Canterbury District Community Partnership Protocol

Index:

• About the Partnership
• The Protocol
• Structure of the Canterbury District Community Partnership
• Membership
• Responsibilities
• Operations
• Resources
• Operating Convention
• Contracts
• Glossary of Terms

About the Partnership

The Canterbury District Community Partnership is set up to strengthen the connection between public sector agencies, local government the voluntary and community sectors businesses and local residents.

It will aim to find joint ways of working to

• Improve all public services; renew deprived areas; develop strong, sustainable economies and healthy, safe communities;
• Focus service delivery from the outset on the needs and aspirations of local people - including those who are traditionally excluded;
• Find ways to encourage people to be constructively involved in their communities; and
• Ensure sustainable development in the local area and contribute to the regional sustainable development agenda.
  

It will set the strategic aims for the area and see that they are delivered.


The Protocol

This Agreement is a protocol to establish a framework within which together with the Partnership Charter the Canterbury District Community Partnership (The Partnership) demonstrate their commitment to the Partnership.

The Protocol is not designed as a binding contractual agreement nor as a formal Partnership but as a demonstration of the good faith of the Partners. In that spirit the Protocol includes arrangements for individual Partners to withdraw from the Protocol in an orderly way and to continue their support for projects that have formed part of the work of the Partnership.


Structure of the Canterbury District Community Partnership

The Canterbury District Community Partnership will consist of:

• The Partnership
• The Executive Board
• The Executive Support Group

The structure is shown on the diagram attached to this protocol.


Membership

Any organisation that has signed the Partnership Charter and has agreed to the terms of this protocol can become a 'Partner' and a member of the Partnership. Initially, membership of the Executive Board will include Partners from:

• Public sector agencies
• Local Government
• The voluntary and community sectors
• Local business community
• Local residents

in order that the Executive Board

• reflects the views and needs of the community of the Canterbury District and
• has members who have strategic responsibility for services or the preparation of strategy documents that will influence the development of the Canterbury District.

The founding Executive Board members will be:

Canterbury & Coastal Primary Trust
Canterbury Christ Church University College
Canterbury City Council
Canterbury College
East Kent Council for Voluntary Services
Government Office for the South East
Kent Association of Parish Councils
Kent County Constabulary
Kent County Council
Kent Maritime Chamber of Commerce
University of Kent at Canterbury


Responsibilities

The Partnership will agree the strategic objectives and aims that will meet the needs of local people and businesses by representing and responding to their views. These strategic objectives and aims will provide the basis of and inform the development of the Canterbury District Community Strategy. The Partnership will also have a role in monitoring the implementation of the Strategy.

The Executive Board will be responsible for producing the Strategy and overseeing its implementation.


Arrangements for meetings

The Partnership will meet at least once a year and on other occasions as and when required to deal with work or decisions required by the Executive Board.

Initially, the Executive Board will meet at least six times a year.

Members of the Executive Board commit themselves to being represented at the most senior managerial level.

The Executive Board will be supported by an Executive Support Group which will comprise staff from the Executive Board organisations. The City Council will provide the initial administrative support to the Partnership. This level of support will be reviewed within 9 months of the date of adoption of this protocol.

The Partners will elect a Chair and Vice-Chair from amongst their number. Both appointments will be subject to review after an initial period of one year.


Operations

One of the first objectives of the Executive Board will be to establish a clear statement of the aims and objectives of the Partnership.

It is intended that the aims and objectives should be ratified by establishing a commitment from all the Partners at each annual meting of the Partnership.

The Canterbury District Community Strategy will be a key document for the Partnership and its broad principles and identified individual tasks will provide the basis for the achievement of the aims and objectives set out in the Strategy by the Partnership.

The Partnership shall approve the Strategy before it can become operative. Once approved, the Strategy will be annexed to and form part of this Protocol.

Community interest and participation in the process of producing and implementing the Canterbury District Community Strategy will be of vital importance and the Partnership will continue to recognise and foster this throughout the life of the Partnership.


Resources

All the Partners agree to support and further the aims of the Strategy both by general allocation of resources and in terms of the specific allocation of resources designed to support a service area for which they are responsible but which is to be undertaking work to support the implementation of the Strategy.

