Local Area Agreements (LAAs) represent a radical new approach to the way local authorities and their partners can use government funding to support the implementation of national and local priorities in local areas. As emphasised in the LAA guidance
, they are agreements struck between government, the local authority and its partners in an area (working through the local strategic partnerships) to improve public services and which focus on a core set of outcomes for the local area.
They will simplify the number of additional funding streams from central government going into an area, help to join up public services more effectively and allow greater flexibility in finding solutions for particular local circumstances.
Local Area Agreements will help devolve decision making and reducing bureaucracy. This should allow efficiency gains and a greater proportion of public servants to be directly involved in front line delivery in every region of the country.
Central government will continue to set high level strategic priorities and targets, but they will need to allow local authorities and their partners to decide jointly which priorities best reflect local circumstances, while still contributing to the achievement of national targets.
There are 4 blocks to an LAA:
- Children and Young People
- Healthier Communities and Older People
- Safer and Stronger Communities
- Economic Development and Enterprise
What progress has been made?
In 2005/06, Local Area Agreements were piloted in 20 areas of the Country, In April 2006 a second round of 66 areas commenced.
The remaining 63 areas will be eligible to have LAAs in place by April 2007.
Derbyshire LAA
Derbyshire was one of 20 areas in the country chosen to pilot local area agreements. The commitment and strength of partnership working in Derbyshire was one of the main reasons why Derbyshire was chosen as a pilot.
The Derbyshire Local Area Agreement (LAA) was developed by the Derbyshire Partnership Forum and agreed by Ministers in March 2005.
The Derbyshire LAA has four thematic areas or "blocks" as follows:
- Safer Communities
- Healthier Communities and Older People
- Children and Young People
- Sustainable and Stronger Communities.
The agreement runs for three years from 1 April 2005 to 31 March 2008 and is updated annually through a refresh. The refresh process provides an opportunity to update indicators, targets and funding streams including within the LAA.
The original LAA document can be viewed or downloaded here together with the revised LAA for 2007/2008 . Detailed information for all outcomes, indicators and targets can be found under the outcomes section within each of the four blocks.