Cambridgeshire Together

working together for better outcomes

June 2010

front page

Radical plans to change partnership working across Cambridgeshire approved

 

The Cambridgeshire Together Board have approved changes to partnership working across Cambridgeshire

The Cambridgeshire Together Board, a group of the county’s most influential decision makers, has approved an approach to radically transform how the public sector, the business sector and the third sector work together across Cambridgeshire.

The new approach, approved at the Board’s meeting in May 2010, will mark the end of static partnerships that cover everything across the whole county, to an approach where partner organisations focus on the right issues, at the right time and in the right way.

The Board has agreed to reduce the number of its meetings from bi monthly to bi annually and has commissioned the Cambridgeshire Public Sector Board (CPSB), which includes the Chief Executives and Chief Officers from Cambridgeshire's local public sector organisations, to take this work forward.

Developing a new approach

The CPSB will now develop a model, which encourages organisations to work together in a more streamlined, flexible and smarter way. It will free up time by reducing the hundreds of hours people from the various organisations spent in meetings, so their knowledge, expertise and initiative can be focused on delivering services and making Cambridgeshire an even better place to live.

The Board approved three key principles about how Cambridgeshire’s organisations will work together in the future:

• The new approach will be firmly based on a principle of subsidiarity - “doing things at the lowest appropriate geographic scale”.  Partners will only deal with issues on a Countywide basis where it makes most sense to do so, and will tackle key issues on a district basis amongst the relevant organisations.  Where appropriate, issues will be tackled at an area and neighbourhood level too. This will help address the desire of Public Sector leaders across Cambridgeshire to cut any unnecessary bureaucracy.  Inevitably many issues cut across Cambridgeshire’s administrative geographies and require different parts of local government to work together, often with other elements of the public sector, and with the voluntary and private sectors too.
• Central to this new approach therefore, is the principle that if one organisation can tackle an issue on its own, then all other partners step back and trust that organisation to do it. This will lessen the need for regular meetings involving 10-15 people from a number of organisations to look at an issue that one individual is accountable for in their own organisation
• This new approach would involve the right people from the appropriate organisations being commissioned to work together on the ground for a given period without the need for numerous partnership meetings.  Individuals would be given objectives to achieve, with clarity around the available resources, the targets to hit and the freedom and trust to achieve the outcome in the most efficient and effective way.  Once an improvement to service quality, a new service model is established or a target achieved, the group could be decommissioned, and resources allocated elsewhere 

The CPSB will present the proposed model to the Cambridgeshire Together Board for approval and implementation in September 2010.

Further information

View the report presented to the Cambridgeshire Together Board

For further information, contact Adam Speed, Cambridgeshire Together Partnerships Officer on 01223 699767

 

News in brief

Proposal to pave the way for the Local Enterprise Partnership

Business leaders and local authorities across greater Cambridge and greater Peterborough have joined forces to create proposals for a partnership which will drive economic recovery and development across the county and beyond and could become a model for the rest of the country.

A partnership project board has been formed to steer the development of the proposal and its Chairman John Bridge has now written to Government ministers urging them to support the creation of a Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) for the Greater Cambridge and Greater Peterborough areas.

In his letter, Mr Bridge cites Cambridgeshire and Peterborough’s ‘unique’ position in the country as an economic and educational powerhouse which has ensured the area weathered the economic downturn better than many other areas.

The mission of the Greater Cambridge and Greater Peterborough Local Enterprise Partnership is to lead the area‘s growth to 100,000 major businesses and create 160,000 new jobs by 2025 in an internationally significant low carbon, knowledge-based economy.

Mr Bridge said: “The economic geography of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough is distinctive. Together, our 1.3 population and 60,000 major businesses generate approximately £30bn a year for the UK economy. Growth in the local economy in the last decade has outstripped that of the wider UK and we have national and international strengths in ICT, bio-medical, low carbon and environmental goods, high value engineering and manufacturing, and creative industries; sectors which can drive national economic recovery and lead the transition to a greener economy.”

