Merseyside Maa Meeting

MERSEYSIDE MAA MEETING Employment and Skills strand

Tuesday 29th July

Attendees

Brian Holmes - GONW Ashley Pottier - CLG Richard Perry - GONW Carol O’Callaghan – DWP Michelle McGuckien – GONW Dave Harrison – NWDA Pat Shilliday – GONW Helen France – LSC Andrew Fawcett – LSC Sue Riley – Jobcentre+ Janine Peterson – Jobcentre+ Rod Pelleymount – NWDA Barry Fawcett – Knowsley MBC Sue Jarvis – Knowsley MBC Richard Nutter – Liverpool CC Paul Blackmore – Liverpool CC Abigail Howarth – Merseyside Policy Unit Lorna Miller – GONW

Apologies Jacqueline Marsh – Jobcentre+ Claire Chaubert – DIUS

1. MAA Progress to date

Ashley Pottier (AP) outlined the MAA progress to date nationally. Seven MAAs had been signed in the first wave with two clear messages emerging  A significant number of freedoms and flexibilities agreed  Ministers want to see more challenge to Government. For the second wave of MAAs CLG will be looking for sign off in late November. Realistically the MAA would have to be submitted by 10th November to allow for cross Whitehall agreement. No ground rules apply although minimum standards are expected. Outside of wave two the next time frame for sign off is March 2009.

Barry Fawcett (BF) highlighted the timetable that partners were working to and explained they were looking for sign off by the end of October. AP suggested that delegation should be given to one of the Chief Executives to enable last minute changes to be incorporated.

Abigail Howarth gave feedback from the recent Merseyside Leaders and Chief Executives meeting. There is positive support for the MAA and agreement has been reached on Liverpool City Region governance structures including the formation of an Employment and Skills Board.

Richard Nutter explained that partners would share the draft Story of Place with GO and departmental colleagues w/c 4th August. The Story of Place will set the context for the MAA including Employment and Skills and the other three strands of the MAA – economy, housing and transport. The aim is for the Employment and Skills strand in November and the other three in April 2. Merseyside MAA

Sue Jarvis presented the draft MAA and went through the four proposals outlined in the paper: 1. Delegation and devolution of governance arrangements 2. Integration of employment and skills policy and planning 3. Co-commissioning of and investment in delivery services 4. Integration of our employment and skills offer.

Feedback on MAA

Dave Harrison - the regional tier was missing and more was needed on the role of NWDA, particularly as a co-investor and co commissioner. Dave offered to help strengthen this.

Pat Shilliday - more evidence could be drawn from City Employment Strategy.  Where is it up to?  What lessons have been learnt?  The barriers faced?  The solutions?

AP – Very positive and a good starting point. It is felt the draft would benefit from a change of emphasis to reflect: 1. The vision 2. The strategy 3. Proposal for integrated services 4. Establishment of the Board It needs to be set within the context of the Story of Place; Proposals and Asks more clearly identified and drawn together. How it links to PSAs? What the outcomes and targets are? What will partners bring to the table? Andrew Fawcett felt more was needed on the client journey.

MAAs will need to demonstrate Added Value. There was a debate on the meaning of “added value” whether this meant additional numbers or additional quality of service. There were mixed views but emphasis was on the latter. It will be thoroughly tested at the Senior Whitehall workshop in October.

3. Development of Proposals

AP gave some suggestions on how an “ask” should be framed. The request should identify What is the barrier? Why will it make a difference? What will it enable partners to do? What will happen if not agreed? The South Hampshire MAA was highlighted as a good example of how asks are framed.

Government departmental issues that will need to be addressed in the MAA are:  DEFRA – sustainability  DIUS – 14-19 year old commissioning And in the broader MAA context, Business Support simplification, Housing – RSS numbers and Transport – congestion and CO2 emissions.

Richard Nutter explained that the remaining three strands Economy and Enterprise, Housing and Transport are at different stages of development. There are issues around governance to be decided for housing and transport whilst a draft for economy and enterprise is well advanced.

4. Next Steps and future meetings

Once the Story of Place is circulated comments would be welcomed by the end of August.

August 2008 – Meeting of Merseyside partners and government leads to be held in mid August. GONW to arrange.

8 th September – Stakeholder event for Local Authority wider partnership which GO, government departments and other partners will be invited to. This will be followed by a meeting of the core group and government leads. Barry Fawcett to lead.

October 2008 – Workshop with senior partners and Whitehall officials. CLG to lead and arrange.