Case studies

"devolution is fantastic and I think we've proved we can manage it".

The combined authority would like to see devolution across the whole of employment and skills, in order to join up support and avoid duplication.

Maldon District Council worked on a prototype project to understand the support requirements for school children transitioning from year 6 to year 7. The aim of the project was to identify children who may be going under the radar with unaddressed mental health concerns and would require support in transitioning from primary to secondary school.

The City Region argues that devolution has allowed it to move away from policy silos and address interconnected problems in a far more joined up way, for example Households into Work having an impact on social housing strategy.

The council is working closely with anchor institutions to identify the plans of large employers, mapping the asset base and developing a ‘Skills Engine’. This will support local recruitment and a drive to increase higher skilled and knowledge-intensive employment.

The combined authority believes that devolution has increased its influencing power and that it is more involved in decisions at an earlier stage. As a result, other national bodies, such as the Careers and Enterprise Company (CEC), are now in discussions with the combined authority about how to devolve funding to meet its specific skills needs.

Managing funding locally through devolved budgets has increased scrutiny of how money is being used to meet local skills needs.

Key to being able to leverage the power of partnerships is to have the ability to jointly influence funding, commissioning and resource.

Working across nine councils and with Samaritans to improve media reporting through hosting a high profile suicide prevention event. Council collaborative comprised of the nine councils across Cheshire and Merseyside: Sefton, Knowsley, St Helens, Liverpool, Wirral, Cheshire East, Cheshire West and Chester, Halton and Warrington councils. This case study was done jointly with the National Suicide Prevention Alliance and forms part of our suicide prevention resource.

Working with local community groups and partners to offer a range of services for men outside of the clinical setting. This case study was done jointly with the National Suicide Prevention Alliance and forms part of our suicide prevention resource.