It is difficult to define those resources in the early stages of the Partnership. They will however arise in one of two ways:

(i) The Partners will from time to time give general support to the Partnership both through the commitment of staff time and through the commitment of both revenue and capital resources. It is intended that whenever such resources are made available, they are committed to be spent within the remit established by the Strategy.

(ii) The Partners will also commit themselves to making available resources that would normally be used by the Partners in their own right in support of their own aims and objectives but where those aims and objectives form part of the Strategy it has been agreed that the Partners will commit those resources through the Partnership. This Protocol records the need for flexibility recognising that each of the Partners will have different audit and public probity demands to satisfy. The Partners commit themselves however within those constraints to operating through the Partnership in accordance with the Strategy.


Operating Convention

This Protocol recognises the need to establish an operating agreement which will include

• the following six criteria against which the Partnership will monitor and assess itself in accordance with Governmental guidance for Local Strategic Partnerships:

1. They are effective, representative, and capable of playing a key strategic role;
2. They actively involve all the key players, including the public, private, community and voluntary sectors;
3. They have established genuine common priorities and targets, and agreed actions and milestones leading to demonstrable improvements against measurable baselines;
4. Members (organisations) have aligned their performance management systems, aims and objectives, criteria and process to the aims and objectives of the LSP;
5. They reduce, not add to, the bureaucratic burden;
6. They build on best practice from successful partnerships by drawing on experiences of local and regional structures, and national agencies.

• the badging and promotion of the Partnership and the Strategy;
• the authorising of individual partners to speak on behalf of the Partnership;
• the issue of press statements and public relations material in relation to the activities of the partnership;
• establishing conventions on how the Partners should distinguish between statements made on behalf of the partners acting in their own right and the partners acting through the Strategy.

Contracts

In the interests of simplicity any contracts with third parties, whether for employment, supplies or services, will be entered into by one of the Partners rather than all the Partners.

If the Partner entering into the contract is only willing to do so on the basis of financial support from any or all of the other Partners then no contract should be awarded until the financial support relied upon is agreed and set out in writing.

No Partner has the power to commit any other Partner to any expense unless expressly and specifically agreed.

Any Partner holding funds provided by any other Partner will maintain accounts and provide such information at any time as may reasonably be requested. Review and Dissolution

'The Partners" are entering into this Protocol so that they have a framework to govern the development of the Partnership, the production of the Strategy and its subsequent implementation. It is important against that background that the Protocol contains provision for review, for dissolution and for the withdrawal of individual Partners.

"The Partners" recognise the need to keep the operation of the Partnership within this Protocol under constant review. There is an awareness of the constraints which are imposed through audit and central government on the spending programmes of the Partners and the Partnership will need to keep under review the opportunities which more formal structures may provide for the more effective spend of such monies through the Partnership and the Strategy.

"The Partners" also agree to make provision for the withdrawal of one of their number and for the withdrawal of two or more of their members by way of dissolution. In recognising this Protocol is binding in good faith only, the Partners nevertheless commit themselves to withdrawing from the Partnership or dissolving the Partnership only in accordance with this Protocol.

If any individual Partner wishes to withdraw then they may do so by giving at least six months' notice to withdraw from the Partnership, such notice to expire on the 31st March in any year. In addition, in giving such notice the Partner withdrawing shall at the same time give notice of how any funding committed through the Partnership which extends beyond the end of the financial year in which notice is given, will be maintained.

If two or more Strategic Partners give notice of withdrawal to expire on 31st March in the same year then that shall be treated as notice of dissolution of the Partnership. The effective date of dissolution will be the 31st March from which the notice is effective, save in circumstances where all the Partners agree to an earlier date of dissolution. In giving notice of dissolution, the Partners giving notice shall also make arrangements for the maintenance of commitments to projects within the Partnership which extend beyond the date of dissolution.


Glossary of Terms used in this protocol.

Partnership: The group of partners who have signed the Protocol and the Partnership Charter and who are working together to improve the district of Canterbury

Community Strategy: The Canterbury District Community Strategy which is prepared under Part 1 of the Local Government Act 2000.

Canterbury District: The administrative area of Canterbury City Council.

GOSE: The Government Office of the South East. 

Executive Support Group: The executive support group of the Partnership.

Partner: Any agency, Council, company or individual which is signed up to the protocol and the Partnership Charter and is a member of the Partnership.