Subject to feedback from Secretaries of State Vince Cable and Eric Pickles, work will continue on developing a formal proposal to create the Local Enterprise Partnership which would break down traditional administrative barriers across Cambridgeshire and lead the local and national economic development and recovery.

Cambridgeshire County Council Leader Jill Tuck, said: “Both the public and private sector across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough has worked extremely hard to reduce the impact of the current challenging economic situation – but challenge also brings opportunity and we believe that the time is right to create a Local Enterprise Partnership which will build on the good work locally and become a pathfinder for the drive for recovery nationally.”   

View letter sent to Secretaries of State, Eric Pickles and Vince Cable

For further information contact: Contact: ESBusiness.Support@cambridgeshire.gov.uk

View previous article on proposals for a Local Enterprise Parntership  

Kick Ash - young people proud to be smoke free

Kick Ash - is a new schools programme led by young people helping to reduce smoking in the under 16s

A smoking reduction programme taking place in 10 schools throughout Cambridgeshire over a three year period will have its official launch at Bottisham Village College on 25 June 2010.

The programme, entitled Kick Ash, a name chosen by the students, aims to encourage young people throughout Cambridgeshire become proud to be smoke free.

Its their project

The programme is not reliant on traditional smoking cessation campaign methods, which have been shown to have little impact on young people.

Instead, the project will take a young person centred approach, which has students deciding on the direction of the project.

Based on ground breaking projects in the U.S and on Merseyside, this approach helps students take ownership of the project and challenge the myths around smoking

Over 30 students have been recruited and have organised themselves into work groups, including communications, tobacco enforcement and smoking cessation advisors.

They are working with the NHS Public Health CAMQUIT team and Cambridgeshire County Council’s Communications, Trading Standards  and Personal, Social, Health and Education Team. 

The project is funded by Cambridgeshire Together’s Local Public Sector Agreement reward grant.

Further infomation

For more information, email Di Fenner, Manager - Education and Health Partnerships – diane.fenner@cambridgeshire.gov.uk

Video: A new environmental education centre for Paxton Pits Nature Reserve

A short video by Cambridgeshire Horizons about the new education centre at Paxton Pits funded by the Housing Growth Fund (length - 1minute 55 seconds)

View more videos by Cambridgeshire Horizons

For further information about the new environmental education centre at Paxton Pits, contact the rangers on 01480 406795 or the Wildlife Trust on 01480 811075.

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Ensuring early provision of affordable leisure and appropriate community facilities and social infrastructure that is accessible to all is a key priority of Cambridgeshire's Vision, the Countywide Sustainable Community Strategy

Citzen's Advice Bureaux launch Advicehub

The launch of Advicehub at JHC Sawston.  Reg Cullum, Chair of Trustees JHC, Cllr Charles Nightingale SCDC, Dr David Livesey Chair of Trustees Cambridge CAB

Advicehub, the Big Lottery Funded initiative led by the four Cambridgeshire Citizen's Advice Bureaus (CABs), has launched its programme to increase people’s access to quality advice services. 

By using innovative technology and creating an infrastructure of partnership advice agencies to coordinate activities, share resources and monitor the quality of services, Advicehub will ensure that the client is always placed at the heart of the advice process. 

The right advice, at the right time, in the right place

A network of digital access points for free advice is being set up at community locations all across Cambridgeshire.  Self-help touchscreen kiosks, designed to give people signposted access to specialist local advice organisations, are already in operation at Cambridge CAB (funded by Cambridge City Council), John Huntingdon Charity (funded by South Cambridgeshireshire District Council) in Sawston and the Rosmini Centre Wisbech (funded by the Investing in Community fund of EEDA).

Interviews booked through a central appointments system shared with other advice agencies will allow people to speak to specialist advisers remotely via webcam and Skype phone.

