefits with students achieving their best ever exam results in the last year. Just as importantly as achieving higher attainment, young people are also developing higher aspirations.

• In September 2011 the Museums and Galleries Service was awarded £22,000 from the Heritage Lottery “Young Roots” scheme which engages young people with the concept of heritage in innovative ways.

66

• Tameside continues to be an attractive place to live, our street cleanliness performance remains excellent with our best ever scores achieved in 2010/11. We have been awarded 17 Green Flags and Pennant awards for our parks and green spaces in 2011.

• Tameside was the sole UK representative in Entente Florale 2011 where we were awarded a silver medal.

• At the ‘It’s Your Neighbourhood ‘ Awards 2011, Tameside received an impressive ten Level 5 awards, seven Level 4 awards, six Level 3 awards and two Level 2 awards. The Brushes Estate Management Board was also named as the Best Large Neighbourhood entry in the North West.

• We have achieved a 12% reduction in our CO2 footprint.

• We have been judged as providing excellent Value for Money by the Audit Commission in 2010/11.

• There continues to be a reduction in crime with 2728 fewer incidents across Tameside since 2008/09. This is reflected in the increase of residents who now feel safe in their neighbourhood after dark from 58% in 2008 to 67% in 2011. We have also seen another significant improvement in our resident’s perceptions of anti-social behaviour as a problem in Tameside; this has reduced from 25% in 2010 to 17% in 2011.

• Working with our partners we have achieved a reduction in accidental dwelling fires, which are down by a third compared to four years ago, over 48,000 of homes have now had a Home Fire Risk Assessment (HFRA).

• Through the Spotlight Integrated Offender Management scheme which became operational in June 2009, there has been a reduction of 41% in the offending rate of the cohort through the first half of 2010/11.

• The health of the borough has improved and there are more people doing 30 minutes of exercise three times a week, and 1807 residents have been supported to successfully quit smoking in 2010/11 up from 1699 in 2009/10.

• We achieved a successful bid to the Local Sustainable Transport Fund for installation of a cycle pod at Ashton Pools.

• The Tameside Sports Development Team has supported over 185 volunteers to become qualified as coaches in a variety of sports at Level 1 or Level 2 through use of the ‘Get Coaching’ funding from Sports England.

• Since introducing our 10 year Sport and Physical Activity Strategy, we have seen a massive £27 million invested in sports and leisure facilities. Of this, £18 million has been spent on major improvements to Copley, Ashton, Hyde and Medlock Sports Centres and £9 million in other sporting facilities such as the Ken Ward Centre in Hattersley.

77

• The second round of our Caterham car scheme has been another success. Seven young people have been involved in the scheme which has provided hands on experience of mechanics and engineering and developed new skills.

• Following the severe winter weather of previous years, we have developed the Tameside Winter Weather Pledge in 2011. The pledge is to do everything possible to work with the community to keep the borough running as normal and to ensure minimum service disruption and help people to stay safe, particularly the most vulnerable people.

• We successfully secured additional funding to complete a major programme of road repairs that had resulted from the 2010/11 severe weather conditions.

• We received recognition for our good practice resulting in leading on AGMA wide projects for winter maintenance works, asset management and highway claims.

• Our Engineering and Civils Service was nominated for a Considerate Constructors Award.

• In 2011, Tameside became the first local authority in Greater Manchester to use social media to show the huge variety of work it carries out. Over 2300 messages were put on Twitter by 60 officers over a 24 hour period. The Tweets revealed the way the council serves

the community – from newborns to the elderly, tackling requests quickly and efficiently. A snapshot of activities shows a rare insight into daily life in a children’s home; the 24 hour community response team protecting elderly and vulnerable residents by sending wardens to their homes and using assisted technology like medicine and wander alarms; the speed of response to pest control queries, cemeteries staff planning a funeral webcast; problem solving for the public like helping a lady retrieve her keys from a drain and the progress engineers are making on the Ashton By-pass.

• The Pride of Tameside awards have recognised and celebrated the achievements of hundreds of local people, teams and businesses – showing that despite the current economic downturn – there is much in Tameside for us all to be very proud of.

Want to find out more about Tameside?

You can find us on

Twitter: www.twitter.com/TamesideCouncil

Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/ Ashton-under-Lyne-United-Kingdom/Tameside-Council/55100423375

888

www.facebook.com/pages

www.twitter.com/TamesideCouncil

3. Tameside: a good place to live and work We know our residents like living in Tameside because they tell us so in our three yearly independent opinion survey (85% are satisfied with their local area). Tameside has a strong identity and rich history developed through the distinct characteristics of its nine towns.

Created in 1974, Tameside brings together Ashton-under-Lyne, Audenshaw, Denton, Droylsden, Dukinfield, Mossley, Hyde, Mottram in Longdendale and Stalybridge. The borough is a mix of urban and rural areas, lying to the east of Greater Manchester and bordering the Peak District.

Prior to the recession Tameside had ten years of economic growth, benefiting from excellent road and rail links. The economy is diversifying away from a strong manufacturing base into service based industries. The 2010 Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) showed that 13 of our 141 lower super output areas (LSOAs) are in the top 5% most deprived areas nationally. This increased from 10 LSOAs in 2007. Tameside is now ranked as the 42nd most deprived area in England out of 326.

Our population continues to grow. On current projections, it will expand by 10% by 2033, and particular growth is expected in the number of older people. Planning for this change is a key focus of the Supportive Communities Partnership.

Tameside’s future success is intertwined with that of Greater Manchester. We play a leading role in the development of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, which generates 50% of the North West’s economic output and 5% of the total national economic output.

Although Tameside is a good place to live and work there are many challenges that we face as a borough. Alongside the effects of the recession and the levels of funding cuts to local authorities we also recognise the following challenges:

• Transforming our economy: we must create the conditions to enable us to change from our old industrial economy to new knowledge based work and continue to work with local residents and businesses to respond to the challenges of the recession. We must ensure our residents have the skills needed to reach their full potential. This drive is reflected in key initiatives such as Tameside Works First which supports local businesses and also in the Apprentice 50/50 scheme.

• Improving the transport system: to deliver our aspirations we need a 21st century transport system so we are investing in key transport initiatives such as the Ashton Northern Bypass Scheme and the Metrolink and promoting the Longdendale Integrated Transport Strategy. These investments are bringing other benefits to the borough such as new business opportunities.

• Children and young people: we must continue to improve educational attainment. Our Children’s Trust focuses on better outcomes for all. We must also maintain our focus on ensuring that all children are effectively safeguarded.

• Being and feeling safe: we must continue our success in reducing crime, focusing on a number of challenges and continuing to ensure that people feel safer.

• Improving health and well-being: life expectancy is increasing but there is more to do. Narrowing health inequalities is a priority, and together with our partners we are working to improve the health of all our residents. We will prioritise programmes to address Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) and Respiratory disease and work to address the harm caused to our community by alcohol and tobacco.

• Environmental improvements: a clean and green environment is vital to making all our neighbourhoods places where people choose to live. We will continue to invest in making our streets cleaner, our parks and open spaces greener, and improving the quality of our homes. We are working closely with our partners, and in particular through District Assemblies, to deliver sustainable environmental improvements and reduce our CO2 emissions.

