Agenda item

The Redditch Partnership Manager introduced the report and in doing so noted that Redditch Partnership was the Local Strategic Partnership (LSP) for the Redditch area and aimed to bring together representatives from a wide variety of agencies across the public, private and voluntary and community sectors to enable partnership working for the benefit of local residents.

There were a number of groups that stemmed from the Redditch Partnership. The Redditch Community Wellbeing Group (RCWG) was a longstanding partnership group that met bi-monthly and covered health and wellbeing across all ages. The RCWG had recently developed a monthly in-person multi-agency drop-ins for residents to access advice from multiple agencies.

The Cost of Living Partnership Group was a group operating across Redditch and Bromsgrove that was chaired by the Council’s Assistant Director Community and Housing Services. This Group aimed to minimise the impact of the cost-of-living crisis and ensure that people were aware of where they could access support. The messages were distributed in many formats including on the website, via social media messages, and through a printed cost of living leaflet. Most recently, a ‘useful contacts’ business card had been printed and distributed via the Council teams and partners.

The Redditch Business Leaders (RBL) was a group that originated from the Redditch Partnership but became an independent self-sustained group. The aim of the group had been to focus on skills, in particular employment and career skills of young people. In response to a question, it was stated that RBL was not defunct, and meetings were still being held but the Council had not been directly involved for some time. It was confirmed that the last meeting of RBL took place in December 2024 with the next meeting due to take place in April 2025. In terms of the RBL’s Youth Group, it was clarified that the current approach was for RBL representatives to deliver training and undertake mentoring for young people within schools.

Redditch Mental Health and Housing Group was a Redditch specific group focused on bringing together Redditch Council’s Housing and NHS Mental Health Teams, along with other relevant agencies.

The Redditch District Collaborative (RDC) was developed following changes nationally with the formation of the Integrated Care Systems (ICS). The RDC was part of the Herefordshire and Worcestershire ICS, with the ICS represented at county level through the County Council’s Health and Wellbeing Board and at local Redditch level through the RDC. There were two Primary Care Networks (PCNs) within Redditch and it was the PCNs which had worked closely with the County Council’s Public Health and Redditch Borough Council to establish the RDC.

The Redditch Partnership Manager highlighted that due to resource changes, there was no longer a programme lead for the RDC. This triggered a review of how RDC would operate going forward. Following the review there had been a reduction in the number of RDC groups and the focus had shifted towards enhancing connections within established local networks, such as the Redditch Partnership’s Community Wellbeing Group.

It was explained that the Wellbeing in Partnership E-Bulletin had continued to be produced monthly and was received by all Councillors and provided local information on voluntary and community developments that could be passed on to local residents. The Knowledge Bank was a Redditch and Bromsgrove fully searchable directory of community services, publicly available on the Council’s website.

Following the presentation, a Member expressed concerns about the lack of performance data available on the Redditch Partnership and the Redditch District Collaborative (RDC). Questions were also raised about how these local groups were accountable to elected members.

A response was provided by the Redditch Partnership Manager in that Redditch Partnership was a completely voluntary, non-statutory partnership. As such, it was difficult to set precise targets as the aim of the Partnership was for voluntary organisations and public sector bodies within Redditch to come together and form connections and partnerships.

It was explained that several years ago the Redditch District Collaborative was in a situation where multitude of groups existed that were not connected to one another with the result that a number of different groups of voluntary sector and public partners worked in isolation. Following a review outlined within the presentation, the number of groups under the umbrella of Redditch Partnership had reduced. Membership of each group was also reviewed and all groups retained had to set out how they linked to the overall Redditch Partnership structure. It was noted that work continued on establishing which organisations were best represented through the RDC.

It was stressed that one of the main aims of the Partnership was to enable community outreach workers from different voluntary and charitable organisations to engage and make connections with an array of other organisations operating across Redditch and Bromsgrove. It was highlighted that Redditch District Collaborative was a completely voluntary partnership of third sector organisations and no public funding was attached. There was therefore no performance data produced in the way that there would be for programmes that were funded from grants such as the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.

It was added that data was shared within the RDC between the different partners, for example on what the individual partners could do within their organisations to improve performance and what the RDC could do collectively to help improve outcomes for residents.

Following the Officer’s response, a Member requested further clarification as there seemed to be a lack of targets and performance data available to elected members on RDC’s performance. In response, it was clarified by the Redditch Partnership Manager that collaboration through RDC enabled the different organisations to network and share ideas on how they were delivering their individual programmes and initiatives and how they organisations could collaborate to improve overall outcomes for residents. It was reiterated that as such there could not be set quantitative targets comparable to those for funded programmes as the RDC was a meeting place for partners to share ideas.

An example of added value of organisations forming partnership through the RDC was provided in the starting well service for young people, where the service was able to increase its outreach to residents after linking with the voluntary sector organisations.

A question was asked whether Mental Health and Housing partnership groups were operating in other parts of Worcestershire. It was responded that, within Worcestershire, Redditch and Bromsgrove were the first districts to develop this partnership group. It was noted that the Head of Housing and Health Partnerships for Worcestershire (a post within Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust) was created in 2022 and one of the first tasks for that post holder had been the setting up of Redditch specific group focussing on bringing together Redditch Borough Council Housing and NHS Mental Health Teams.

RESOLVED that

the annual update report be noted.