Working with Cambridgeshire Libraries

Advicehubs kiosks will also  be set up set up in three Cambridgeshire Libraries - Chatteris, March and Whittlesey. Links and icons to the Advicehub website will also be included on all Cambridgeshire Libraries People's Network computers and Community Access Points.

Training the trainers

In order to ensure a high quality of advice, professionals working in the sector are being offered training and continuing professional development via courses run by Advicehub.

The programme launched in the Spring with a series of workshops on 'The Benefits System Unplugged' delivered by Linda Hutchinson, Manager of Fenland CAB. 

Demand was so high for this training that three further courses have been arranged for later in the summer.  The second course was delivered in conjunction with Cambridgeshire Trading Standards and gave an overview of recent updates in consumer law.  The programme for 2010/11 will be announced in August.

A new building and a high profile supporter

In July, Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England, will open a new building in Cambridge for the  CAB and Advicehub Cambridge. 

The building was purchased and refurbished with support from the Futurebuilders fund of The Social Investment Business and will house advice agency tenants and the technological infrastructure needed to support the network of new advice points across the county. 

Further information 

Anyone interested in finding out more about Advicehub should visit www.advicehub.org or contact Kulbir Singh on 01223 222765 or email kulbir@advicehub.org.

Sign up for regular updated on the website.

Making Cambridgeshire Count

Making Cambridgeshire Count (MCC) is a countywide project commissioned by the Cambridgeshire Together Board, a group of key decision makers from the county's most influential organisations.

MCC has three aims:

1. To bring leaders and influencers together from across Cambridgeshire to refocus our public services, using new perspectives and different thinking

2. To place customer and community views at the centre of new thinking and to design new and innovative ways of meeting community needs

3. To make sure we continue to provide excellent services even if we see a 20 per cent reduction in our public sector finances

The second phase

The Making Cambridgeshire Count initiative is now in its second phase.

The first phase focussed on bringing partners across public services in the county together, working in collaboration to develop a shared identity and common purpose.

Participants spent time identifying areas where increased collaboration could lead to more effective and efficient services for our communities.

This led to eight innovative projects being established, covering a broad range of topics. Some projects will directly impact on local residents; for example ‘Tackling Domestic Abuse’ will join up and simplify access to services for victims, who currently experience a confusing system pushing them from one organisation to another.

Our Public Services Redesign and Sharing Services projects will blur the boundaries between our organisations, providing accessible services to everyone in the most efficient and effective way possible.

Three of the projects have now matured to the extent that they are being taken forward through Cambridgeshire Together Thematic Partnerships.

The second phase of Making Cambridgeshire Count will also include a continued focus on developing leadership and the culture of collaboration that has been established.

Even more Members, employees and stakeholders will now be engaged and involved in achieving the overall aim of MCC – making Cambridgeshire a great place to call home.

Making Cambridgeshire Count has also been shortlisted for the MJ Total Place Achievement of the Year award 2010, testament to progress that has been made across public services in the county. The winner of the award will be announced in June.

Future Jobs Fund update

 Funding will provide temporary jobs for long term unemployed in Cambridgeshire

The Cambridgeshire Together Future Jobs Fund has successfully created many job opportunities for eligible young people aged 18-24 years old in Cambridgeshire.

To date over 100 young people have started work in a variety of jobs, all with a community benefit, throughout the county.

The jobs, each lasting for six months and paying at least the minimum wage, have been created for young people who have been claiming Jobseekers Allowance for between six months and a year.

Young people affected most

The recession has disproportionately affected young people, who are struggling to find work in this tough economic climate and the Future Jobs Fund provides them with an opportunity to gain new skills and experience in a real job.

The Cambridgeshire Together Partnership was awarded the Future Jobs Fund contract by the Department for Work and Pensions earlier this year to provide job opportunities for eligible young people across Cambridgeshire. All applications for future jobs are made through Jobcentre Plus.

Cambridgeshire County Council is the Lead Accountable Body for the Future Jobs Fund and nextstep adult guidance service are coordinating the programme.

