Protecting children and young people: Child Protection Committee and Chief Officer responsibilities

Appendix 1: Partnership Assessment Tools

Introduction

This appendix briefly describes and provides links to a number of publicly available resources aimed at supporting partnership working. Report on the Future Delivery of Public Services by the Commission chaired by Dr Campbell Christie, published in 2011, outlines the importance of partnership in improving outcomes in public services. Further developments since, such as the Community Empowerment Act (2015) and the Public Bodies (Joint Working) (Scotland) Act (2014) have continued to emphasise effective partnership working as central to the Scottish Approach to public service reform.

There is comprehensive literature outlining good practice in partnership working, and the following list is not intended to be exhaustive. While many of the following resources have been designed for use in specific contexts, CPCs may find them useful in considering how to assess and improve their effectiveness.

Partnership Assessment Tool

The Strategic Partnership Taskforce in the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister commissioned the Nuffield Institute at the University of Leeds to provide a tool that local authorities can use to assess partnership relationships and aid the achievement of successful partnership working.

The tool draws heavily on the research carried out by the Institute that had been successful for health and social care partnerships. With input from Strategic Partnering Pathfinders, the tool has been adapted for the wider local government service areas and with a particular focus on strategic partnerships.

It is quick and simple to use and provides a practical way for senior officers, project managers and others to implement meaningful partnerships that will make a difference to the lives of the citizens in their area.

Assessing Strategic Partnerships

What Works Scotland

What Works Scotland is a collaborative initiative to improve the way local areas in Scotland use evidence to make decisions about public service development and reform.

Its focus is on working to enhance public service reform through sharing its knowledge of what works and increasing its engagement with people responsible for designing, delivering and using public services.

What Works Scotland provides a wide range of resources and research designed to support partnership working.

The following link takes you to resources associated with a Partnership Seminar held in December 2015. Among the resources are Partnership Working Tools Guidance and Partnership Processes Results guidance, both of which are designed to help partnerships consider and develop frameworks that support partnership working, and put evidence into practice.

A collection of presentations and resources from the What Works Scotland Partnership Seminar held in Edinburgh on 3 December 2015.

The Improvement Service

The Improvement Service (IS) is the national improvement organisation for local government in Scotland.

It aims to help councils and their partners to improve the health, quality of life and opportunities of all people in Scotland through community leadership, strong local governance and the delivery of high quality, efficient local services.

It aims to do this by providing a range of products and providing advisory services including consultation and facilitation, learning and skills, performance management and improvement, and research.

The Improvement Service has developed a Partnership Checklist. Although designed specifically for use by CPPs in order that they can assess their own performance against the expectations placed on them by the Community Empowerment Act (2015), the checklist also focuses on areas derived from research evidence and good practice concerning what makes for effective, outcome-focused partnership working.

Iriss

Iriss (the Institute for Research and Innovation in Social Services) is a third sector organisation promoting positive outcomes for citizens accessing support in Scotland.

In January 2018, it published. Partnerships & CO: Conversation Openers. This resource was created to help support those planning a partnership or wishing to reflect on and take stock of an existing partnership.

This tool aims to provide a framework for navigating conversations that can support an effective partnership.