Local Area Agreements (LAAs) set out the priorities for a local area agreed between central government and a local area (the local authority and Local Strategic Partnership) and other key partners at the local level.
LAAs simplify some central funding, help join up public services more effectively and allow greater flexibility for local solutions to local circumstances.
Through these means, LAAs are helping to devolve decision making, move away from a 'Whitehall knows best' philosophy and reduce bureaucracy.
LAAs are about what sort of place you want to live in. They set out the local priorities that will make your town, city or community a better place to be; they have been negotiated between all the main public sector organisations in your area, your local authority and central Government. The ideas behind them are to:
- recognise that 'one size does not fit all' and local services should reflect what local people want;
- give more flexibility to local authorities and other public sector organisations in the ways they deliver services for local people;
- make local authorities and other public services more accountable to local people;
- reduce red-tape and improve value for money; and,
- enable local people to get more involved in decisions about local services.
Visit our Local Priorities website (external link) to see what the priorities are in your area and also where you can get more information about those local priorities.
In this section
- New Local Area Agreements
- Publications on other websites
- Local Area Agreements: Enabling Measures
- Reward targets agreed before 2008
- Place Survey
Related publications
http://www.communities.gov.uk/localgovernment/performanceframeworkpartne...
PDF version Total Place: A whole area approach to public services sets out a new direction for local public services and significant new freedoms from central control. It is based on extensive work over the last year by 63 local authorities, 34 primary care trusts, 13 police authorities and other partners, with more than 70 other local areas engaged in similar work. Together the pilots have a population of more than 11 million people. The pilots have mapped more than £82 billion of public spending in their areas.
Total Place was launched at Budget 2009 as a key recommendation of the Operational Efficiency Programme. It shows how all places will benefit from our Smarter Government commitments on de-ringfencing, streamlining funding and reducing burdens. It also sets out:
- New freedoms from central performance and financial controls – further reductions in ring-fences, indicators and burdens for places that agree to deliver improved outcomes and additional savings, through a ‘Single Offer’ for the strongest performing places and an ‘Innovative Policy Offer’ for places with particular thematic strengths. These offers will be co-designed by places and Government and launched from April 2011
- New freedoms to collaborate – 11 Total Capital and Asset Pathfinders across the country, support for local partnerships to use pooled individual budgets, and for joint working between local authorities and Job Centre Plus and Primary Care Trusts
- New freedoms for places to invest in prevention – trialling the first social impact bonds, repeating the Community Cashback scheme, and developing Neighbourhood Agreements to support safer neighbourhoods
- New freedoms to drive growth – including devolution to regions, cities and localities to drive growth and inclusion through the recovery, and new flexibility for places to shape spending on skills
The document below is available in Adobe Acrobat Portable Document Format (PDF). If you do not have Adobe Acrobat installed on your computer you can download the software free of charge from the Adobe website. For alternative ways to read PDF documents and further information on website accessibility visit the HM Treasury accessibility page.
External links
his section provides access to a comprehensive list of all local area agreements (LAAs) by region, up to and including the 2010 refresh. Accompanying the LAAs are links to wikis for individual local strategic partnerships (LSPs). The wikis are maintained by the LSPs themselves and detail governance arrangements, partnership members and latest partnership activity.
Local area agreements (LAAs) set the targets that local strategic partnerships (LSPs) are working together to deliver. This section provides information on the governance structures, accountabilities and work of LSPs -because strong, robust partnerships will deliver the best outcomes for local people. We also look at the partnership working element of the Total Place programme.
Sections
Total Place and partnerships: news, documents and events Last updated 25 March 2010
Latest LAA, LSP and Total Place-related news and events.
LSPs – leadership and governance of an area Last updated 2 February 2010
The leadership roles, governance, cultures, behaviours and accountabilities that combine to provide successful leadership of an area.
Total Place Last updated 24 February 2010
Local strategic partnerships' role in the Total Place programme.
Local area agreements 2008 - 2011 Last updated 26 March 2010
The current and possible future arrangements for local area agreements.
Sustainable Community strategies Last updated 3 February 2010
What is a Sustainable Community strategy? How should you go about developing one? And who should you consult?
Multi-area agreements (MAAs) Last updated 3 February 2010
Explaining multi-area agreements (MAAs) – cross-boundary LAAs.
Overseeing and coordinating community involvement Last updated 3 February 2010
The local strategic partnership as a focus for community engagement.
Delivery and performance management Last updated 3 February 2010
Delivering successful outcomes and managing performance in local strategic partnerships.
Behaviour change Last updated 4 February 2010
Thinking and research about how the public sector can influence the behaviour of communities and individuals to improve outcomes.
Supporting local strategic partnerships Last updated 4 February 2010
Information on the support available to rund successful local strategic partnerships.
http://www.idea.gov.uk/idk/core/page.do?pageId=1174195