Employers involved in the Future Jobs Fund include members of the Cambridgeshire Together board, community and voluntary sector and social enterprise organisations. There are a wide variety of jobs in areas such as administration, conservation, grounds maintenance, healthcare and sport.

All employees under the Future Jobs Fund are receiving accredited training in Employability Skills, this covers CV writing, job search and interview skills. These activities are supported by Cambridgeshire County Council's nextstep Adult Guidance service, Adult and Community Learning and Connexions Young People's services.

Robert Stone, Clerk to Girton Parish Council, said: "Our employees under the Future Jobs Fund are doing a brilliant job and are making a real difference to our community"

The Cambridgeshire Together Future Jobs Fund is an excellent example of partnership working where committed organisations are working together to create varied and meaningful opportunities for young people to help them gain sustainable future employment.

partnerships

South Cambridgeshire and City LSPs merge

South Cambridgeshire Local Strategic Partnership and Cambridge City LSP have now merged to form a new Local Strategic Partnership (LSP) covering both districts.

A first meeting was held in April and terms of reference were agreed. The new LSP will strive to ensure that the area remains a place where people want to live, work and enjoy, now and in the future.

The LSP has the opportunity of preparing a shared sustainable community strategy for the district areas over the coming months, that recognises both the common challenges being faced by our communities but also identifies and celebrates our differences.

For the time being though the present sustainable community strategies will guide our work. The LSP will launch a consultation with its stakeholders in the early autumn to
get views on the local priorities it should take forward.  

Projects

The LSP will continue to manage a number of projects to improve the quality of life for residents. One key piece of work over recent months has been the development and implementation of a Community Transport Strategy, developed by South Cambridgeshire District Council with partners in the South Cambridgeshire Transport and Access Group. 

The adopted strategy includes actions to increase community transport coverage and increase awareness.

Community Chest

Interest in the remaining £20,000 Community Chest capital funding for parish councils and the voluntary and community sector in South Cambridgeshire remains high. Eligible groups have been able to apply for up to £1,000 since 1 April.  Thirty-seven projects were allocated £30,000 between January 2009 and March 2010.

Community Psychiatric Nurse

In the City a project has seen a number of individuals involved in street based drinking and aggressive begging turnaround their lives through engagement with the Street Outreach Team and the supervision provided by the employment of a Community Psychiatric Nurse (CPN), funded for a two year period by the LSP.

The CPN is presently carrying an intensive caseload of 35 people, who may otherwise not be receiving care and the opportunity to detox in their homes.

A Community Cohesion Group

A Community Cohesion Group in the City set up by the LSP is continuing to promote good relations between people from different backgrounds and a recently held talent show at Cambridge Corn Exchange brought together nearly 500 people from a variety of communities in a positive way - to hlp improve understanding and engagement between the wide range of cmmunities living in the City. 

Looking forward, we're hoping that our new partnership will realise the est of both districts and quickly brings benefits to all of our ommunities. 

For more information, please contact Gemma Barron, Partnerships Manager
(South Cambridgeshire Distrcit Council), on 03450 450 500 or visit
www.scambs.gov.uk/lsp or contact  Graham Saint, Strategy Officer (Cambridge City Council) on 01223 457044 or visit www.cambridge.gov.uk/lsp
 

East Cambridgeshire Local Strategic Partnership - Sustainable Community Strategy

The East Cambridgeshire Strategic Partnership (ECSP) is currently consulting on what should be in the new Sustainable Community Strategy, which will be launched in April 2011. 

The new Strategy will replace the existing Sustainable Community Strategy for 2008-2011.  It will set out how services can be improved and delivered to increase the environmental, social and economic well-being of the district and will act as an overarching partnership plan for East Cambridgeshire.

As part of the Local Government Act all local authorities have a duty to produce a sustainable community strategy in consultation with partners and the community. As well as these statutory requirements the Strategy is essential in setting out a vision and priorities for the area and its content will be used as a basis for the ECSP to allocate any future funding received through the Local Area Agreement.  