99

10 1010

10

4. Our Vision for Tameside

Tameside Sustainable Community Strategy 2009-19

In 2009 Tameside’s Sustainable Community Strategy was updated to reflect Tameside’s changing local priorities and the emerging priorities across Greater Manchester. Over the coming decade the Tameside Strategic Partnership has committed to continue to work to reduce inequality and create sustainable communities across the borough at a neighbourhood level.

We will help to get more people into work, tackle health inequalities, support the most vulnerable people and reduce crime levels. We will build on our strengths by developing a strong economy, providing the right educational environment for everyone to achieve and making the borough more attractive.

In these difficult economic times we want to ensure that local companies are well placed to benefit from an upturn in the economy and to provide accessible transport links for local people across Tameside, the Greater Manchester Combined Authority and beyond. This vision is shared between more than 70 partner organisations in Tameside, from the public sector, the voluntary and community sector, and local businesses. These organisations come together as the Tameside Strategic Partnership (TSP), and are committed to delivering the Sustainable

Community Strategy. Our six overarching aims remain the same as does our overarching vision for the Borough, developed after listening to local residents and organisations that work in the Borough:

• Prosperous Tameside

We want Tameside to be a place where more and better jobs are available for everyone, and where businesses (including new businesses) can flourish and where residents have the skills they need to make the most of the opportunities they are presented with.

• Safe Tameside

We want Tameside to be a place where everyone feels safe and secure, where crime and antisocial behaviour rates are low and continue to fall, and where people have respect for each other.

• Attractive Tameside

We want Tameside to be a place that is clean, green and an attractive place to be for everyone.

• Healthy Tameside

We want Tameside to be a place where everyone is healthy – both physically and mentally – and feels positive about the future.

• Learning Tameside

We want Tameside to be a place where expectations and achievements are raised in schools, through exams and in other ways, so

that young people have the best possible start in life, and so that people in Tameside continue to improve their skills as adults.

• Supportive Tameside

We want Tameside to be a place where people get on and look out for each other, and everyone shares in the growing prosperity, so that Tameside is an even better place to live for everyone.

The Sustainable Community Strategy and Corporate Plan set out our vision of improving quality of life for the people of Tameside. This vision is articulated through the above six aims (plus a seventh corporate aim for the Council), supported by eleven improvement priorities (plus four additional corporate improvement priorities for the Council). Progress towards achieving those priorities is measured by a series of performance indicators. These indicators form a performance scorecard for the Sustainable Community Strategy and the Corporate Plan. The scorecard is called an area agreement, it commits the Council to targets that help us deliver and achieve our objectives. The new Tameside Area Agreement (TAA) 2011-15 began last year and prioritises key quality of life outcomes and explores the enablers and drivers of these outcomes.

1111

The eleven supporting improvement priorities are listed below:

• Transform the economy and renew our towns

• Increase skills and employment

• Reduce crime, re-offending and the harm caused by drugs and alcohol

• Improve quality of life and residents feelings of safety

• Improve the attractiveness of the borough

• Promote environmental sustainability

• Support people to live healthier lives

• Create schools fit for the future and raise attainment

• Improve the life chances of children and young people and adults

• Build sustainable neighbourhoods

• Help people to live independently

We recognise that this is an ambitious programme, requiring a high performing council, but Tameside has a record of rapid improvement alongside delivery of excellent services. We believe we have the capacity and systems in place to achieve our priorities. Our aim is to continue to be a leading council delivering efficient, responsive and high quality services that make a real difference to people’s lives.

Alongside our eleven priorities for quality of life we also have four improvement and efficiency priorities to help us improve the way we work and ensure we achieve our aims.

• Think customer

• Build capacity and capability

• Drive efficiency

• Manage performance

Delivering Our Vision

The Tameside Strategic Partnership (TSP) is led by the Council and involves health services, the police, other public services, small and large businesses, and representatives from the voluntary, community and other sectors. The TSP consists of a Board, delivery boards (where organisations meet to plan and deliver services together), and a wide range of smaller working groups. To make sure that the Sustainable Community Strategy’s vision is delivered, since 2003 the TSP Board has signed delivery board agreements each year with each of the delivery boards, setting out the work programme and targets for each one.

As part of the Spending Review, the Community Budgets programme was announced with the aim to pool budgets for local organisations to work together more effectively. To assist with delivering our vision we are working with the programme to develop our services. In December 2011 Greater

12 12

Manchester (GM) was announced as one of only four areas nationally to achieve Whole Place Community Budget status. Individual community budget pilots have been taking place across GM over the last 12 months in order to test new ways of working. The aim of the GM Whole Place work is to prove community budgets at a wider scale than the individual budget pilots. The initiative offers an excellent opportunity to work with Government on overcoming the blockages that prevent agencies working together and jointly investing in new delivery models.

GM has four main work programme themes including complex families, transforming justice, early years and health and social care. The programme will aim to make significant savings across public services by driving down demand and releasing cashable savings that can be invested in more early intervention models.

Tameside has developed two community budget programmes in the Smallshaw and St Peters neighbourhoods of Ashton-under-Lyne. These areas were selected by Government in early 2011 as areas to pilot new ways of working. In Smallshaw we are working with complex families to support health and employment outcomes and reduce demand on public services. In St Peters, the focus is on reducing reoffending by working intensively with a group of offenders to support them to gain volunteering and employment opportunities. Wider work to reshape public services is also taking place through an early

years programme in Denton South and a better life chances programme in Hattersley. All four Tameside programmes are providing learning to the wider GM whole place programme.

About this Plan

The Corporate Plan sets out Tameside Council’s strategic direction and improvement priorities for the next four years. It describes how we will help to deliver the vision of Tameside’s 2009-2019 Sustainable Community Strategy, by improving our own services and through closer work with our partners and residents.

This plan is organised into two parts. Part One, published in March, provides an overview of the Council’s direction and improvement priorities, and how they contribute to the Sustainable Community Strategy aims. Part Two, which is published in July, sets out details of our performance against the Council’s corporate performance measures, looking at past performance and future targets.

1313

5. Prosperous Tameside

Improvement Priorities

• Transform the economy and renew our towns • Increase skills and employment

Our Vision

“Tameside’s people and businesses are resilient. We know our strengths, and we build on them to achieve low carbon, sustainable growth. Tameside is a leading influence within Greater Manchester, and beyond. We’re known for innovation, and our economy is increasingly diverse. We have a strong enterprise culture, and our public, private and community sectors work together to support local growth. We’re well connected with the outside world, our people are healthy and highly skilled. We’re surrounded by great natural beauty, our towns and schools are flourishing, and our communities have never been as strong. It’s a great place to be”

The following objectives are included in our vision:

• People: Grow aspirations, skills and opportunities

• Enterprise: Build on existing strengths, while diversifying the economic base

• Place: Make Tameside a more desirable place to be

Tameside is facing a time of unprecedented change and opportunity. The world economy has been through a major recession and we are still feeling the effects. Unemployment is at its highest since 2009 and confidence in the economy is uncertain. Private finance is difficult to obtain and public spending is being reduced in order to address the budget deficit.

