In line with evolving government policy, primary responsibility for delivery of the IRS lies with local organisations and partnerships. It is they who best understand the needs and wishes of their local communities, and who are best placed to decide on appropriate priorities for action and/or investment.

Using the Local Area Agreement governance arrangements as a template, it will therefore be the responsibility of local organisations and partnerships to identify the specific needs of their populations, and to decide on the appropriate range of measures to be delivered in order to meet those needs. They will also decide on the appropriate outcome measures or ‘metrics’ that need to be collected and monitored in order to demonstrate progress.

The primary role of regional organisations, (and particularly those with responsibility for performance improvement and performance management) will be to challenge, confirm and agree those priorities. In doing this they will need to consider the nature of the process used to develop those priorities, and the ways in which they will help deliver the IRS and its subsidiary regional strategies. Regional bodies will also ‘hold to account’ those local organisations and partnerships, ensuring that they achieve their agreed targets.

In order to meet their obligations, regional bodies will need to work well together to ensure that they and the organisations for which they are responsible deliver not just their own specific objectives, but also make
appropriate contributions to those initiatives for which they have a subsidiary but important partnership role. As the IRS is the over-arching regional strategy, regional partners will be expected to highlight, within
their individual annual reports, how their activities have supported the overall delivery of the IRS.

The IRS Framework and the Sustainable Community Strategies work at different levels but share the goal of improving people’s quality of life. Government also asks Local Strategic Partnerships to ensure that community strategies take the regional sustainable development frameworks fully into account. By this arrangement, governance exists from national strategies through the IRS Framework to Sustainable Community Strategies, linking national priorities with local concerns. Local Area Agreements are the delivery tools for Sustainable Community Strategies and are agreed with central government, again balancing local needs and targets with national targets.

Local authorities and partners involved in Local Area Agreements and Local Strategic Partnerships were amongst the stakeholders engaged in a consultation exercise undertaken across the region in early 2007.  The vision and regional priorities within this refreshed IRS Framework have been refined in light of the findings of the consultation.

Good governance and partnership working is key to the successful delivery of the IRS Framework. The IRS Framework is delivered through strategies and action plans developed at the regional level. The principles within these strategies provide a steer in the development of Sustainable Community Strategies and Local Area Agreements at a local level. The data gathered to monitor progress in relation to Local Area Agreements is consolidated at the regional level and contributes towards the State of the Region report. 
 

Vision>>