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Supporting the Essex vision

On 10 January 2018 Essex Partners agreed the key areas of work that we are going to take forward together as part of our work to deliver our vision for the county; The Future of Essex.

Sponsors and leading organisations were appointed for each area of work, and are listed below.

More than 90 leaders from across the county came together at the Essex Assembly on 6 March 2018 to workshop these projects, contribute new ideas, generate new partnerships and relationships, and build momentum behind the work.

Chief Officers and Leaders across Essex are also helping to shape these projects via Essex Chief Executives Association and Essex Leaders & Chief Executives Association. 

Essex Partners and Essex Chief Executives came together on 10 May 2018 to update each other on their work to deliver these projects and to hard-wire change into the whole system.

“We’re pushing in the right direction and we’re committing to seeing Essex flourish,” said Stephen Kavanagh, Chief Constable Essex Police, reflecting on the meeting. “Collaboratively we have catalysed our priorities, it’s very clear that the scale and change we’re witnessing in Essex communities takes many forms and the meaningful sustainable change the county now needs cannot be provided on our own. Trust, leadership and ambition will continue to be vital to ensure we’re thinking and acting more cohesively.”

Essex Partners are working with the Essex Strategic Coordination Group to explore multi-disciplinary teams of staff from across the system, with support from the EELGA to align work and ensure this collective leadership delivers system impact.

Detailed updates against each of the key projects they are sponsoring will be shared at the next Essex Assembly on 4 September 2018. You can register to attend Essex Assembly here.

 

Essex Vision Projects

 

Essex Innovates: Data analytics to support early intervention strategies

Sponsors: Gavin Jones (ECC), Stephen Kavanagh (Essex Police) and Anthony Forster (University of Essex)

Summary: 

  • Support shift to a more preventative, targeted and cost-effective model of interventions
  • Use data to develop more innovative approaches to tackling issues – e.g. modern slavery
  • Address cultural/behavioural issues around sharing data
  • Build shared capability (ECDA model) drawing on the expertise and resources we have including at the UK Data Archive at the University of Essex.

What will have changed in six months: Completing a partnership self-assessment with identification of assets, capabilities and capacity across the system.

 

Essex Supports:  Early help to reduce number of crisis mental health incidents

Sponsors: Ian Davidson (Tendring Council) and Anthony Forster (University of Essex)

Summary: 

  • Develop a more whole-system approach to supporting good mental health – this can include issues like housing, social isolation, community capital, physical activity
  • Reducing the demand pressures (on MH services, local authorities and the police) by addressing the causes of poor mental health more upstream.  Scope to use data analytics to help support this
  • Need to make strong linkages with other projects – garden communities, Active Essex – and with the wider public health agenda.

What will have changed in six months: Collating and analysing data on usage, key triggers, service referrals and effectiveness. 

 

Essex Unites: Supporting a community in building civic pride and social capital

Sponsors: Roger Morris (Bishop of Colchester) and Howard Rolfe (Uttlesford District Council)

Summary: 

  • Needs to be  small scale – i.e. one or at most 2 communities – as it is hyper-local work
  • Need research and insight to help us understand right area to focus on
  • Can’t be a top down approach – needs to be about listening to and understanding a community rather than imposing solutions.  Need also to make sure we are appropriately engaging local partners and politicians
  • May be helpful to develop an agreed methodology for how we approach this drawing on best practice and our experience from existing work
  • Scope to link this to Garden Communities project – how can be design new developments to help foster social capital and civic pride

What will have changed in six months: Scaling-up Community Action Zones and micro-volunteering and publishing the Essex VCS map of both formal and informal community support. Launching #EssexandProud Call to Action Campaign and the local place based Community Chest.

 

Essex Communities: Maximise economic, community and public health potential of new developments

Sponsors: Gavin Jones (ECC), Ian Davidson (Tendring District Council)

  • Not just about house building and infrastructure but about designing new developments in a way that fosters civic pride, social capital, low crime and public health
  • If we get this right this will impact across all the Vision outcomes

What will have changed in six months: Delivering a series of high-profile speaking events and seminars promoting system-wide learning and new thinking on how development impacts upon public service outcomes.

 

Essex Inspires: Skills and educational performance

Sponsors: David Finch (ECC) and Iain Martin (Anglia Ruskin)

Summary: 

  • Want to drive excellence in our school system with the aim of all schools in Essex being outstanding
  • Want to tackle the “long tail” of poor skills and educational performance.  The problem is less our average figures (which are only marginally below national figures) but more the attainment for those from less advantaged backgrounds (e.g. only 16% of children on free school meals in Essex go on to university compared to 40% in London).

What will have changed in six months: Delivering a joint partnership strategy focused on ensuring a coordinated approach to the future delivery and commissioning of CEIAG. Creating a multi-agency partnership group to map the current guidance landscape.

 

Essex Leads: Taking a whole-systems approach to promoting physical activity to support physical and mental health

Sponsors: David Finch (ECC) and Azeem Akhtar (Active Essex)

Summary: 

  • Using the Active Essex Sport England project to drive a whole-systems approach to promoting physical activity across Essex; and in turn using physical activity as a route in to supporting a wide range of system outcomes: social capital, skills, mental health, public health, social isolation
  • Strong link also to reducing crime and gang activity

What will have changed in six months: Improving collaboration between public sector and community sector by taking an Asset Based Community Development approach with local communities. Developing big data to measure physical activity and develop behaviour change

 

Essex Spirit: Safer communities

Sponsors: Jo Turton (ECFRS) & Roger Hirst (OPFCC)

Summary: 

  • We will deliver safer communities in Essex by building community cohesion, we will design out crime and we will design in community capacity and safety within all of the new developments we’re building.
  • We will continue to invest in community builders.
  • We will leverage our estate assets – we all have police stations, fire stations, libraries; how can we use our public space better to develop community cohesion and make our community safer.

What will have changed in six months: A presentation on the Essex Risk Intervention Service will be delivered to all Essex CCGs over the next three months as part of the pilot of a commissioned service to cover falls assessment and ordering of assistive technology.

 

Essex Prevents: A countywide approach to  homelessness reduction

Sponsor: Fiona Marshall (Maldon Council)

Summary:

Recognise those groups most at risk of homelessness to develop earlier intervention and prevention
•Improve communication and understanding between partners to reduce risks and improve outcomes for all involved, e.g. multi-agency training, pooling resources and protocols
•Open, honest, transparent services that enable people to take responsibility, make considered choices and manage expectations
•Improve the flow of information and management of cases, removing duplication and streamlining the way we work between organisations
•Improve the understanding and prioritisation of the commissioning of support services between organisations that prevent homelessness
•Tackling the perception and stigma of homelessness and affordable housing by collectively identifying need throughout Essex
•Using the information we collate to drive changes to organisational plans and lobby collectively for improvements to wider policy such as welfare reform, social care and local plans.

What will have changed in six months: Developing a partnership roadmap and generating insight on those groups most at risk of homelessness to develop earlier intervention and prevention.


If you’d like to get involved in any of these projects email shammi.jalota@essex.gov.uk

 

Page last updated 25/05/18