In the ten years to 2008 Tameside saw physical and social transformation in some of its most deprived communities. Unemployment was low, and we were able to attract new companies to the area. We made sure this investment provided jobs for people furthest from employment, and at the same time our GCSE results improved. Public sector jobs boomed, replacing many of those lost through decline in our traditional employment sectors such as manufacturing.

Perhaps the most important development of all was the formation of the Tameside Business Family, the public and private sector partnership committed to strengthening the local economy. In 2011, 214 more businesses registered with the Tameside Business Family compared to 2010.

The Business Summit was established as a forum for local business and public sector leaders to discuss issues affecting the local economy. The significance of the Business Family was recognised in 2010 by a Local Innovation Award for Building Economic Resilience.

2009 saw the launch of Tameside Works First, creating a local supply chain to support companies through the recession, and the Buy With Confidence Scheme to promote high quality local traders. Last year over £11 million was spent with local businesses which demonstrates the strength of our commitment to the local economy.

The Buy with Confidence Scheme reached 200 members in 2011 and a smart phone ‘app’ has been created by the council which lists all the approved traders making it easy and convenient for residents to find a firm they can trust.

Tameside’s economic context has changed significantly. It’s been recognised for some years that Greater Manchester operates as a single economy, and in 2009 this was cemented by the assessment of Greater Manchester’s economic performance in the Manchester Independent Economic Review and the publication of the Greater Manchester Strategy. New structures have been set up to progress the new Strategy, culminating in the launch of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority and the private sector-led Local Enterprise Partnership in 2011. Three Centres of Excellence have been

1414

14

established to support economic growth across Greater Manchester, known collectively as the Manchester Family of organisations.

The Enterprising Tameside strategy sets out Tameside’s direction in response to this changed world. We know that we are facing a major economic challenge, and that without a significant shift in the pace of change, we will not achieve our goals. We need new ways of thinking and working together in order to grow our economy, and we need all sectors to play their part.

New Partnerships

Over the last year the Tameside Strategic Partnership has undergone a review, to streamline its structure and work towards the Economic Vision for Tameside. The new Prosperous Delivery Board incorporates economic development, housing development, climate change, infrastructure and spatial planning, a far wider remit than that of the previous Tameside Economic & Learning Partnership. This extended remit reflects our holistic approach to improving Tameside’s prosperity. The Tameside Business Family continues to evolve, refreshing its governance arrangements and delivery mechanisms to reflect a three-way partnership between the private sector, the Council and Tameside College. A private sector-led Tameside Enterprise Board is emerging, which will provide strategic leadership on local business growth and enterprise.

Skills

Tameside has a low skilled, low wage economy, largely due to our manufacturing heritage. Employment has been badly hit by the recession, but before 2008 employment rates in Tameside were higher than the Greater Manchester average. However, our residents are less likely than others across Greater Manchester to have Level 3 and Level 4 equivalent skills, and this will make it hard for them to compete for the kind of jobs predicted to grow in future. Particular barriers to employment (and therefore higher wages) include the relatively high number of residents lacking entry level skills and qualifications and the proportion of residents claiming incapacity benefit.

We recognise the importance of skills development as a catalyst for change and will work with local schools and communities to increase the proportion of the population with basic and higher level skills. An important part of ensuring long term economic prosperity is ensuring that children and young people have access to high quality education and that they, along with adults, maximise their opportunities for training and employment.

We will work with local employers and public sector partners to increase skills levels across the Borough. We have in place an apprenticeship scheme aimed at giving local young people the opportunity to gain vital skills and experience in the workplace. The Tameside Employment Partnership has had success in placing local

1515

people into jobs and since its inception in 2002 it has worked with over 25 inward investors and has helped nearly 2,000 people into new jobs. Of these, nearly 25% have been residents of our most deprived communities and over 35% include the wider employment priority groups including over 50s, BME residents and people with disabilities.

Other areas of focus will include working with partners to ensure older people are not excluded from the job market; helping people who have suffered from ill health onto a pathway to employment; supporting people with disabilities into employment and working with training providers, businesses and local people to ensure that residents benefit from new opportunities for employment and training. We will continue to remove barriers to employment and encourage people back to work in our most deprived areas.

Enterprise

Tameside needs to secure more jobs in sectors forecast for future growth. Therefore we need to grow and attract new businesses. The new Tameside Centre for Enterprise represents the visible face of the revitalised Business Family, and provides support and incubation space to new business starts. Innovation support is available to new and existing businesses, and a peer mentoring system is being introduced, to provide private sector support to local business leaders. Local business support is complemented by

business and technical advice, and financial support, available from the Greater Manchester Growth Hub to any business wanting to grow. This includes an SME Loan Fund for businesses that have been turned down by banks and other commercial providers. Negotiations are under way to provide a Greater Manchester business startup advice service following the end of the existing contract.

Our successful Summer Entrepreneur programme in 2011 demonstrated the value of participation in enterprise activities to young people, regardless of whether they intend to become a business owner in future. Several local high schools have been working to raise awareness of the value of enterprise skills and the potential of self employment as a career.

Investment in the Economy

We are committed to promoting Tameside across Greater Manchester and beyond, to encourage inward investment. We are currently working with the Manchester Family to improve our understanding of Tameside’s potential ‘offer’ to new employers. We are working with the Manchester Family to access funding to improve our stock of offices, to help attract more companies working in knowledge-based industries to the area.

Opportunities for investment in local companies are being sought through joint work by Tameside

Council with the Manchester Family. In 2011 Tameside was successful in winning Regional Growth Fund support for local businesses, to create and safeguard local jobs. Further local projects have already been submitted to the Greater Manchester SME Growth Pipeline, funded via Greater Manchester’s successful RGF bid. We continue to talk to local businesses to identify future plans for growth.

The Council recognises the importance of making the most of scarce resources. It is considering the role of each of Tameside’s towns within the economy to inform a new Development Strategy, and has allocated £1.5m to the redevelopment of Ashton market square. This will be used to lever further investment as part of a phased approach to improving the centre of our major town.

The Metrolink extensions to Droylsden and Ashton are progressing on schedule and will help to widen the pool of employees available to companies in Tameside, and the pool of jobs available to our residents. Further improvements are planned to mainline rail services to Manchester and Leeds via Ashton and Stalybridge.

Ashton Northern Bypass has been completed, diverting traffic away from the town centre. Further improvements to major road links leading to our eastern neighbours are also under discussion. In future we aim to improve traffic flows across the M60 where it meets the M67 in Denton. 2011 has also seen the creation of the Integrated

1616

16

Transport Unit which has brought together services from across the Council into an integrated and more efficient customer centered service as well as producing savings of £175,000. There has also been a successful review of our Fleet Procurement exercise resulting in savings of £250k.

Housing will be an important factor in our economic success. Housing must be of the right type and quality to support the in-flow of working households to support the economy. We will ensure that our housing market is balanced, and provides high quality properties for a variety of budgets. We must ensure a good supply of affordable housing where local circumstances mean a shortage of options. In the past year we have put in place 72 new affordable housing units on site in Hattersley and St Petersfield with planning permission in place for a further 100 affordable homes. Our Housing Service also received a positive result from a peer review undertaken in February 2011.

