Archived decisions

APPENDIX 3

Target Audience:

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PARTNERSHIP POLICY

1 POLICY

Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service (HFRS) defines a partnership as:

"A voluntary relationship between two or more free and independent bodies which is designed to secure shared objectives."

HFRS believes that working in partnership provides enhanced opportunities for the Service to develop with likeminded organisations its service delivery to the community.

Some of our strategic objectives can only be met by working in partnership with others, and partnerships contribute to the delivery of the IRMP. The Service aims to be actively involved with key partners in a co-ordinated and results driven approach to community safety.

2 BACKGROUND

Partnerships are a significant feature of public service delivery in the UK. As part of the Local Government Act 2000 principal local authorities have a duty to prepare a community strategy to promote "the economic, social and environmental wellbeing of their areas."

The Crime and Disorder Act 1998 brought in the requirement for local authorities and police to work in partnership to:

· Improve community safety through tackling the underlining causes of crime and disorder;

· Take action where appropriate; and

· Ensure that community safety implications are considered in the planning and delivery of services.

The Police Reform Act 2002 established the Fire and Rescue Service as a statutory partner from April 2003, and Primary Care Trusts from April 2004, for the joint approach to combating crime, disorder and drugs.

The 2005 Audit Commission report "Governing Partnerships" in 2005 concluded that:

"Partnerships can bring significant benefits. They are a response to the complex and multi-faceted problems that face society and that cannot be tackled effectively by any individual body working alone. They can provide flexibility, innovation and additional financial and human capital resources to help solve problems. These are powerful incentives for organisations to work with others".

The Fire and Rescue Service National Framework 2006/2008 identifies that working in isolation "does not have the capacity to provide the most efficient, effective and economical response" to meet some challenges. HFRS full accepts this and embraces the opportunity to work with others.

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3 ADVANTAGES OF PARTNERSHIPS WORKING

Working in partnership with others allows the Service to tackle difficult policy and operational challenges. Partnerships can provide an effective use of resources to save duplication of effort. Partnerships can provide a joined-up approach to working which facilitates:

· Delivery of co-ordinated services to an individual or community

· Tackling of difficult issues with a single harmonised approach

· Stopping fragmentation and poor delivery of services

· Gaining access to bid for new resources

· Meeting the statutory requirements

4 TYPES OF HFRS PARTNERSHIPS

HFRS will only enter into partnerships that contribute to its corporate aims and strategic objectives. Partnerships can be long or short term addressing specific areas of mutual interest. Partnerships can also be of a statutory, formal or informal nature.

Statutory partnerships are those that HFRS are required to be a member of by law. An example would be the crime and disorder reduction partnerships whose membership was set out in the Crime and Disorder Act 1998.

Formal partnerships are often seen as a separate entity, whose members act as steering group that direct their activities to the common objectives of the partnership. Formal partnerships may often have budgets and resources allocated to them.

Informal partnerships may exist where the style or type of work being undertaken doesn't necessitate such formality or where there is a large degree of trust and history of joint working already in place. Examples of these may be:

· Consultative arrangements

· Networks of personal and professional contacts not requiring organisational commitment

· Contractual relationships

· Forums for problem solving

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Partnerships can be formed with local authorities, the voluntary sector, and private enterprise. Examples of organisations that HFRS has formed partnerships with include:

· Hampshire Country Council - including Adult Services and Children's Services

· Hampshire Constabulary

· NHS - Primary Care Trusts including South Central Ambulance Service NHS Trust (Hampshire Division)

· Ministry of Defence

· HM Coastguard

· Unitary Authorities (Southampton, Portsmouth)

· District and Borough Councils in Hampshire

· Environment Agency

· Educational establishments

· Youth organisations such as the Scouts and Guides

· Charities (notably Age Concern)

· Private companies

· Community associations

HFRS is also involved with Local Strategic Partnerships (LSPs). These are multi-agency bodies which match local authority boundaries, and aim to bring together, at a local level, the different services offered by the public, private, community and voluntary sectors. Local Strategic Partnerships are key to addressing the multi-faceted and complex problems facing communities.

5 IS A PARTNERSHIP THE BEST SOLUTION?

Partnerships may not always be the best solution to solve a problem. The Audit Commission provide a list of key considerations and issues when developing partnerships with others. For more information on this see Section 1 "Audit Recommendations to Assess Partnership Suitability" within the Partnership Toolkit (Appendix A).

Partnerships need to strike the right balance between the need to protect public money and to ensure value for money, and the innovation and flexibility that can result when organisations collaborate.