In order for the new strategy to be a leading and influencing document for the area it is important that the document contains the key aspirations of all local partner organisations and the community.  

The second phase of consultation begins on 28^th June, and we are very keen to hear you views on our proposed priorities and any suggestions as to how we can best achieve our aims.To review the strategy go to www.eastcambs.gov.uk, alternatively, if you would like a hard copy of the draft strategy please contact Melanie Wright on 01353 665555 or via email at lsp2@eastcambs.gov.uk.  

Frequently asked questions

diary

Cambridgeshire Together Board

Cambridgeshire Horizons

Cambridgeshire's Children's Trust

Children's Trust Partnership: A thematic partnership of high-level representatives from key organisations across the public, private and voluntary sectors responsible for improving outcomes for children and young people, so that every child achieves their potential.

Dates and venues:

Tuesday, 7 September at 2.00p.m. - venue to be confirmed

Tuesday, 16 November at 2.00p.m. - venue to be confirmed

About the meeting:

Meetings of the Board are open to the press and public and the agenda, reports and minutes are available via  Cambridgeshire County Council's website. [This excludes items of business containing confidential information or information that is exempt from publication in accordance with Access to Information legislation.]

Community Wellbeing Partnership

Environmental Sustainability Partnership

Greater Cambridge Partnership

Safer and Stronger Communities Partnership

Welcome to Cambridgeshire Together's e-magazine

managing growth

New town gets £1.5million jump-start

Illustration of Northstowe

Northstowe tops the bill in a national list of exemplar projects announced on 9 March 2010 by housing and planning minister John Healey. The extra funding rewards many years’ hard work and provides the platform for taking Northstowe to the next level.

The money will help South Cambridgeshire District Council (SCDC), Cambridgeshire County Council and Cambridgeshire Horizons to develop proposals to showcase low carbon living and eco-friendly life-styles at Northstowe.

The £1.5million was received after the partners bid for over £1.8million to fund a package of measures to improve energy efficiency including an education centre to develop learning and awareness of sustainable living. This will highlight Northstowe’s quality of life ambitions for residents, demonstrating the practical application of high environmental specifications and modern construction methods.

Supporting sustainable energy projects

The money will also support SCDC’s existing sustainable parish energy project, which helps local groups who want to improve energy efficiency in their homes. Demonstration homes in Rampton Drift will be fitted out with energy-saving and generating features, as well as water saving devices. People will be able to try them out to discover how they can change everyday life for the better and the effectiveness of these measures in a real-life setting will be monitored.

The money will also fund work on how delivering zero-carbon living, climate change adaptation, sustainable homes and transport, waste management, and healthy lifestyles can be delivered while making sure the scheme remains viable.

SCDC’s recently appointed Northstowe portfolio holder Councillor Tim Wotherspoon said, “This is our chance to show that we can make Northstowe somewhere really special. It will demonstrate that new development and enhancing the environment can go hand in hand. I am passionately committed to genuine and continuing community engagement as we take Northstowe forward. Together we are going to make this place our new town.”

Owned by joint promoters the Homes and Community Agency and Gallaghers, Northstowe is set to provide around 9,500 homes and associated community infrastructure as well as supporting around 9,000 new jobs.

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Ensuring high sustainability standards are present in the design, mix and construction and occupation of new developments including energy efficiency and more sustainable waste management is a key priority of Cambridgeshire's Vision, the Countywide Sustainable Community Strategy

Growth sites planning appeal dismissed by Secretary of State

Planning appeals for two local developments in Cambridge have been dismissed

On 26 February, John Denham, the then Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, dismissed the appeals relating to the planning applications for Clay Farm and Glebe Farm on Cambridge’s southern fringe.

Cambridge City Council planning policies requiring 40 per cent affordable housing (mirrored by South Cambridgeshire District) have been upheld. The decision also means that the developer will need to contribute towards the capital costs of a library. This decision sets an important precedent not just for the growth of Cambridge, but across the country.