Key Outcomes:

Supporting Measures:

Worklessness

Wages

NEET – Not in Education Employment or Training

Tameside is a good place to live

People get on well together

Volunteering

Skills – no qualifications (working age)

Skills – level 2 (working age)



NEET Care Leavers – Not in Education Employment or Training

Apprenticeships

Business

1717 17

6. Safe Tameside


• Reduce crime, re-offending and the harm caused by drugs and alcohol.

• Improve quality of life and residents feelings of safety

We want a community where people feel safe and secure. Working to reduce crime levels and make the streets safer for everyone is one of our residents’ top priorities. Crime rates in Greater Manchester remain relatively high, but we are achieving real successes in tackling crime. The key to our success is effective partnership working and an innovative and proactive approach to tackling crime and disorder.

Throughout the period of unrest in August 2011, the council remained in daily contact with GM Police and GM Fire & Rescue Service, our neighbouring authorities and our local communities to ensure accurate and speedy communication channels were in place and that our neighbourhoods remained safe places to live and work. This and Tameside residents’ response which saw local people travelling into Manchester to help with clean-up operations is proof of the huge sense of pride and respect people have in their local communities.

Together with our partners we have achieved a 41% decrease in overall (British Crime Survey) crime since 2003-04, equating to almost 7,435 fewer victims of crime. We will continue to work with the Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership to further reduce levels of crime across the borough.

We target resources at the areas most in need through the effective use of an intelligence led approach, this works at both a strategic and operational level and guides partners on how to deploy resources in the most effective ways. Through our Neighbourhood Policing model (PACT) we are working together with our partners to provide a unified, uniformed presence on our streets. Our drive to reduce antisocial behaviour and its perceptions has resulted in a decrease of 22% of residents who think that antisocial behaviour is a problem. But we know there is more to do. Our challenge is to continue to reduce crime alongside enhancing our residents’ perceptions of safety.

Burglary, vehicle crime and robbery are acquisitive crimes. This type of crime makes up a large proportion of the ‘volume’ crimes locally and

nationally, so tackling acquisitive crime is essential to maintaining low levels of crime across the borough. Areas of focus include: early intervention through effective communication; target hardening vulnerable areas and groups; reducing risk through environmental improvements; and getting the most from out CCTV systems.

Violent crime is not a ‘volume’ crime in Tameside but these offences often have long-lasting effects on victims and fear of violence can significantly affect how residents feel about where they live and work. Violent crime consists of two distinct types – public space and inter-personal. Public space crimes are closely linked to town centre violence and disorder associated with the night-time economy, such as pubs and clubs. Interpersonal violent crime includes domestic abuse, rape and sexual assault. Areas of focus will include: work with schools to improve understanding of young people; effective licensing policy; working with the families of young offenders and those at risk of offending as well as working to tackle domestic violence.

Key to maintaining crime reduction is work with offenders to prevent them from offending in the future. We know that a very small minority of offenders commit a disproportionate amount of crime so it’s important that we identify and work with these people and their families to divert them away from crime. We have implemented an innovative Integrated Offender Management Programme which is showing reductions of over

1818

18

40% in re-offending. Other areas of focus will include: ensuring effective use of powers such as restorative justice and payback, and assessment of support mechanisms within communities for offenders.

Fear of crime and antisocial behaviour directly affect peoples’ quality of life, limiting their ability to become involved in their local community. This fear is affected by many different variables, and understanding and effectively engaging local communities is central to our approach. In order to improve public perception, we must tackle crimes that are most visible in our communities and therefore have the most impact on how residents feel. Work to encourage active citizenship and social cohesion and promote interaction between different groups and ages of people is also key to developing safer communities and is covered elsewhere in this plan.

Areas of focus will include: promotion of Common Processes across the borough; promote access to Service Information Directory (SID) to inform employees and residents about opportunities for children and young people; continue to utilise PACT; effective use of powers regarding persistent offenders; improve hotspot analysis and evidence gathering.

Key Outcomes:

Overall Crime

Fear of Crime



Volunteering


Acquisitive Crime

Violent Crime

Re-offending

Anti Social Behaviour

Drugs

Confidence in the Criminal Justice System

First Time Entrants to the Youth Justice System

1919

7. Attractive Tameside Improvement Priorities

• Improve the attractiveness of the borough • Promote environmental sustainability

We recognise that a quality environment is key to enhancing and sustaining our quality of life. Social, economic and environmental issues are interwoven in the way in which they affect the sustainability of our environment. The impact of climate change, the changing economy, effects of globalisation, transport and traffic development pressures, and environmental pollution all continue to affect our environment.

Despite these challenges we are determined to pass onto succeeding generations an environment in better shape than the one we inherited. This commitment is demonstrated by key carbon reduction programmes which have achieved a 12% reduction in our carbon footprint. It is also demonstrated by our involvement as a major partner in the Greater Manchester Climate Change Strategy 2011. We have also formulated the Tameside ‘Low Carbon Business Network’ which gives local businesses the opportunity to take advantage of ‘green initiatives’ such as the Green Deal. In 2011 we completed and published the Tameside Decentralised Energy Study which provides valuable information in regard to the potential for renewable energy sources in the borough.

This reflects a realisation that our own activities affect the environment and that we as a council have a responsibility to monitor, manage and minimise our impact. We have a broad collaborative approach to improving the environment, covering energy use, waste, heritage, air and water quality, the natural and built environments, transport, urban green spaces, education, local environmental quality, sustainable procurement and a strong sustainable local economy. There are important connections therefore between creating a more prosperous and a more environmentally sustainable Tameside, and improving the health of our residents.

There have been steady improvements in many aspects of Tameside’s environment over the past twenty years; nevertheless, there remains much more work to do. Making Tameside a cleaner, greener, more accessible place for current and future generations to enjoy is a significant challenge, yet one which we are confident we can achieve through working in partnership with our local communities and partner organisations.

We know that the quality of our public spaces and cleanliness of the borough directly impact upon our residents’ satisfaction with living in Tameside. 98% of responding Citizen Panel members reported in 2011 that the floral displays had improved the appearance of the borough, and 66% said it made them feel better about their area. We have invested in our town centres, residential streets, cemeteries, parks and open spaces. We have cleaned up Tameside streets

2020

20

and encourage everyone to enjoy our green spaces through a wide range of countryside events. In 2011, the council was successful in receiving 12 Green Flag awards and 5 Green Pennants for parks and open spaces. Victoria Park, Denton also retained its Green Heritage Award.

The major renovation of Stamford Park began in 2011, following £3.9 million of Heritage Lottery Funding that was secured. The park is expected to be completed by the Summer of 2012. Also in 2011, the Royal Horticultural Society nominated Tameside to represent the United Kingdom in Entente Florale Europe, a Europe wide environmental competition last summer and was honoured with the second highest award. The award recognised the long term endeavours of the authority, community groups, residents and businesses in making Tameside a better place to live, work and visit.