6 MEASUREMENT OF SUCCESS

Partnerships should be set up to achieve a specific purpose. There should be clear measurement and evaluation criteria in place to measure and evaluate the effectiveness of the partnerships to ensure the Service is putting resources into appropriate projects. All partnerships should contribute into the Service corporate aims.

If the partnership does not set out to achieve this, the question should then be asked why does the partnership exist?

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The Local Government Employers Organisation suggest there are eight tests for a healthy partnership:

· Partners can demonstrate real results through collaboration

· Common interest supersedes partner interest

· Partners use "we" when talking about partner matters

· Partners are mutually accountable for tasks and outcomes

· Partners share responsibilities and rewards

· Partners strive to develop and maintain trust

· Partners are willing to change what they do and how they do it

· Partners seek to improve how the partnership performs

7 PARTNERSHIPS AND RISK MANAGEMENT

Effective risk management is integral to delivering a successful partnership. Delivering services through partners can bring significant benefits, but there is less direct control. Partnerships can lead to higher levels of uncertainty and introduce different (and therefore unfamiliar) risks into the organisation.

For more information see Section 2 "Risk Management Approach for Partnerships" in the Partnership Toolkit (Appendix A).

8 SHARING BEST PRACTICE

Where outstanding results have been achieved though partnerships, these should be shared and celebrated to provide examples to stimulate the creation of other partnerships that might lead to improved performance.

Alternatively, a partnership may fail to deliver its desired outcome, even though the partners have worked well together. It is important in such circumstances that lessons are learnt from the experience and are used to inform future projects.

9 PARTNERSHIP REVIEW AND EXIT STRATEGY

Partnerships should be regularly reviewed in accordance with the Partnership Review Schedule - see Section 3 "Partnership Review Schedule" in the Partnership Toolkit (Appendix A).

An exit strategy should be discussed as the partnership is set up. This will allow for clear guidelines on how to handle the event of any partner wishing to leave the partnership arrangement - for more information see Section 4 "Disengaging from a Partnership" in the Partnership Toolkit (Appendix A).

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10 PROCEDURES IN SETTING UP PARTNERSHIPS

Successful partnerships often take time to achieve results and the process may sometimes be difficult. In order to aid the introduction and assessment of a partnership a "Partnership Toolkit" (Appendix A) has been established to provide guidance and advice.

All partnerships need to complete a Partnership Registration form (FM/11/3/1), and an example form can be found in Section 5 of the toolkit. This will be held in the Partnership Register maintained by the Performance Review Team. All partnerships between the HFRS and any third party must have their details registered.

For more information about Partnerships please contact the Performance Review Team.

Owner: Performance Review Team

Author: Lesley Clarke-Round

Contact: Lesley Clarke-Round

Review: April 2009

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PARTNERSHIP TOOLKIT

INTRODUCTION

The purpose of this toolkit is to help you to establish partnerships in a structured way. The toolkit can be used to assess and prioritise the potential value and key requirements for the management of effective partnerships.

The toolkit identifies key issues that should be considered before a partnership is established. All partnerships will vary in size and nature so not all points will be relevant.

1 AUDIT RECOMMENDATIONS TO ASSESS PARTNERSHIP SUITABILITY

These suggestions are based on the Audit Commission recommendations on issues to be addressed before a partnership is set up.

· Do you have any competition for the Service we offer?

· What other organisations are involved in helping your target group?

· Clarify the reasons for forming a partnership. What benefits will a partnership bring?

· What part of your project is considered non-negotiable?

· Does the problem need a partnership approach?

· Identify the stakeholders who can help or hinder the project/programme and think from their point of view. Why would they join you?

· Consider who you really need as partners and who would really want to be a partner.

· Make sure you have the support and agreement from your function about working with others.

· Make informal contact with potential partners to discover their attitudes and interests before putting forward formal proposals.

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· Communicate with potential partners in language they will understand, focusing on what they may want to achieve.

· How will you know whether the partnership is effective or not (evaluation methods)?

· Plan the partnership process over time. For example, a new partnership may well take a year to set up and longer to become effective or to show results i.e. long term effects.

· Encourage ideas from your potential partners. Ownership leads to commitment.

· Be open, honest and sociable with each other.

· Do prospective partners have a clear and shared vision of the benefits that the partnership is intended to achieve?

· Is this vision realistic in the light of the resources and opportunities likely to be available to the proposed partnership?

· Will the anticipated benefits outweigh the likely costs (direct and indirect) of a partnership?

· How will the costs and benefits be measured?

· Could the benefits be achieved in a simpler or more cost-effective way?

