‘Our Place!’ Pilot Update Overview and Scrutiny Board 26 November 2013

‘Our Place!’ Pilot UpdateOverview and Scrutiny Board

26 November 2013

The Team White City area

White City Opportunity Area Planning Framework

Programme 1:A decentralised approach to services

What? Local people in White City will have more control and influence over local public services in the White City Opportunity Area. The community is empowered to monitor, manage and, in some instances, deliver local services, which could include delivering low cost housing repairs and maintenance through a ‘handyperson’ service. The housing and repairs programme will be delivered between 2014 and 2015 and could set the framework for wider

Savings / Benefits Delivering services locally has the potential to bring costs down, through quality management, and welfare dependency will be reduced by opening up work opportunities.

2015 and could set the framework for wider decentralisation in the future.Why? Residents voiced an ambition to do more themselves and in particular aspired to take responsibility for carrying out and inspecting work delivered by the Council. Training and employment opportunities will bring positive wider benefits.How? Start by creating a ‘handyperson’ service delivering housing repairs and maintenance, with all the training and support needed. An initial focus on housing can be rolled out to other areas. Opportunities for local control are being built into new borough-wide contracts.

Community budgeting Total repairs and maintenance costs in the White City Opportunity Area ran to £1.22m in 2012. Wider decentralisation across a range of services could present new opportunities to pool budgets and devolve control to a local level.

Next steps A panel of interested residents has been recruited to help oversee the quality of local repairs and maintenance services. Discussions will begin with the new housing repairs contractor, MITIE, about the possibility of decentralising part of the existing service to the White City community.

Programme 2:Supporting and creating working households

What? Development and delivery of a Team White City Employability and Skills programme. Tailored support for jobseekers in the White City Opportunity Area, as part of a person-centred, neighbourhood approach will be offered, with businesses working more closely with jobseekers and employment and skills agencies, making sure local people can connect with opportunities in the area now and in the future.

Savings Helping people move into work and away from benefits will bring clear savings to the benefit purse. Support for jobseekers will help them deal positively with welfare reform and tailored support will assist those with particular needs, including lone parents and those who are far removed from the labour market.

Why? Residents want to develop the skills and experience needed to take up jobs in the borough. There are currently a range of providers delivering employability and skills support in the area and there is an opportunity to deliver this in a more integrated way, through a joined-up, neighbourhood approach, which is more focused on the ‘person’ and which links skills and employability directly with local job opportunities.How? Carry out intensive work with the community to understand aspirations and training needs. Bring all agencies together to create a Team White City neighbourhood approach to employability and skills support.

market.Community budgetingOpportunity to pool budgets and resources from different providers. The programme will link in with Whole Place Community Budget programmes, the Work Programme, JobCentrePlus, LBHF Council spend and European funded programmes.

Next steps Local businesses have signed up to a Team White City ‘Business Pledge’, in support of local employment and a new jobshop, ‘Frontline’ is to open on Bloemfontein Road. This will provide access to skills training and other resources for jobseekers and be granted early access to information on local job vacancies.

Programme 3:Good parenting programme

What? Launch a parent support network in White City. By focusing on helping people to be good parents, it will be possible to create a network of support for families, which will bring about a transformation in parenting behaviour, reducing issues of ‘low level’ neglect and reducing future demand for statutory services.

Why? Discussions with the community identified how

Savings / benefits Successful early support for families will generate future savings in the areas of health, including dental care and in social care, as well as in respect of future demand for statutory services, including 2 year old provision, Looked After Children and Children in Need.Community budgeting Pooling budgets and integrating the resources of existing providers could Why? Discussions with the community identified how

early support for parents could have wide benefits for the whole community. Particular benefits will be felt by young children. A key observation from analysis and community engagement is that many children in White City are developmentally behind children from other areas and a link has been made between this and ‘low level neglect’ indicators, such as poor levels of dental health, speech and language difficulties and a lack of nutrition. How? The parent mentor network will seek to alleviate the issues highlighted above as well as seeking to increase the take up of ante-natal care.

integrating the resources of existing providers could make it possible to establish a new, targeted parenting programme without the need for additional investment.

Next steps The White City Enterprise is being funded to deliver the ‘Our Neighbourhood Mums and Dads’ project. This will launch early in the New Year.

Programme 4:Preventing and reducing crime

What? Launch a shared outcomes / performance framework across crime and policing agencies in early 2014.Crime and policing agencies work together in a more integrated way, working to a shared outcomes / performance framework and the community, police, neighbourhood wardens and others work more closely together to find new ways of tackling crime and issues such as anti social behaviour. The delivery of this programme is centred on a new

Savings Cutting the number of offences would reduce associated costs and sharing intelligence and resources is likely to bring efficiencies.Community budgeting Enabling greater local The delivery of this programme is centred on a new

neighbourhood panel approach, launched in partnership with MOPAC. There will be a neighbourhood panel for Hammersmith and Fulham and a sub-board for the White City Opportunity Area. Why? Various different teams operate in the area, with different boundaries and different priorities. Helping them work better together would allow for a more targeted local approach, achieving better outcomes and improving the relationship between the community and crime and policing agencies.

How? Bring residents, police and other agencies together to develop targeted intervention and better reporting of crime in the area.