Areas of focus will include continuing to improve the standard of our parks and green spaces and increasing community involvement; building on Tameside in Bloom; continuing to invest in our parks such as the Stamford Park restoration and increasing access to the countryside. Our District Assemblies are central to our approach to improve the attractiveness of the borough, promoting and solving environmental issues at a neighbourhood level, and working with local agencies and engaging local people to deliver sustainable outcomes.

We can also inform and encourage our residents to protect the environment through education programmes and improving domestic energy efficiency. Issues surrounding waste management are some of the most challenging environmental matters that we face today. The amount recycled in Tameside is increasing year on year, however more needs to be done in order to alleviate the problems as space in landfill sites diminishes and to comply with landfill allowances set by Government. Currently Tameside spends £14.5 million a year on waste collection and disposal but more than £4 million could be saved from landfill costs if the borough achieved a 50% recycling rate. To work towards this we are introducing free food caddies and biodegradable liners for Tameside residents along with an increase in the frequency of blue and brown bin collections.

Areas of focus include reducing energy consumption in council buildings; encouraging the use of renewable energy sources across the borough; ensuring services and grants are easily accessible to all areas of the community; raising awareness of energy efficiency; delivering an efficient and cost effective waste collection system; minimising waste sent to landfill and support recycling initiatives; supporting businesses in their waste management; improving air quality through targeting grossly polluting vehicles, enforcing the Environmental Protection Act, and raising awareness of air quality issues.

Key Outcomes:

Street Cleanliness

CO2 Emissions



Volunteering


Waste – recycling / reduction / landfill avoidance

2121

8. Healthy Tameside

Improvement Priority

• Support people to live healthier lives

We want everyone to be well. This involves supporting people to lead healthier lives whilst tackling health inequalities. We know that decent housing, education, employment, community safety, transport and leisure provision all have a significant impact. We can help ensure these are provided to a high standard.

Over the past ten years Tameside Strategic Partnership has been driven by the vision of reducing inequalities across the borough and improving quality of life by delivering agreed aims and priorities. We will prioritise programmes to address Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) and Respiratory disease and work to address the harm caused to our community by alcohol and tobacco. Tameside’s Health and Wellbeing Board (HWB) is a new Executive Body created by the council to enable us to carry out the new function of overseeing the strategic coordination of commissioning across NHS, social care and public health services in Tameside. The HWB will provide a platform for partners to work better together to secure improvements in health and care services and in health and wellbeing. HWBs are a key element of the proposed Health and Social Care Bill and are the means by which local authorities will deliver their new duties to improve the strategic coordination across local NHS, social care, children’s services and public health.

We help both residents and council employees take better care of their physical and mental health. By working closely with our partners and the local community we have actively promoted the idea that ‘health is everybody’s business’.

Our Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) identifies ‘the big picture’ in terms of the health and wellbeing needs and inequalities of Tameside. Our JSNA will continue to inform both our policy and commissioning decisions across the Tameside Strategic Partnership. This alongside other initiatives delivered with our partners have helped us to make real progress on improving health outcomes in Tameside, but we know there is much more to do.

Life expectancy for males in Tameside is 75.7 years and for females is 80.3 years, this is compared to 78.5 and 82.5 for the England average respectively. We aim to see an improvement in life expectancy against national levels and also narrow the gap in life expectancy and disability free living between the most deprived and least deprived communities. We are also working hard to tackle the harm caused by alcohol and will work to drive down levels of alcohol related hospital admissions and mental health issues linked to excessive alcohol consumption and alcohol fuelled disorder. We are implementing our alcohol strategy through training front line staff – whether from the council, health or the criminal justice system, to recognise and deal with alcohol related harm and we are

redesigning alcohol services to meet the needs of harmful and dependent drinkers. We are also tackling supply and demand through licensing and enforcement.

2010/11 saw us help more people to quit smoking, our smoking cessation service helped over 1800. Alongside this the Tameside Tobacco Alliance brings together a range of agencies who look at the issues around Tobacco sale, use and harmful effects. There are a range of initiatives to support those who are ready to give up smoking at various points in their lives through a range of agencies and services such as working to reduce the numbers of women smoking in pregnancy by visiting the labour wards at the hospital. Work is also being undertaken on publicising the effects of second hand smoke on children and the oral health concerns from the use of chewing tobacco.

Our 5 Ways to Wellbeing Campaign was launched in October 2011 to raise awareness of the issues and the practical steps that individuals, groups, communities and organisations can take to maintain and improve health. As part of our Health and Wellbeing Strategy it empowers people to take control of their own health, the campaign also sought to encourage the whole community to become involved, to make a contribution and dilute if not eliminate the perceived negatives surrounding mental health.

2222

22

Our new integrated Health and Wellbeing Service offers information, advice and support to vulnerable adults and Carers in Tameside, through the provision of an early intervention assessment or Carer assessment. The assessment serves to identify an individual’s ability to manage their own life independently, whilst remaining active and well in their own home, and areas where they may need support. The Carer assessment identifies areas where a Carer may need support to continuing in their caring role. Such support may include information and advice in relation to: welfare benefits; accessible transport, buddying and befriending schemes; local community and faith groups; luncheon clubs, and help to access cleaning, gardening and handyman services.

Our health improvement priorities continue to be: to reduce smoking; improve diet, nutrition and oral health; increase physical activity; reduce alcohol and substance misuse; reduce teenage pregnancy; and improve mental health. Making communities more active is the key to increasing life expectancy and lowering obesity levels. The Tameside Sports and Physical Activity Alliance (SPAA) brings together key partners from across sport, health, education, environment, community safety and the local voluntary and community sectors with the aim to increase participation in physical activity and sport and reduce health inequalities. We have reviewed our services to ensure that adults, families and children can attain and maintain a healthy weight and to encourage healthy nutrition and accessible physical activity.

2323

We are committed to ensuring a wide range of different activities are available through our refurbished sports facilities and our green spaces and are accessible and effectively communicated to all our residents.

Areas of focus include running joint campaigns with our partners to promote healthy lifestyles, focusing on areas experiencing poorer health outcomes. These campaigns range from the promotion of our Active Teens programme, our sport and physical activity programmes aimed at young people, families and adults which target people most in need by offering an extended range of concessionary options; supporting informed choice and personalisation of support and information regarding teenage conceptions; promoting breast feeding and the reduction of smoking in pregnancy; encouraging smoking cessation and smokefree environments through out ‘What will you miss?’ and ‘Take 7steps out’ campaigns and encouraging sensible drinking through our Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy.

We have redesigned our Contraceptive and Sexual Health services following an equity audit which recognised that access to our specialist sexual health services was excellent, but access to our contraceptive services was more limited. The service is now available every weekday evening and on Saturdays. An outreach service has also been set up to work with vulnerable young people. The YouThink teams work has also been refocused to ensure that young people have the information and skills they need to decide when they need contraceptive and

sexual health services and that they have the understanding and confidence to access the support they need.

