Local Area Agreement
The Local Area Agreement (LAA) sets out the
‘deal’ between central government and local authorities and their
partners to improve services and the quality of life for local
people.
The
LAA
is:
- a shorter-term delivery mechanism for the
Sustainable Community Strategy
- the only measures against which Government
can agree targets with a local authority or partnership
- the only indicators against which local
authorities’ performance, alone or in partnership, will be reported
to Central Government
The
LAA
for an area must contain:
- up to 35 ‘designated’ improvement targets
(drawn from the new national indicator set)
- a number of statutory educational attainment
and early years targets.
Once agreed, each
LAA
will be subject to an annual
review intended to identify and address any issues
around delivery, including risks and good practice, to help assess
and benchmark progress of the three-year span of the
Agreement.
In addition, the review is an opportunity to
revise, by exception, particular targets to reflect changes in
local circumstances or national priorities. It should be
noted however, that the arrangements for the first Annual Review
are different in that they include a distinct
refresh element. In part this is due to the
fact that the first Comprehensive Area Assessment (CAA), which will
provide evidence and conclusions to inform
LAA
annual reviews, has not yet taken
place.
Alongside the review/refresh process and in the
absence of new
LSP
framework, the current Cheshire thematic partnership co-ordinators
have, through existing and emerging partnership structures reviewed
the content of the existing
LAA
to:
- identify where ongoing developmental work is
required
- identify whether current
LAA
designated indicators need to be
retained, reviewed or removed (see below for further
information)
retained - the indicator has
sufficient baseline information available, 2009/10 disaggregated
targets have been set and it remains locally, regionally and
nationally significant
reviewed - baselines and/or
disaggregated targets for 2009/10 need to be set or, where targets
have been set, the indicator has some resonance locally but may
need review in terms of focus
removed - sufficient
baseline data is not available to set meaningful targets for the
new local authority areas and is unlikely to become available in
the next 12 months.
Click here to download a copy of the current
LAA
(PDF, 48KB)