· Are the partners willing to devote the necessary time and effort to make the partnership succeed?

· Do the partners all know what role they will play, what resources they will contribute and how they will account for the success of the project?

· Are the partners willing to consider changing their other activities to fit in with the partnership's objectives, where this is appropriate.

Factors that may indicate a partnership is not the best approach:

· The answer to one or more of the questions above is "no".

· The subject of the partnership proposed is primarily the responsibility of one agency, with others having only having a marginal interest or role.

· Agencies have no shared objective in relation to this topic.

· Agencies main aim is to achieve cost savings.

· Other Agencies have a history of poor relationships and have not made a commitment to change this.

· Agencies want to shunt costs or blame for problems on to one another - that is, there maybe a hidden negative agenda.

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2 RISK MANAGEMENT APPROACH FOR PARTNERSHIPS

Good risk management is integral to delivering a successful partnership. When working with Partnerships the Office of Government Commerce suggests a risk management approach should include the following elements:

It is recognised that the full process may not be needed for smaller partnerships but the basic principles should be followed in all cases.

A number of common risk factors have been identified that can cause difficulties in partnerships that should be considered. They include:

· Objectives not being sufficiently aligned.

· Aligning authority with responsibility.

· Are there incentives for partners to manage risks effectively? Is the risk/reward balance correct?

· Resilience of partnerships to unexpected events.

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3 PARTNERSHIP REVIEW SCHEDULE

Partnerships must be regularly reviewed to ensure they are achieving their desired goals. The frequency of the review will depend on the type of partnership.

The suggested review timetable for Partnerships are:

4 DISENGAGING FROM A PARTNERSHIP

An exit strategy is essential to provide an element of control in the event of any partner wishing to leave the partnership arrangement. It should not be seen as an expectation of failure, rather a way of managing change.

It should be discussed and agreed during the establishment of a partnership, and be incorporated in the partnership agreement document/protocol.

Consideration should be made at this stage, regarding the sharing out of any joint funding or joint purchases achieved by the partnership. In the case of HFRS wishing to exit the HFRS representative should encourage the other partners to allocate this funding / purchase into their own budgets.

When HFRS make a decision to exit a partnership, other partners should be informed in writing. In the case of statutory and voluntary formal partnerships HFRA should approve the decision to exit prior to the partners being informed in writing.

The decision to exit a partnership could be made at any time for a number of reasons. This could be due to:

· The partnership no longer delivering benefits.

· The partnership not achieving objectives aligned to the strategic aims of the Service.

· The partnership has been superseded by another activity.

· The partnership has reached a natural end.

The decision to exit a partnership will usually be identified during the audit/review process. Review schedules are detailed in Section 3 of this Toolkit.

If the partnership is dissolved or representation changed the Performance Review Team must be contacted to update/amend the Register.

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5 EXAMPLE PARTNERSHIP PRO FORMA

This checklist of questions is to be considered when deciding to enter new or to continue with current individual partnership arrangements. This checklist can be used individually or, preferably, in collaboration with current or proposed partners to consider issues together. Not all of these questions will be relevant in all cases but it is a useful tool to consider in respect of all individual partnerships:

a. Why does (or should) the partnership exist?

b. What are its agreed aims?

c. To what extent does it help deliver one or more of the Authority's corporate objectives? (Please ensure you state which corporate objectives)

d. Where have these aims been published or captured?

e. What alternatives are there to this partnership?

f. Are there published terms of reference, policy or protocol for this partnership?

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Potential `added value' resulting from the partnership:

a. What `added value' does this Partnership bring to HFRS service delivery?

b. How does this add value to the public?

c. How will HFRS ensure the resources involved are being well spent?

Governance arrangements:

a. How are decisions made by the partnership?

b. How are they recorded?

c. Who makes sure they are acted on?

d. Who scrutinises the decisions?

e. To whom are decisions reported?

Performance management:

a. Who manages performance and how are reports progressed?

b. Are there clear targets for the partnership and how is progress towards these measured?

Financial management:

a. Who provides resources to the partnership? (State detail)

b. Who decides how to use the resources?

c. What are the financial reporting arrangements?

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Risk management:

a. How do you know when things are going wrong?

b. Who can take action when things are going wrong?

c. How do you deal with conflicts of interest?

Termination arrangements:

a. What are the agreed arrangements for termination of the partnership?

b. How will resources be reallocated back to contributing partners?

Engaging the public:

a. How effectively does this partnership communicate with the public (if appropriate)?

b. How can the public and service users obtain redress if things go wrong?

c. Is there a complaints and suggestions process the public can use?