We will continue to address the impact of the current economic climate on our recent successes as well as working with our health partners to tackle the issue of excess winter deaths by addressing the causes of fuel poverty through delivery of the affordable warmth strategy. In 2011, along with our partners we continued to work on our affordable warmth strategy. The Kill the Chill campaign was launched again for a second year in Tameside in October 2010 through to the end of March 2011. As a result of the campaign there were a total of 1,607 calls to the energy Saving Trust advice line from Tameside residents between October 2010 and March 2011, an increase of 367% over the previous six months. As a result of these referrals a total of £2,422,234 of Warm Front grant was spent on boiler replacements, cavity wall and loft insulation in Tameside homes.

During 2011 the Toasty Tameside free insulation campaign was also launched, in line with other AGMA authorities. The scheme offers ‘free to all’ cavity wall and loft insulation. As at November 2011 there had been 1,837 Tameside referrals for insulation.

Key Outcomes:

Life Expectancy

All Age All Cause Mortality



Volunteering


Cancer

Cardio-Vascular Disease

Smoking

Physical Activity / Exercise

Alcohol

Obesity / Diet

Affordable Warmth

Breastfeeding

24 2424

24

9. Learning Tameside


• Create Schools fit for the future and raise attainment

• Improve the life chances of children and young people and adults

We have a clear vision for children and young people in Tameside of promoting and achieving better outcomes for all, which is enshrined in our Children and Young People Plan. We believe our joint vision is widely understood across all partners, at all levels across the Children and Young People Strategic Partnership, providing a strong message of cooperation and integration and leading to better outcomes. This commitment is reflected in the achievement of the best ever GCSE results by Tameside’s pupils.

A learning borough is not just about opportunities for children and young people. It is important that the whole of Tameside is a learning community. For this reason adult learning is a key focus of our work and our partnership with Tameside and Ashton colleges is crucial. The Council supports adult learning through its library services along with many other informal learning opportunities through museums and Archives services.

It is vital that young people have the best life chances and opportunities, not only to enrich their own lives, but to further contribute to the life, economy and infrastructure of the borough. All of our work is dedicated to this end and we have developed innovative, ground-breaking processes to enable this to happen.

2525

Millions have already been spent on secondary and primary schools across Tameside. Between 1999 and 2009 we spent £158 million on building and remodelling schools and education buildings. Building Schools for the Future has been a great success with new schools at Mossley Hollins; St Damian’s and New Charter, Ashton; and White Bridge Dukinfield all complete and five more are in the pipeline.

This massive programme of work is not just about bricks and mortar, it’s also about transforming the way our young people learn and also providing fantastic resources for the community. We are continuing to reap the benefits with students achieving their best ever exam results this year. Just as importantly as achieving higher attainment, young people are also developing higher aspirations.

Tameside will have some of the most modern and well equipped schools in the country when the work is completed. Although the future investment in schools is expected to be focussed on condition deficiencies and providing sufficient places in schools of standard designs, our bespoke approach to designing the schools means that they are unique and more importantly young people have had a major say in the new designs and facilities.

The aim of the Building Schools for the Future programme was to combine “significant investment in buildings (and ICT) with significant educational reform”. BSF equips schools with modern teaching and learning facilities. New building designs will provide teachers with an opportunity to take real advantage of new approaches to learning.

In Tameside we are supporting teachers and learners with the transformation agenda with a range of practical support and initiatives. In addition to our new buildings we will develop the Tameside entitlement curriculum; better use of data identifying what pupils can do and raising aspirations of teachers; implementation of Greater Manchester Challenge in Tameside, aiming to raise standards, improve leadership and establish data families across the sub region.

We are working to ensure that all children and young people in Tameside achieve the Every Child Matters outcomes of being healthy, staying safe, enjoying and achieving and achieving economic well being. Our strategies for achieving this are outlined in our Children Plan.

Partnership is key to ensuring good health outcomes and we have identified clear priorities, supported by joint appointments and targeted secondment opportunities. We are conscious of the need to improve health outcomes, particularly of vulnerable groups. There have been sustained improvements in keeping children safe over the last three years, driven by the strategic integration

26 26

of agencies through the Children and Young People’s Strategic Partnership. The Tameside Safeguarding Children Board is the key statutory mechanism to ensure that agencies work together effectively to reduce the incidence of child abuse and neglect. It both challenges and supports the work of the Children’s Trust and acts in the capacity of “critical friend”.

Raising pupils’ achievements, improving the quality of education and continuing to reduce the gap in the outcomes of Looked After Children and other vulnerable groups are key priorities of the Council. We have a ten year trend of improvement across all key stages of education as a result of our commitment to a broad balanced entitlement curriculum. Our aim is for all Tameside children to achieve high standards not just of attainment but of behaviour, self-esteem and understanding of the world.

To make a positive contribution as adults, young people need to have the opportunities, from an early age, to learn about citizenship and positive community developments. The impact of this is seen in the high quality of consultation with young people, as well as the impact on the community, where many young people make a significant difference to the lives of people around them. Economic wellbeing is also to the development of the whole community. We continue to make good progress in supporting childcare provision, increasing the numbers of young people in education, employment and training and ensuring that looked after children as well as other vulnerable groups get a good start to adult life.

Areas of focus include work on monitoring, evaluation, training and quality assurance for all public and private sector early years settings; work with Tameside’s children centres and extended schools; greater focus on care planning for looked after children and monitoring educational attainment via the “virtual school”; emphasis on ‘staying in rates’ through improved links with colleges, workplace placements and an emphasis on raising the aspirations of 17 year olds. We will also promote our Families Information Service and Service Information Directory (SID); support families to help children and young people achieve their best potential; work with secondary schools and pupils to target persistent absence; improve literacy and numeracy amongst our residents; increase the number of young people completing their courses

and support people to access higher level skills training.

Key Outcomes:


GCSE – 5 or more A*-C incl. English & Maths



Volunteering

Key Stage 2 – Level 4 – English & Maths

Skills – level 2 (age 19)

Skills – level 3 (age 19)

Early Years Attainment

2727

10. Supportive Tameside


• Build sustainable neighbourhoods • Help people to live independently

Sustaining harmony within the community and enhancing community relations through positive joint cultural activities is central to the quality of life for all our residents. Everyone benefits from living in an area where people trust and respect each other, especially younger, older and vulnerable people. It is also important that people have the opportunity to play an active role in local life through volunteering, ensuring that the talent and experience of residents of all ages is encouraged for the benefit of the borough. Our supportive community must also give people of all ages and backgrounds, with a wide range of needs, the opportunity to live an independent life in their own homes.

We know that our residents do not all have the same life chances. There are significant inequalities in outcomes between areas and communities in Tameside, including life expectancy, unemployment, educational attainment and experiences of crime. We have however made considerable improvements in narrowing the gap between the outcomes of our most vulnerable groups and the borough average, while also increasing the opportunities for all. We know that achieving strong, harmonious communities with similar life chances for all our residents is a significant challenge. Beaumont Place

Tameside has a rich history and strong community spirit. Nine out of ten residents like living in the borough, and eight out of ten think that people from different backgrounds get on well together in their area. The council has an important role to play in facilitating social cohesion and ensuring opportunities exist for all residents to take an active part in their communities. We know that our residents think the most important elements in making somewhere a good place to live are low levels of crime, clean streets, good transport, good schools and good shopping facilities. We aim to improve each of these aspects through delivering the council specific improvement priorities in this plan. In delivering these priorities, our plans will also reflect any differences in outcomes between communities and areas.