Between them, the two sites will provide 2,550 new homes, along with:

• new secondary and primary schools
• community, sport and recreation facilities
• local shops and public open space 

Cambridge City Council’s Executive Councillor for Climate Change and Growth, Councillor Sian Reid, said, “This decision sends out a clear and decisive message to developers that Cambridge will not tolerate half measures when it comes to building new settlements in our city. Affordable housing is desperately needed in Cambridge but without a firm commitment from developers to meet targets, planning applications will be rejected. Only when we get the balance right will we be able to deliver sustainable communities of which we can be proud."

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Managing growth properly is is a key priority of Cambridgeshire's Vision, the Countywide Sustainable Community Strategy

 

economic prosperity

More Cambridgeshire teens learning or earning

Young people in Cambridgeshire are bucking the worklessness trend

 The number of young people not in education, employment or training (NEET) in Cambridgeshire has fallen again.

Latest figures show that during May 2010, 5.2 per cent of 16 to 18-year-olds in the county were NEET compared to 5.9 per cent in May 2009.

Locality teams
Cambridgeshire County Council locality teams, which include Connexions youth services, have worked hard to support young people who are NEET and encourage them to remain in learning in order to improve their prospects of future employment.

A total of 85 per cent of 16 to 18-year-olds in the county are currently in education compared to 81.9 per cent this time last year.

Future Jobs Fund
The Cambridgeshire Together Future Jobs Fund has now provided job opportunities for over 100 young people across Cambridgeshire and the  programme is on target to place a further 40 young people into jobs by the end of July. The programme is aimed at young people aged 18-24 who have been claiming Jobseekers Allowance for between six months and one year.The recession has hit young people particularly hard, and the Future Jobs Fund provides them with a fantastic opportunity to gain new skills and experience in a real job.

Cllr Martin Curtis, Cambridgeshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Children, said: “It is very encouraging to see that the numbers of young people who are not in education, employment or training are coming down.

“It is really important that young people consider their options very carefully and ensure that they have acquired all the necessary qualifications and skills to enable them to compete in the job market. Connexions personal advisers can help with this decision making.”

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Ensuring all children and young people have a sure start in life and an equal opportunity to thrive and fulfil their potential within their families and communities is a key priority of Cambridgeshire's Vision, the Countywide Sustainable Community Strategy

 

Romsey Mill to roll-out successful ‘Ready to Go’

Romsey Mill's Ellie Howes (on left) and Naomi Message with the Ready to Go resources

Romsey Mill, an award-winning charity dedicated to creating opportunities with young people and families in Cambridgeshire, is rolling out its successful Ready to Go resource to primary schools across the country.

This follows a number of successful pilots at more than a dozen schools in Cambridgeshire, including Manor Community College and the Parkside Federation.

Ready to Go is an easy-to-use, off-the shelf resource designed to support children during the transition from primary to secondary school. It has been developed by the Transitions team at Romsey Mill who have been working alongside young people moving from primary to secondary school for over 10 years.

Ellie Howes, Transitions co-ordinator at Romsey Mill, said: “Moving from primary to secondary school can be a traumatic, daunting and difficult time for young people and their families, on a par with moving house. Our Ready to Go resource is designed to help children in the final year of primary school (Year 6) to prepare for this big move, reduce their anxiety and build their confidence.

“We know from research that more than two thirds of primary school children rate their school experience as positive whereas less than a third do so at secondary school, and that the gap in educational achievement between higher and lower social economic groups opens up starkly in the first years of secondary school. It’s an important issue which our Ready to Go resource is designed to address.”

Helping children move on

Divided into 14 short topics, the Ready to Go workbook and accompanying facilitator’s guide, is designed to help year 6 children to gather information about their new school, find out about homework, school uniform, rules and extra-curricular activities, and address issues that may be worrying them, such as bullying and making new friends.

Over a dozen Cambridgeshire schools are already using the material with small groups and whole classes.   

Ben Slade, Principal of Manor Community College, Cambridge, said: “Ready to Go is an excellent resource that has significantly helped our Year 7 students in making a successful transfer.”

