East Midlands

Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Hazel Blears, last night announced extra funding to encourage local government to spread their good practice and work - from affordable housing to anti-social behaviour.

A pot of £1.5million for 16 projects across England, led by beacons including Leicester, will help local authorities deliver on some of the toughest targets in the Local Area Agreements announced this Monday.

The Beacon Scheme encourages local authorities to share their best working practice and ideas with their peers, and the Peer Support Fund supports this cause, financing innovative and targeted support to help raise standards and performance.

Authorities among the winning bids this year have raised £1.3m on their own to match their Peer Support funding, ensuring that even more authorities will benefit from their advice and guidance. For example, the four Beacons for delivering cleaner air have provided additional funding of £250k to supply tools, resources and mentoring to other authorities, and working with stakeholders to feed in to Defra's emission policies.

Congratulating the winners at the annual LGA conference, she said:

"Today, we are giving 16 leading councils and their partners an extra £1.5m to enable them to share what they have learned more widely - from getting the local economy going to reducing air pollution.

"The benefits will be two-fold. Beacon authorities can get on with the job of stimulating good practice in other councils and offer tried and tested solutions to local problems. And to work with Whitehall to inform, develop or test national policy.

"This is about town halls helping to set the agenda in a whole range of policies, and to share the best in local practice on issues such as health, including how schools can work with pupils and parents to get them eating better and exercising more."

Areas in England which have benefited are Birmingham, Bolton, Bristol, Coventry, Durham, East Hampshire, Gateshead, Leeds, Leicester, London, Merseyside, Rotherham, Sheffield, Shropshire and West Sussex.

Notes to Editors

1. The Beacon Peer Support Fund was established in 2003 to encourage Beacon authorities to provide further targeted, innovative support to other authorities who can benefit from Beacons' experience and excellence. Since then a second 'Policy Development' strand has developed providing an opportunity for Beacons to work with the lead Government Department for a particular theme to inform, develop or test national policy.

2. Bids were assessed by an independent Peer Support Assessment Panel consisting of the Chair and Vice Chair of the Beacon Panel, a Local Authority Chief Executive, a Regional Improvement and Efficiency Partnership Director and officials from the LGA and IDeA who made recommendations to Local Government Minister, Parmjit Dhanda.

3. This year 29 bids totalling more than £5.2m were received from authorities awarded beacon status in round 6, 7 and 8 of the Beacon Scheme.

4. The successful bidders were as follows:

Lead Local Authority Name(s)    Theme
Birmingham City Council &       Increasing Voluntary and
London Borough of Croydon       Community Sector
Bolton Metropolitan             Anti Social Behaviour
Borough Council
Bristol City Council            Healthy Schools
Coventry City and               Effective Environmental Health
Westminster City Councils
Durham County Council           School Improvement
East Hampshire                  Affordable Housing
District Council
Gateshead Metropolitan          Positive Youth Engagement and
Borough Council                 Healthy Communities
Leeds City Council              Asset Management
Leeds City Council              Financial Inclusion
Leicester City Council          Culture and Sport - Hard to
                                Reach Groups
London Borough of Greenwich     Delivering Cleaner Air Beacons
Merseyside Fire and Rescue      Early Intervention
Rotherham Metropolitan          Valuing People
Borough Council
Sheffield City Council          Transforming Delivery of Services
Shropshire County Council       Early Intervention
West Sussex County Council      Positive Youth Engagement

News Releases: http://www.communities.gov.uk/newsroom

ISSUED ON BEHALF OF THE DEPARTMENT FOR COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT BY COI NEWS & PR EAST MIDLANDS

Client ref DCLG/EM 697

COI ref 163029P