Areas of focus include maximising access to volunteering opportunities in Tameside; promoting integration and social cohesion, in particular through expanding cultural activities and engagement; improving standards for vulnerable people living in ‘non decent’ homes through equity release and fuel poverty initiatives; working with housing partners to improve the quality and sustainability of housing provision; developing our debt advice service targeting vulnerable people; and improving the accommodation pathway for young adults leaving care.

2828

28

In order to achieve strong and harmonious communities for our residents it is key that we consult on their views, so the way in which we engage with our communities has changed. In response to a number of national policies, legislation changes and guidance, together with consistent key messages from our communities, the Health and Wellbeing Service has developed a new and exciting approach to community engagement and consultation.

The Information Ambassadors network (IAN) has been developed by the Community Engagement and Market Development Team as a new and innovative way of working with networks, groups and communities of interest in Tameside to empower, develop and support them to become “Wellbeing, Information & Support Hubs”. The IAN acts as a gateway into the community setting and beyond, allowing us to engage and consult with more people at a lower community level than ever before. Building on the success of previous engagement forums, such as RIQ, The Big Chat

and Listen Here, the development of the IAN is fundamental to our approach to building social capital and community capacity in Tameside as it provides an opportunity to engage with key members of the community together with the community members that they represent. It also allows us to engage with other areas of the community and harder to reach people. As a consequence, this will enable us to provide more targeted information to relevant groups and people.

People should be supported to live independently, exercise control over their lives and participate fully. An increasing number of people are living longer, but they do so with more complex conditions such as dementia and chronic illnesses. The vast majority of people want to live in their own homes for as long as possible. Our population is aging and by 2033 the proportion of Tameside people aged over 65 will have increased by 55%. We estimated that in 2010 over 12,000 people aged over 65 were living alone. Our focus will be on improving quality of life and well being and providing increased support for these older residents.

Tameside have developed a Reablement Service in response to the Government policy drivers “Putting People First” and “Transforming Adult Social Care”. Reablement is a short term intensive support, for up to 6 weeks to help adults regain or maintain as much independence as possible working with them to learn or relearn the things you need for everyday life.

2929

disabled people and Bendix Court is a supported Housing Scheme designed to help people with mental health problems move towards mainstream accommodation. In 2011 the Ravensfield New Extra Care Sheltered Housing Scheme began and is now near completion.

We will continue to work with the lowest earners in Tameside and those in receipt of benefits to ensure that those entitled to benefits receive them. With an estimated £50 Million being lost in benefits to Tameside residents in coming years, the work of welfare rights contributes to keeping money in Tameside.

Key Outcomes:

The introduction of this service has lead to positive outcomes for people, having control of their lives and being supported to maintain their independence by receiving more intense support initially and then opportunities to regain their skills which leads to less dependence on formal services. 56% of people accessing the Reablement service have left with a reduced package of care or no package of care at all, due to support in regaining/developing skills to maintain independence. In addition 81% of people who received Reablement services following discharge from hospital are still at home 91 days after discharge.

We will continue to develop the Reablement service to ensure that all people who are identified as being able to benefit from a period of Reablement are able to access the service and make informed choices around their long term care needs at the right time and in the most appropriate setting.

We have a wide-ranging strategy that is transforming the way we support adults to maintain their independence and live valued active lives. We have invested in extra care housing for older people for several years and are now extending this to younger adults. Our highly successful Beaumont Place is the first extra care housing scheme built specifically for adults with learning disabilities, we have recently added Somerset Place. Lomas Court is an extra care housing scheme that supports younger physically

In addition to building schemes we have made changes to the way we support people in their own homes, ensuring individuals are safe and receive individual packages of home and community support. Housing-related assistance and jointly commissioned services with a range of partners are also a feature of our promoting independence strategy. We have also invested in a wide range of assistive technology aimed at supporting independence.

Targeted actions include a range of services to support carers; further development of schemes that support early intervention to reduce the need for intensive health and social care (through our Health and Wellbeing Service); increasing the opportunities for younger adults to move into independent living schemes; championing the personalisation agenda with Person Centred Planning in all service areas, to enable those in need of support and their carers to be more involved in determining their future; and the expansion of individual budgets and direct payments so people who use social care services and their families will increasingly shape and commission their own services.

Low Income Households



Volunteering


Homelessness

Helped to live at home

Re-enablement services

Accidental dwelling fires

Volunteering

Safeguarding

Teenage Pregnancy

Take up of formal childcare by low-income working families

30 3030

30

11. Delivering efficient & responsive services

Improvement Priorities:

• Think customer • Build capacity and capability • Drive efficiency • Manage Performance

We place our residents and service users at the centre of everything we do. Ensuring that we are delivering high quality services that are developed around the needs of the customer which deliver better outcomes for individuals is central to our vision.

Our approach to delivering services lies at the heart of our improvement model, focusing attention on the requirements and experiences of our users and creating a culture and environment where our services can deliver ‘added value’ and drive out failure. Adding value is particularly important in the current financial and economic climate to ensure that our services are meeting our customers’ requirements whilst accommodating the efficiencies and savings set down by Government. Our Big Conversation will ask our customers about their views about the services they access and how these services could be delivered in the future. This consultation programme is essential to allow our residents and service users to see the scale of changes that we must make but to also ensure that everyone is able to air their views and have them taken into account. This consultation will assist us

in finding new and increasingly effective ways of meeting the challenges we face in delivering the Sustainable Community Strategy (SCS), the Council’s Corporate Plan and the Council’s Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS).

Equality and fairness is about making sure that everyone has the same opportunities in life. Tameside Council is committed to promoting equality for everyone, and working to identify and remove inequalities across the borough with our partners. This means that we need to make sure everyone gets the same benefit from our services. Different groups may be having more difficulty in getting and using our help and advice, and managers need to collect and use information to help them find out what groups these are, and how the difficulty can be overcome. Equality Impact Assessments (EIAs) help us meet our legislative requirements to assess and analyse the effect our decisions have on our various customer groups. It is especially important that we are able to demonstrate that full consideration and due regard has been given to people’s needs, and that those individuals charged with making decisions are aware of any impact.

Continuing areas of focus under our ‘Think Customer’ aim include building on our achievement of the Customer Services Excellence Award for the third year and as part of this ensuring that more residents are satisfied with their experience of contacting the council. 2011 has also seen the achievement of a new governance standard for our registrars service,

which is only awarded to high performing services. We are also aware that during such financial challenges we need to be operating at an efficient capacity in order to provide the best possible services and wellbeing for people in Tameside. Our ‘Capability and Capacity’ achievements are demonstrated by our retention of the Gold Investors in People (IiP) award which is the highest award achievable.

Creating and maintaining high performance is only possible if excellent services are combined with good value for money. Our work under our ‘Drive Efficiency’ aim has been recognised by external auditors again through the receipt of our annual audit letter, the letter in particular notes that the council has “plans in place to deliver further efficiencies and to meet the financial challenges which it faces. The plans in place are designed to limit and manage the risks involved and the potential impact on local services.”

