Local Improvement Advisors
Funding Available to Support Partnerships
What is the Local Improvement Advisor Programme
What can LIAs do
Examples of LIA support
What can't LIAs do
How can my partnership access the programme
What will my partnership have to do
LIA Leaflet (to download)
What is the Local Improvement Advisor Programme?
The Local Improvement Advisor (LIA) programme is a national programme funded by Communities and Local Government and managed regionally by RIEPs such a YoHrSpace.
LIAs can provide advice, coaching, training and mentoring to support local partnerships to deliver public services through the new performance framework and LAA/MAAs. The LIAs have a primary role in improvement and efficiency activities by helping partnerships to learn how to do things by themselves by offering face-to-face advice. This will help local partnerships to marry their knowledge of problems and solutions with approaches that have worked elsewhere, and help them build their capacity to be self-sufficient.
LIAs have been appointed to the national 'pool' following a recruitment process. Each LIA has expertise in one or more of the following service delivery areas:
- stronger communities
- safer communities
- children and young people
- adult health and well being
- tackling exclusion and promoting equality
- local economy and worklessness
- climate change and environmental leadership
or the following cross cutting themes:
- leadership and partnership development
- performance management
- building analytical capacity
- digital inclusion
- data sharing
- service transformation methodologies (e.g. systems thinking)
- support for improved public services at the local level
Support for service delivery issues could include:
Support Gun and Gang harm reduction by bringing together police, voluntary sector organisations, community groups, schools youth workers and others to develop solutions to the local problem.
Supporting the development of a worklessness proposal by giving a critical independent review of their draft proposal and overseeing any amendments.
Helping a partnership to tackle alcohol abuse by working with block leads to identify difficulties in setting and measuring the outcomes, indicators and targets for inclusion on the LAA.
Support for cross-cutting issues could include:
Resolving a Community Cohesion issue through mediation.
Supporting the development of an equalities strategy.
Improving data collection and analysis by running a training programme for Partnership staff.
Supporting an LSP to improve on engagement with maternity services by high risk groups .
Improving a partnership's capacity to performance manage delivery by coaching local authority and partners' staff to use an agreed delivery planning process.
LIAs cannot be used in a consultancy or professional (e.g. legal, accountancy, HR) role. They are not expected to write bidding documents or strategies, or carry out surveys, quantitative or qualitative research or evaluations, or other similar activities.
Requests for support can be submitted by single partnerships or groups of partnerships where there is a common identified problem area.
For details of how to engage with the LIA programme contact Rebecca Baran Assistant Director YoHr Space.
Please read and complete the documents below and return to Rebecca Baran:
Yorkshire & Humber regional arrangements for LIA Programme
When an assignment has been agreed it will be uploaded onto the national LIA website - the RIEP will endeavour to process and upload agreed assignments onto the website within 15 working days of receipt. In cases of urgent need, assignments will be fast-tracked. Once the assignment has been uploaded, LIAs working in the specialist area(s) identified will be sent an alert. Offers from LIAs to undertake the assignment will be passed on to the LSP lead officer.
Although the costs of the LIA's time and expenses will be met by the programme, the partnership must provide adequate support and management resources to ensure the assignment is delivered effectively.
The partnership's responsibilities will include: appointing a suitable LIA (using a transparent process), finalising the delivery plan (to include deliverables and milestones), and submitting a final report at the end of the assignment. Partnerships must also submit an evaluation at the end of the project and again 6-12 months after completion.