Bridging the accountability gap - Audit Commission

Governing partnerships | Governing partnerships for better accountability 37
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team, comprising senior officers from the Council and the PCT;
the creation of joint senior level posts for commissioning and services;
formal procedures for dealing with conflicts of interest between partner agencies;
and
clear strategic decision making and sharing of responsibilities for action.
Both the Council Executive and the PCT Board can make decisions about partnership
matters independently as well as together.
Source: Managing Improvement through Partnerships, Audit Commission report for
Islington health and social care agencies, January 2004
A partnership’s culture
84 Commentators have placed much emphasis on the necessity of establishing trust and
goodwill between partner organisations. There is no doubt that closer working
relationships can generate better understanding of partners’ objectives, greater
openness in sharing knowledge and information and more trust. These in turn can
generate tangible benefits, such as:
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joint resourcing of partnerships through financial contributions, staff secondments,
facilities, services, joint posts and training, and some pooling of resources;
joint community consultation strategies;
increased flexibility towards the different needs of different partners; and
joint working, mutual support and devolved decision making, along with the need for
clear succession planning.