Community budgeting Enabling greater local decision making and influence regarding crime and policing in the White City Opportunity Area, with the aim of improving the relationship between residents and crime and policing agencies.

Next steps A shared performance framework has been drawn up and consulted upon and is now agreed. It will be launched in the New Year.

Programme 5:Helping people gain computer skills

What? Provide teaching skills training to a pool of local residents who are proficient in computing and wish to help other residents gain IT skills. White City residents report much lower levels of internet access than the rest of the borough and, as such, are “digitally excluded”, which can impact negatively on access to the jobs market and to goods and services.Why? The internet has revolutionised access to

Savings If more residents are able to make use of online access to public services then the cost of delivering those services is reduced for the provider. The need for residents to travel to and from those services is also reduced which saves both time and transport costs.

Community budgeting Agilysys has provided 20 Why? The internet has revolutionised access to services and channels of social interaction in recent years but many residents in the White City area do not have access to a computer at home nor have the skills to make use of computers that are provided in public areas. This lack of IT access and skills acts as a barrier to improving quality of life for many people.

How? By making laptops available to those with computer skills, along with skills training, to enable them to teach other residents how to access useful services and communication channels online.

Community budgeting Agilysys has provided 20 laptops that will be used to recruit and train the first pool of IT teaching trainees. The Council’s Adult Learning and Skills Service will provide the necessary training (funded by the Skills Funding Agency) in the knowledge that it will assist in reducing service delivery costs further down the line.

Next steps The White City Enterprise is keen to take on the project and a register of interested residents is being drawn up.

Team White City is about inspiring local people to make the most of the opportunities around them.

It is a completely different approach to the way the public services traditionally engage with the local community.

We want to build trust and confidence by moulding the available public services around the needs of the community and by showcasing local successes.

Connecting people with local services and opportunities

and by showcasing local successes.

We do this through a community-led fanzine. We also have hundreds signed up to Facebook and Twitter.

Around three out of four people tell us that they like the fanzine and we are

Bbeginning to secure an increasedtake-up of local services.

.

The Bloom housing development – story led to a spike of 78 people registering interest in the month after the fanzine came out, compared to 20 the month before. The number of phone enquiries also rose by 80% after publication

Evaluation of the impact of each fanzine story is ongoing.Some successes include:

Apprenticeships campaign – In the past year, eight apprentices from W12have joined the council’s own business admin scheme. The Westfield retail apprenticeships is also up and running, with 92 opportunities identifiedand36 apprentices placed.

We want people to feel that they are part of a team and to contribute to that team if they can..

More than 50 people took part in a Big Clean-Up day across the area…

We also hosted a Team White City volunteers day in November

Apprenticeships.

Team White City’s online presence has been growing steadily since launching in October 2012, with daily updates and activity

370 people are signed up to receive our fortnightly e-newsletter, which promotes community activity and encourages people to engage with us online

Team White City on social media

On Facebook, up to 200 unique users a weekregularly see our new posts - and up to 50 of those are ‘engaged users’ who click on content and share

Our Twitter followers have grown to 250, many local to W12

are ‘engaged users’ who click on content and share stories with their friends

The Team White City website

The website will serve as a one-stop resource for local people, bringing together essential information on local services, events and activities, promoting local groups and organisations, and connecting people and connecting people with real opportunities for work, training, volunteering and support.

There will be a strong participatory feel, with users encouraged to contribute, leave comments, take part in surveys, join discussions about local issues and influence local decisions.

The site will be responsive to different platforms, so that the pages scale up and down seamlessly between desktop, tablet and mobile.

My White City: Detailed information on how to get involved in the community, with sports and fitness, shops, going out, plus real local people with positive stories to tell.

My services: All the essential information about the neighbourhood services in one place, including housing, health, crime and policing, school, environment and more.

Jobs and skills: A live jobs feed will promote current opportunities, with information on

The website will have six main sections:

Jobs and skills: A live jobs feed will promote current opportunities, with information on apprenticeships and training, the new job shop, and the ‘success stories’ of local people.

News: All the latest local news relevant to the neighbourhood, drawn from the community, with special promotions and appeals such as the White City Cookbook.

Your Shout: Have your say on local issues in different ways, including surveys, live polls, consultations, public meetings and how you can influence Team White City-related work.

White City Buzz: For young people, with lively content about youth clubs, events and activities, sports and promotions, encouraging them to get involved and contribute.

A dynamic digital environmentThe website will be full of dynamic contentto ensure it has the biggest impact.

It will host short video clips of local people with positive stories to tell, such as young people who have become council apprentices.council apprentices.

These could be filmed and edited by local people using smartphones, working with Team White City.

A live Twitter feed will give dynamic, up-to-the-minute updates on local activity, with commitments from local police and others to use it to engage regularly.

The website will encourage local people to participate and influence local decision-makingin a number of ways.

A regular survey, developed with YouGov, will gather detailed information about local issues and may be used to help shape local services and working practices.

Direct democracy

Live polls will gauge local feeling on current issues. A feeling on current issues. A live Twitter feed will give up-to-the-minute updates relevant to the local area.

Much of the content will have built-in features encouraging people to comment, have their say and make their own contributions.

[email protected]

FollowFollow@teamwhitecity on Twitter

Visitwww.facebook.com/teamwhitecity and ‘like’ us