Romsey Mill’s Transitions team is continuing to improve the Ready to Go resource by developing further links between the material and the Government’s Personal Social and Health Education (PSHE) syllabus. In addition, an interactive whiteboard (IWB) version of Ready to Go will be available in spring 2010.

Further information

To order copies of the children’s interactive workbook (£3 each) and the photocopiable facilitator’s guide (£10 each), please contact Ellie Howes at Romsey Mill by telephone: 01223 566392; email transitions@romseymill.org; or visit www.romseymill.org.

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Supporting young people in transition from early years to school is a key priority of Cambridgeshire's Vision, the Countywide Sustainable Community Strategy 

Local Enterprise Partnerships

As you may be aware, the Coalition Government has recently invited local authorities and business to work together on proposals for Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) to replace the Regional Development Agencies.

A joint letter from the Secretaries of State for Communities and Local Government and Business, Innovation and Skills is attached for your information. The deadline for submissions is 6 September.

At this stage, we have limited information about how LEPs might work and are expecting a Government white paper that will provide more detail later in the Summer.

We do know that the purpose of LEPs is to ensure a economic development, housing growth and regeneration best supports the local economies.

Local authorities and businesses need to work together to form LEPs on the basis of real economic and travel to work areas, which might not be the same as administrative boundaries. They will be 50:50 public-private partnerships, chaired by the private sector and involving local universities.

To find out the views of local businesses and their representative organisations, Cambridgeshire's councils are working together with the Chambers of Commerce, CBI, Cambridge Network, the Federation of Small Businesses and the Institute of Directors, along with the Greater Cambridge Partnership, Cambridgeshire Horizons, the University of Cambridge and Anglia Ruskin University.

If you are running a business and have ideas about what the LEPs should focus on, then we want to hear from you. Download the consultation letter and more information here.

For example:

* what do you think are the top five topics for LEPs to address over the next 10 years?
* What do you think will help create the right environment for business and growth in your locality?
* What issues are relevant to identifying the right economic area for a LEP?
* How can a LEP's involve businesses?

No doubt you have your own ideas and might want to suggest other issues for us to consider in our review.

Please contact Charlotte Taylor at Cambridgeshire County Council, CC1307 Shire Hall, Cambridge CB3 0AP (email: ESbusiness.support@cambridgeshire.gov.uk) with your response by Friday 13 August 2010.

 

environmental sustainability

Residents in Hunts, City and Fenland can include glass in their recycling bins

Hunts, Cambridge City and Fenland are helping residents recycle

Huntingdonshire, Cambridge City and Fenland residents will be able to include glass bottles and jars in their recycling bin, saving all those trips to the bottle bank.

Residents will have received a leaflet, on their recycling bin, which gives the details of what items can be recycled. 

The three district councils have recently agreed a five-year contract with leading recycling company Viridor for the sorting and processing of recyclables, to include the recycling of glass.

All 34,000 tonnes of recyclable material collected annually by the three councils will now be taken to a modern recycling facility in Peterborough. Glass will be separated from other materials using specialist equipment and then sent for processing. Recycled glass will mainly be used as aggregate for the construction of roads and car parks.

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Increasing recycling and minimising waste is a key priority of Cambridgeshire's Vision, the Countywide Sustainable Community Strategy

equality and inclusion

Reducing teenage pregnancy rates

Teenage pregnancy rates are falling across Cambridgeshire

Teenage girls who fall pregnant are more likely to live in poverty, be unemployed, have poor health and perform poorly at school.

However, recent figures show that the rate of teenage conceptions is falling across Cambridgeshire. 

Data for 2008 – the latest year for which information is available – shows teenage pregnancies amongst girls aged between 15 – 17 years fell by 20.7 per cent with 24.9 pregnancies per 1000 compared to 31.4 per 1000 in 1998.

This is well below the national average of 40.4 teenage pregnancies per 1000.

