Health and Safety
Executive / Commission
Local Authorities
The Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act received Royal Assent on Tuesday, 30 October 2007. Introducing a range of measures, it ensures local government systems in England give local people more influence over the services and decisions that affect their communities. The Act gives effect to the Local Government White Paper (Strong and Prosperous Communities) and sets out the Government’s vision for a new relationship between central government, local government and local people. HSE is a ‘named partner’ in the Act. This places a number of statutory requirements upon HSE to consult with local authorities and Local Strategic Partnerships in setting and delivering local priorities for improvement.
The Act introduces a new Local Government Performance Framework. Local Strategic Partnerships (LSPs), led by local authorities and including key local partners such as Primary Care Trusts, will agree a Sustainable Community Strategy (SCS). The SCS provides the local area’s ‘story’, and articulates the longer term ambition, evidence and rationale behind the focus of a three-year (LAA) to implement the SCS. A Comprehensive Area Assessment will evaluate the performance of local authorities and their partners to deliver their LAAs from April 2009. This will replace the present Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA) framework.