Breaking Cycles of Deprivation

First county-wide programme event 24 June 2010.

This is a summary report of the first event in a long term programme to develop and deliver an 'Oxfordshire Model' for breaking cycles of deprivation in parts of the county.

• Attendance list (.xls format, 75 Kb)

Agenda for the day

10am: Welcome by Chair, Jan Paine (Oxfordshire County Council)

10.15am: Introduction - How we can break the different cycles of deprivation (Andrew Maliphant, Programme Manager for Breaking Deprivation)

• How we can break the different cycles of deprivation (.pdf format, 3 MB)

10.45am: Joining up service delivery - Presentation based on recent work tackling entrenched deprivation in housing estates (Mandeep Hothi, Young Foundation)

• Improving what matters on small housing estates (.pdf format, 547 Kb)

11.15am: Family Intervention Project - How Oxfordshire services are already working together to meet their objectives (James Carter, Oxfordshire County Council)

• Family Intervention Project (.pdf format, 113 Kb)

11.45am: Coffee/ tea - people from across the county gathered in groups to review maps of their connected service areas around:

• Support for families - facilitators James Carter and Jon Brewis (Oxfordshire County Council)
• Young people - Richard Adams (Oxford City Council) and Simon Mathers (Connexions)
• The unemployed - Anneli Morgan (Jobcentre Plus) and Alison Davies (Cherwell District Council)

12.35pm: Evaluation - measuring outcomes linked to good practice in breaking deprivation (Richard Huggins, Oxford Brookes University)

• Evaluation (.pdf format, 39 Kb)

1pm: Lunch - networking

1.45pm: Different rules - how people from different backgrounds use different rules and language in life, and what this means when introducing change (Jan Paine)

• Can we learn from the work on Bridges out of Poverty? (.pdf format, 94 Kb)

2.15pm: Coffee / tea - the same three groups met again to discuss opportunities for closer working and agree how they will develop them in practice after the event

3.35pm: Plenary session led by Chair

Summary of the event

Cycles of deprivation in depressed areas are broadly understood (see Oxfordshire Approach to Breaking Cycles of Deprivation (.pdf format, Kb)), and there is agreement on the three critical factors in breaking them:

1. Joined-up service delivery - focusing agencies' efforts in key neighbourhoods
2. Community involvement - local people helping to decide priorities and ways forward in their own neighbourhoods
3. Radical change - whatever else is needed to make these neighbourhoods good places to live and work

This first programme event looked at joining up delivery in three service areas:

• Family Intervention Project - supporting families with complex issues
• Youth - supporting young people in the transition from school to employment or further education
• Routes to employment - helping adults to find well-paid work

Fuller details of the working group discussions around these three areas will be posted shortly, but the summary conclusions from the day were:

• Future programme events are needed to bring key people together to focus on operational delivery
• Programme action plans and progress are to be reported on the Oxfordshire Partnership website from the end of July 2010
• Family Intervention Project - next steps to confirm likely numbers of families to be involved and desired outcomes, to redraw the 'map' of connecting services by the end of July as a pathway approach, and to plan and deliver a detailed approach to sustaining FIP good practice in future
• Youth - confirm the strategic priorities with key agencies by September, and jointly develop a model approach that can be sustained in future
• Routes to Employment - confirm a new way forward in partnership with Jobcentre Plus, and research emerging industries / job opportunities by September

There was some plenary discussion about the expected reduction in public sector funding under the new Government. The conclusions were:

• Plan now for the disappearance of funding
• Look at wholesale structural change, not virtual teams - align budgets
• Agree priorities for ways forward, based on needs of local people not past 'silos'
• Join up agency working at strategic level
• Beware of danger of 'reverting to type' i.e. only focusing on statutory duties
• Be clear about a 'seamless flow' of services, while being aware that each location may need different solutions

For further information please contact the programme manager Andrew Maliphant on andrew.maliphant@oxfordshirepct.nhs.uk.

• Home
• News
• Archive
• 2010
• Low Carbon Communities Programme eBulletin
• Breaking Cycles of Deprivation
• Low Carbon Communities Programme eBulletin
• Oxfordshire Partnership December newsletter
• News archive 2010
• Partnership networking event
• Tender opportunity
• Preparing for a changing climate event
• Oxfordshire Partnership March newsletter
• Oxford Strategic Partnership information and networking event
• Networking event
• LAA reward grant success
• Future of Local Area Agreements

Oxfordshire Partnership website is hosted by:
Oxfordshire County Council, County Hall, New Road, OX1 1ND