Teens and Toddlers programme

The Teens and Toddlers programme aims to reduce the rate of teen pregnancies across Cambridgeshire 

The Teens and Toddlers programme at the Thomas Clarkson Community College in Wisbech aims to reduce the number of teenage girls becoming pregnant.

Launched in February 2009, Teens and Toddlers is a youth development programme involving both male and female students aged 14-15.

It aims to raise self esteem, aspirations and educational attainment, as well as a teenage pregnancy prevention and sexual health programme. 

A core part of the programme involves the students working three hours a week one to one with a toddler in a nursery or pre school setting.

Students spend time in the classroom too focussing on child development, parenting skills, sexuality, relationship and communication skills and the realities of young people’s lives today.

Dramatic effects

The programme is having some dramatic effects on the young people involved.

As Eva Acs, Teenage Pregnancy Coordinator , explains: “When they first start, many of the students on the programme have low confidence, dislike school and little understanding about how demanding it is to be responsible for a little person.

 “However, with lots of encouragement, slowly but surely, we begin to see a change. They begin to see that the child they are responsible for is responding to them. They begin to realise that they can help the child learn and have fun too.

“This helps boost confidence. Participants begin to feel valued and in turn show commitment, willingness to air opinions and have a creative input into nursery activities.

“What’s so positive is the breaking of bad habits. One particular student was always late or never turned up. She was a truant at school too.

“Within weeks of starting the programme, she was totally committed attending every session and was punctual too.

“However, the main lesson learnt is that looking after a small child may be rewarding, but it also very demanding. Many of the students realise that they are not ready for that yet.”

The results

Although it's early days for the project, there have already been some impressive results .

The 40 who have participated so far have shown positive changes in their attitudes toward pregnancy, safe sex and relationships. 

For example, students reported they were only 20 per cent likely to become pregnant/or make someone pregnant compared to 40 per cent when questioned at the beginning.

When asked about the age at which they think they could look after a baby, the average was 19.7 years old before Teens and Toddlers, and 23.1 years old afterwards.

More pleasing to Eva was “that many of them now had ambitions. Before, many students had been very pessimistic about their future prosperity. Many of them want to do well at school, want a career and a stable relationship before they have children.”

As one student put it “I want a life.”

Cheered on by family and friends

Each student that completes the course receives a certificate at a special ceremony, which friends and family can attend.

Thirty three have also received a National Award in interpersonal Skills (level 1)

Further information

For more information about the project email Eva Acs, Teenage Pregnancy Coordinator, on eva.acs@cambridgeshire.gov.uk

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Improving the sexual health of young people and reducing the teenage conception rate is a key priority of Cambridgeshire's Vision, the Countywide Sustainable Community Strategy

safer and stronger

Community Alcohol Partnership launches in Wisbech

On 25 February Cambridgeshire’s third Community Alcohol Partnership (CAP) was launched at the Boathouse Business Centre, Wisbech and aims to lower underage alcohol consumption.

Over 50 people from partner organisations attended to hear key partners, including Councillor Alan Melton, Leader of Fenland District Council, talk about their hopes and expectations for Wisbech CAP.

Since then partners including Police, Fenland District Council, Cambridgeshire County Council, Wisbech Residents Association, Drink Sense and Retailers have been working together to tackle underage drinking and alcohol-related issues in Wisbech and the surrounding villages.

Talking to local people

A consultation survey has taken place with local people to target the CAP work where the community feels it is needed most.

This work  includes multi-agency patrols in hotspot drinking areas and education to key groups such as retailers, parents and young people.

New retailer training packs have been produced encouraging businesses to use the ‘Challenge 25’ policy to avoid making underage sales.

These packs are used by Trading Standards to deliver training to businesses but they also provide an excellent resource for businesses to use to train their staff.

As the names suggest, the community are considered very much at the heart of the partnership and, as such, CAP partners are always seeking to hear from local people with suggestions and information for the partnership.

Further information

Contact CAP on 01954 284635.

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