Kent Agreement 2 2008-11

Kent Agreement 2

Kent’s first LAA was for the period 2005-2008 called it The Kent Agreement. From 2008 to 2011 the successor agreement, Kent Agreement 2 was delivered.

About Kent Agreement 2

Kent partners have a long and positive history in developing and delivering Local Public Service Agreements and Local Area Agreements. Kent Agreement 2 was the third such Kent based agreement with Government and built on the past with each being more embedded across Kent partners. The 2008 KA2 was a genuine multi-agency agreement. All stages of it, from the identification of priority areas through to negotiation of targets and planning for delivery, was led by the Kent Partnership and involved partners from across all sectors in Kent.

The starting point for developing Kent Agreement 2 was Kent’ Sustainable Community Strategy called ‘Vision for Kent’. At this time the Vision for Kent set out, within eight themes how the social, economic and environmental wellbeing of the county will be improved over a 20 year period. The Kent Agreement was the shorter term and more focussed three year delivery programme which took forward the broader and longer term aspirations within the Vision for Kent. The document below illustrates how the KA2 targets support the eight themes of the Vision for Kent.

Kent’s Local Area Agreement reflected the issues and priority areas where we were either already performing well but wanted to improve even further or where there was an evidenced need for improvement. Kent’s LAA contained 35 targets chosen from a national ‘menu’ of 197 National Indicators.

Most of the targets in the Agreement were signed off in June 2008. However, because some of the baseline and target data was not available at that time, a second tranche of targets was agreed at a ‘refresh’ in March 2009. At that stage, Government decided not to finalise/secure targets where the impact of the rcession was uncetrain. For Kent, this meant that the final four targets were not agreed until March 2010. The final (March 2010) agreement can be found below.

KA2 Delivery Planning
Each outcome had a lead agency and an accountable officer.

At the outset of KA2 a Delivery Plan was prepared for each outcome. These were refreshed in mid-2009.

KA2 Performance Reporting and Risk Register

1. County Level Performance
Progress on KA2 outcomes were reported to the Kent Public Service Board every 6 months.
Report were made to PSB on:

2. District based LSP Priorities and Performance
(a) District based LSP Priorities
Critical to the successful delivery of KA1 outcomes was engagement of district based LSPs. At the outset, district based LSPs reviewed the 35 outcomes in KA2 and identifed whether each was a High, Medium or Low priority for their local area.

(b) District based LSP Performance
Wherever possible, performance data for the 35 KA2 outcomes was presented on a district basis. This was shared with LSPs and was used to track progress of outcomes at both County and district levels.

KA2 Roles and Accountabilities
1. Overarching KA2 Governance Framework
Prior to the commencement of KA2 a Governance Framework for the Kent Agreement was developed and agreed by the Kent Partnership and Kent Public Service Board and agreed subsequently by individual agencies.

2. Statutory Partner Authorities and other Partners in KA2
Successful delivery requires the colelctive engagement of a wide variety of partners. A solid foundation of support was secured for KA2.

Statutory Guidance ‘Creating Strong, Safe and Prosperous Communities’ was issued by Government in July 2008 and makes a distinction between ‘Statutory partner authorities’ and ‘other partners’. Twenty six statutory partners are specifically named as such in the Local Government Public Involvement in Health Act 2007.

Chapters 5 and 6 of the Statutory Guidance explains the different expectations and requirements of Partner Authorities and other partners. These chapters can be viewed by following the link under the ‘references’ section of this document.

3. Key Roles
This section gives further details about the accountabilities for key individuals.

- Kent Agreement Manager
The Kent Agreement Manager was the overall programme manager for KA2. On behalf of the Kent Partnership he lead on all matters relating to KA2. He acted on behalf of the Kent PSB and KP Working Groups, including performance reporting and risk management. He was the principal central contact with GOSE. Responsibilities also included chairing the Kent Partnership Support Group and maintaining a continuous dialogue across the Partnership on all LAA matters.

- KA2 Theme Coordinators
The eight Theme Co-ordinators took a strategic view on the delivery of their theme. Each theme comprised between three and six KA2 indicators. They maintained an overview on the delivery planning, progress and risk for the KA2 indicators within their theme. They, in particular, looked at the broader issues such as cross connections between KA2 indicators and other plans and strategies. Through their membership of the Kent Partnership Support Group they assisted the Kent Agreement Manager in the overall programme management. They also acred as a source of support and advice to Indicator Accountable Officers.

- KA2 Countywide Indicator Accountable Officer
For each countywide indicator there was a designated countywide lead partner and a nominated accountable officer responsible for the successful delivery of the target. This included the preparation of an effective delivery plan, engagment of other delivery partners and preparation of monitoring reports. They were responsible, in conjunction with the delivery partners who signed up to support delivery, for the successful delivery of the target. If performance is not on track, between them, they took the necessry first line corrective actions. If necessary they involved the relevant Working Group of the Kent Partnership.

- District LSP Facilitating Officer
Area / District LSP Facilitating Officers acted as the focal point for the Local Action Plan (LAP) in each LSP. The precise role was determined within each LSP with most including programme management, performance management and risk assessment. They acted as the central point of contact between the Area / District LSP and the countywide KA2 delivery performance and risk management. They also identified opportunities for the Area / District LSP to engage with the working groups of the Kent Partnership.