The Government has encouraged the establishment of Local
Strategic Partnerships (LSPs) in order to bring about joint working
between organisations from the public, private, voluntary and
community sectors at a local level. Through LSPs these
organisations can work together in a single, overarching group,
enabling local priorities to be set and services to be
aligned.
The Local Strategic Partnership (LSP) for Barrow Borough is
called Furness Partnership. Furness Partnership brings
together a range of private, public, community and voluntary
sector organisations and helps them work together more effectively
for the good of people in the Borough. Each of these organisations
has their own priorities, objectives and plans; but each is
committed to working in partnership to help deliver the vision set
out in our Sustainable Community Strategy.
Furness Partnership works to improve life in Barrow by
changing the way that services are delivered to the public. This
includes major public services like education, health, housing,
police and rubbish collection and smaller-scale services such as
those provided by community or voluntary groups and neighbourhood
renewal schemes. The Partnership has established a set of Thematic
Groups to help deliver improvements in key areas.
The Partnership uses its influence to help realign
mainstream services to meet Sustainable Community Strategy
objectives. Membership of the Partnership is described in the
Partnership’s Framework Document and, in addition to the Chair and
Vice-Chair, includes Chairs of the thematic groups (see
below), representatives of the Borough and County Councils, Police,
Health Authorities and various other public service
providers.
Thematic Groups
The Thematic Groups bring together people working in the
priority areas to:
- act as a link between the LSP and the appropriate Thematic
Partnership of the Cumbria Strategic Partnership, representing the
LSP at CSP Thematic Partnerships and reporting to Furness
Partnership as necessary.
- provide a specialist resource to the LSP, reporting and
advising on current and emerging issues
- respond on behalf of the LSP to relevant strategic and
operational issues.
Children and Young People Group
Works across the other task groups to ensure that the particular
needs and aspirations of children and young people are properly
addressed throughout the Partnership’s activity, planning and
delivery.
Community Safety Group
The Crime Task Group is also the Crime and Disorder Reduction
Partnership and works to reduce crime and fear of crime across the
Borough.
Employment Group
The Employment Task Group works to develop employment
opportunities and encourage inward business investment in Barrow.
It explores job and skills shortages to help provide pathways to
employment for workless residents of Barrow’s most deprived
areas.
Healthy Communities and Older People Group
Focuses on improving the health of the most deprived,
particularly in relation to tackling childhood disadvantage,
improving services and life chances for young people and improving
quality of life and independence for older people.
Housing Group
Works to ensure that housing meets local needs and aspirations
through projects based on regeneration of the private sector
housing market and making improvements to Council owned stock.
Seeks to improve the quality and choice of accommodation for all,
including those with special housing needs
Lifelong Learning Group
Priorities include improving standards of educational provision
and achievement in Barrow (especially for ages 14+), establishing a
Higher Education hub in the town and developing more effective
multi-agency partnerships.
Regeneration Group
There is technically no regeneration group as such,
however Barrow Regeneration makes regular reports to the
LSP and performs other functions of a thematic group as
required.