Local Authority Development Collaboratives 2008-09 report

As part of the Study Support (SS) Quality Development Programme (QDP) the DCSF provided via Quality in Study Support (QiSS) a grant to develop collaboratives to support Local Authorities (LAs) working together to measure the impact of study support provision within and across regions.

Each region was asked to invite Local Authorities (LAs) to commit time to specific projects alongside colleagues within the two themes under the umbrella of QA and impact measurement. Each group would then submit an action plan and budget which would be approved centrally before funding was approved.

As a condition of the grant each participating LA initially was asked to carry out a Study Support self-review based on the criteria developed as part of the national framework for Study Support to demonstrate how the proposed collaborative project addressed developmental needs identified in the self-review. Each participating LA was asked to describe how the impact of the activity was evaluated and outcomes disseminated. In addition they were required to indicate how their ‘Development Collaborative’ (DC) has address staff or organisational or service development or delivery issues. 49 LAs participated in DCs during the year 2008-09 .13 DCs were planned but two withdrew and have not been reported upon compared to 19 undertaken in 2007-08). A number of notable outcomes resulted, ranging from increased involvement of young people as advocated and mentors through to holding a conference aimed at commissioners of services and LA Advisors to highlight the importance of engaging in study support activities.