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The New Local Performance Framework

In December 2007 the Government published the Children’s Plan which set out some ambitious goals to improve the lives of families, children and young people by 2020.  Local authorities will play a key role in delivering these reforms, and it is vital that we enable them to operate within a performance management framework that allows them greater flexibility to focus on the issues that really matter to local communities, while at the same time ensuring a focus on national goals for children, young people and their families.

The Local Government White Paper Strong and Prosperous Communities, published in October 2006 achieves this balance by reforming the relationship between central Government and local government and its partners through a new, more streamlined, local performance framework. There are five key elements to the new framework:

• A National Indicator Set (NIS) of 198 outcome focussed indicators for local government to deliver (alone or in partnership), replacing all existing indicator sets including PAF and BVPIs
• New, statutory Local Area Agreements (LAAs) to set out how local and national priorities will be delivered.  Each LAA will contain ’up to 35’ targets agreed with Government, drawn from the NIS
• A new risk-based monitoring system – Comprehensive Area Assessment (CAA) – to replace existing inspection regime (CPA, JARs, APA) from 2009-10
• Support and challenge for LAs and partners, established by the new National Improvement & Efficiency Strategy (NIES)
• More funding freedoms – many grants paid on an unringfenced basis through Formula Grant or the new Area Based Grant.  There will be a strong presumption against ring fenced grants.

Children’s Trusts, fulfilling the new leadership role outlined for them in the Children’s Plan, will work within this framework.  They will have an important job to do in coordinating the work of local partnerships and, drawing on the local Children and Young People’s Plan, in driving forward the process of identifying children, young people and families’ improvement priorities for new LAAs.