Performance management at Tameside means having a clear and timely understanding of how we are doing in relation to our aims and priorities. This involves bringing together an extensive range of performance information from across our services and partnerships, with information about our projects, risks, organisational health, resident and customer feedback and finance. In an organisation as complex as a local authority, it is essential that performance is managed at many different levels, starting with individual employee targets and ending up with reports to the council’s Senior Managers and Executive Members.

3131

32 3232

The most important information is reported to Executive Board meetings on a quarterly basis, providing effective challenge and a focus on areas of risk.

Performance management is essential to the way we run Tameside. It helps identify what needs to be done, develop plans to address those needs, put resources in place to support those plans and monitor progress towards agreed targets/ milestones. The most successful organisations have an effective performance framework in place. The framework we have in Tameside is essential to good corporate governance which in turn supports our work to improve the borough and the quality of life for people who live here. Our framework includes the council’s business planning system, which lies at the heart of our approach to performance management. This unique IT system brings together individual and team actions to form service unit action plans, which group together to become directorate business plans. Actions and issues around human resources, finance, risk, consultation, equalities, performance indicators, projects and objectives are brought together with the council’s Priorities and Community Strategy aims. The business plans are regularly updated and monitored to ensure they are helping to drive performance forwards across the authority.

Effective challenge is an integral part of how Tameside Council and its partners manage Tameside. It ensures that the partnership and constituent organisations remain focused on improvement and achievement. Challenge helps to identify areas for benchmarking and the development of best practice. Similarly it supports individuals and teams further develop their own skills and capacity, which in turn helps to deliver better outcomes for local people. Aspects of challenge include: Peer assessment (learning and sharing best practice with other Councils), Performance Management, Scrutiny and Risk Management

The Corporate Plan will be monitored as a whole by the council’s Executive Board on a quarterly basis. Performance against all the measures of success will be reported, with judgements made on likelihood of achieving the challenging targets set for each measure.

Key Outcomes:

Avoidable Contact (average number of contacts per resolved request)

Satisfaction with experience of contacting the Council

Achievement of the Customer Service Excellence (CSE) Standard

Achievement of Investors in People (IiP)

Levels of job motivation amongst employees

Satisfaction with training and development

Unqualified Value for Conclusion from External Auditors

Total Savings Achieved

Resident Satisfaction with Value for Money

Performance against the TAA – improvement

Performance against the TAA – achieved target

Resident Satisfaction with the quality of Council services


The key outcomes above are supported by a number of internal management measures. Further details can be found in the Corporate Plan Part 2.

3333

12. Medium Term Financial Plan & financial information

Robust medium term financial planning is a key requirement in the current economic environment. Ensuring the ongoing stability of budgets is a critical task, as it will ensure that viable, effective services can continue to be provided to local people and that managers can plan long-term for their services and ensure that resources are deployed in the best way – to achieve greater efficiency and to align their resources with the priorities of the Council.

Business Plans for each Service Area and Service Units also identify the priorities for that area and each action is linked with a Community Strategy theme or Corporate Governance priority. The business plans identify individual actions, ensuring that there is a connection between the work of individual staff or teams and the aims of the Community Strategy.

The table shows how resources are allocated to deliver the Council’s priorities. The tables on the next pages set out the projected revenue and capital spend as approved by the Council in February 2012.

The Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) is the financial expression of the priorities of elected members, as expressed in the corporate plan. In particular, the MTFS must contribute to and inform the development of service delivery plans in order to ensure that commitments do not exceed forecast resources over the period and for each year, and that expenditure is focused on priority areas.

The Council has a well developed financial planning process which supports the delivery of the Council’s priorities. The Medium Term Financial Strategy covers the revenue and capital spending plans of the Council, enabling expenditure on service priorities whilst securing Value for Money and delivery of low Council Tax increases. The Cabinet determines precisely which areas receive additional investment and which receive less in line with these priorities and informed by consultation with local residents and businesses. The principles of resources following priorities are also applied to the formulation of the capital programme.

2012/13 £000

2013/14 £000

2014/15 £000

2015/16 £000

resources 200,101 185,035 187,587 165,813

spending 200,101 210,656 224,388 236,324

total savings 0 25,621 36,801 70,511

annual savings * 22,192 25,621 11,180 33,710

*savings for 2012/13 are included in the planned spending figures

3434

34

Priority Resource Allocation Process

Tameside Area Priorities TSP

Council

Services

Tameside Council Priorities

Service Priorities and Targets

Community Strategy

Corporate Plan

Business Plans

People Strategy (including the

workforce plan)

Capital Budget

Asset Management Plan

Capital Receipts

Revenue Budget

Base Budget linked to services and priorities in business plans

Service Reviews and the

improvement and efficiency programme

Service Savings

New Schemes

Business Plans Identify captital resources and link to priorities

Capital appraisal process links Disposals list linked Capital receipts used

Capital Resources and Expenditure

- Supported capital expenditure

2012/13 (£000s)

50

2013/14 (£000s)

0

- Unsupported capital expenditure

12,000 12,000

- Capital grants and other contributions

- Capital receipts

13,232

8,860

8,010

16,468

- Revenue contributions and reserves

Total Resources

2,140

36,282

1,612

38,090

- Children Learning and Economic Services

25,058 8,080

- Community, Environment, Adults and Health Services

- Governance

4,136

126

545

0

- Slippage assumed into future years

- Finance

Total Proposed Programme

(3,300)

10,262

36,282

0

31,556

40,181

projects to corporate priorities, to corporate priorities to resource priority Savings targets prioritising invest to save capital schemes

allocated to services schemes.

3535

2012/13 £000

2013/14 £000

2014/15 £000

2015/16 £000

ESTIMATED RESOURCES

estimated surplus on collection fund 395 - - -

amount to be funded from council tax 78,087 78,087 78,087 78,087

Formula Grant/NDR 98,103 86,074 88,626 86,312

Other Government Funding 23,491 20,849 20,849 1,389

Mossley Parish Council - levied separately 25 25 25 25

TOTAL ESTIMATED RESOURCES 200,101 185,035 187,587 165,813

ESTIMATED SPENDING

Children, Economic and Learning Services 82,688 81,161 82,155 82,155

Dedicated Schools Grant

Community, Adults, Environmental and Health Services 95,733 97,192 98,296 99,296

Director of Governance 1,249 1,285 1,313 1,313

Director of Finance 992 1,115 1,180 1,180

Corporate & Democratic Core 5,040 4,943 4,844 4,844

Capital, financing, inflation and demand pressures 14,399 24,960 36,600 47,536

TOTAL ESTIMATED SPENDING 200,101 210,656 224,388 236,324

CUMULATIVE SAVINGS TARGET (2012/13 included above) 22,192 25,621 36,801 70,511

ANNUAL SAVINGS 22,192 25,621 11,180 33,710

3636

36 37 37

corporate plan 2012-15 - tameside are pleased to present tameside council’s corporate plan for...

Documents