Stronger leadership needed for community planning in Falkirk

Falkirk Community Planning Partnership (CPP) needs to develop specific priorities and plans to convert its aspirations into improved outcomes for local people, says the Accounts Commission.

A report published today for the Commission and the Auditor General says stronger leadership and systematic improvements in several areas are required to fully achieve the benefits of community planning. These include setting clear priorities to target specific areas of concern, partners holding each other to account for their contributions to agreed outcomes, effective performance management and reporting arrangements, and engaging better with local people.

The report says there is strong culture of collaboration which has helped Falkirk respond quickly to local problems and secure funding for major initiatives. There has also been improvement over the last few years against some performance indicators.

Public sector bodies in Falkirk collectively spend around £1 billion a year on services. The CPP must provide strong leadership to ensure that partners' resources are aligned to local priorities and to help partners, in particular Falkirk Council and NHS Forth Valley, overcome barriers to joint resourcing.

Accounts Commission chair Douglas Sinclair said:

"There is strong culture of local collaboration in Falkirk which has helped it respond quickly and secure major funding. That is fine, but there is little evidence that improved outcomes have been directly due to the CPP. If Falkirk is to fully realise the benefits of community planning, the partnership needs to do a lot more.

"The Commission believes that the Partnership has a good understanding of how it can work better and where it needs to improve but this will require stronger leadership. Collectively it needs to show progress against the outcomes it wants to achieve for the people of Falkirk."