Issue - meetings

Report of Mayor Andy Burnham, Portfolio Holder for Reform. Meeting attendance by Andrew Lightfoot, Deputy Chief Executive, GMCA

Andrew Lightfoot, Deputy Chief Executive, GMCA introduced a report which provided an overview of the White Paper on Unified Public Services for the people of Greater Manchester which had been agreed by the GMCA in July 2019.

Jane Forrest, Assistant Director Reform, added that the White Paper sat alongside a number of key strategies for Greater Manchester including; the Local Industrial Strategy (LIS), the Health and Social Care (HSC) Prospectus, and the Standing Together Plan. It represents a significant step forward in our reform ambitions, setting out a 21st century vision for public services and putting forward Greater Manchester (GM) as an international leader in this field.  Principally, it aimed to improve outcomes for people across Greater Manchester, but it also sought to provide a platform to influence the future direction of central government policy and spending.

It was acknowledged that the White Paper was not prescriptive in its nature, and did not define how services should be delivered, but asked that localities pay attention to delivering change inline with six key features, and did these things relentlessly to achieve greater change.

The detail of the GM Model was based on learning from work in neighbourhoods in each of the ten localities within GM, reform work in thematic areas (e.g. Troubled Families Programme, Working Well etc.) and a series of self-assessment processes conducted by the 10 localities of GM themselves.

Members received a presentation (at Appendix 1) from Mark Widdup, Executive Director, Rochdale Council, which provided an overview of the ‘Reform and Transformation in the Rochdale Borough so far’, outlining how Rochdale were implementing the principles, and what areas they were paying particular attention to.

The following key points were highlighted:

·         The focus was not on policy but on citizens

·         Rochdale have opted to split the borough into five townships (of 30,000-50,000) to enable connectivity to communities.

·         Governance structures had been reviewed with the development of a Strategic Place Board (an amalgamation of PSR and the Health and Wellbeing Board).

·         The focus was centred on the role of citizens.

·         The workforce was being developed to ensure that leaders, and future leaders, can instill confidence in staff to work in the way outlined. 

Members raised the following questions and comments:

·         Members welcomed the proposal but highlighted that not all localities would be able to split their areas as suggested (into populations of 30,000-50,000 residents) due to urban areas. Would these areas be able to achieve the same outcomes?  Jane Forest advised that the White Paper did not prescribe default population levels, but suggested that it made sense in terms of the administrative arrangements, to allow services to integrate, and provides the framework and opportunities to focus on smaller communities where there is need. This suggestion draws on the work which had taken place on the HSC integration agenda, which found that GP surgeries and schools were central to engaging with citizens.

·         How will the GMCA encourage localities to review their governance arrangements, in particularly, to strengthen their scrutiny arrangements? It was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 25