Bridging the accountability gap - Audit Commission

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Governing partnerships | Governing partnerships for better accountability
information strategy that outlines how and when they will bring information systems
together across the partners (Case study 8).
Case study 8
West Berkshire Council
West Berkshire Council openly shares knowledge with its partners on the LSP.
Information systems and protocols are available to support partnership objectives
and clear information sharing protocols are in place, which help to diffuse conflict and
promote openness. Most partners attend partnership meetings and joint working
takes place with other statutory bodies. For example, the police have seconded staff
to the Council to investigate closer methods of working and to forge productive
working relationships. Partners feel that the Council has a flexible approach to
partnership working, which enables them to respond to changing needs.
Source: Audit Commission, 2004
112 Joint commissioning highlights the governance difficulties that integration can bring
(Box C).
Box C
Supporting People: governance challenges
The Supporting People programme illustrates the difficulty of securing effective
governance in partnerships. Supporting People commissioning bodies led by the
administering local authority (ALA) and involving health, probation and district
councils in two-tier authorities should set the local strategy and drive local
programmes. Over 63 Audit Commission inspections show that, two years after the
launch of the scheme (of £1.72 billion funding), some of those involved in these
overarching commissioning bodies are still not clear about their roles and
responsibilities. In some cases, health and/or probation partners do not attend
regularly and the arrangement whereby one PCT or district council representative can
speak for or commit their peers is unclear. In reality in these local authorities, the
commissioning body is not governing the programme and where the role of the
accountable officer is also weak, by default, leadership falls to the council’s middle
management Supporting People lead officer. In some cases, there are no reporting
arrangements from that individual to the council’s treasurer, members and senior