The East Midlands Improvement and Efficiency Partnership is a member-led partnership of the 46 East Midlands local authorities and the five Fire & Rescue authorities. The EM IEP is driving forward service improvement, focussing on supporting local authorities to accelerate efficiency gains, to build capacity and to foster innovative and collaborative working.

The following summary provides the headlines of how the EM IEP is meeting the challenge of sector-led support for improvement and innovation by achieving more through partnerships and collaboration.

1. Efficiency Programme - The EM IEP has enabled local authorities in the region to deliver £35m efficiency savings in the first two years. This provides a return on investment of 3:1 on the first two years of the core funding of £12.46m. The EM IEP has set a target of a return on investment for the 3 year programme of £78m, a ratio of 4:1 on the core funding of £19.6m.

However, the efficiency savings are predicted to rise to £217m over a five year period. EM IEP is providing a broad range of support to help authorities to make efficiency savings through smarter procurement and transforming services by working in partnership and collaboratively with stakeholders. The efficiency programme is also providing a comparison of authorities' cost/performance to provide a tailored challenge testing the robust nature of their efficiency programmes and to facilitate the re-modelling and improvement of services.

2. Fire & Rescue Improvement Programme - In working collaboratively, the services will build capacity, create opportunity and under the stewardship of the East Midlands Regional Management Board (EMRMB), improve service delivery. EM IEP funding has been used to support the EMRMB to deliver the following: a regional finance system replacement and rollout; an audit/assessment of recruitment; a review of regional assessment centre performance; member induction training for new EMRMB members.

3. Community and Neighbourhood Development Programme - The Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009 created greater opportunities for community and individual involvement in local decision-making. Through developing their skills and knowledge as community leaders at the neighbourhood/ward and corporate levels, this programme is helping elected members to be in a position to shape the emerging agenda rather than just respond to it. EM IEP programme is supporting the delivery of the Local Area Agreements (LAAs) by working with partners and stakeholders to provide a targeted and information driven programme of free events, networks and use of Local Improvement
Advisers.

4. Economic Growth Programme - A practical programme is being delivered covering the key themes of Housing & Economic Growth, Skills/Worklessness and Supporting the Local Economy. The programme brings together authorities, business, voluntary sector and other agencies to facilitate the development of practical solutions by supplementing and providing additionality to other centrally funded programmes.

5. Performance Improvement for Councils in Difficulty - The EM IEP programme includes an element of funding that is 'set aside' for Peer support from the region's councillors and officers for 'councils in difficulty', where this need is identified by the EM IEP Board and partners in GOEM and IDeA. The protocol for this support is set out in the EM IEP Regional Improvement and Efficiency Strategy. In addition regional and sub regional programmes have provided support to help improve performance in areas identified as weaknesses through the Comprehensive Area Assessment (CAA).

6. Adult Social Care Programme - all nine Directors of Adult Social Care are working together with the Department of Health East Midlands, the Strategic Health Authority and other key stakeholders to implement the regional Joint Improvement Plan (JIP) priorities. The JIP programme consists of 27 improvement and efficiency projects.

7. Children & Young People's Programme - the Joint Regional Improvement and Efficiency Plan for Children & Young People's Services is enabling greater collaboration and focused activity, across the region, to enable all partners to make better use of existing resources in the achievement of agreed common regional service improvement and efficiency objectives.

8. Climate Change Programme - The EM IEP climate change programme is being delivered through a partnership - °Climate East Midlands, which comprises the regional climate change coordinator and partners. The programme consists of three elements: Planning to Adapt - a collaborative to support the NI188 target for the East Midlands; Carbon Management - to facilitate all local authorities in the East Midlands having in place a carbon management plan; Climate Change Skills - to support local authorities to build skills and capacity across a range of responsibilities needed to tackle climate change.

9. Environmental Services Programme - is enabling local authorities to deliver efficiencies and improvements in Waste Management and Local Environmental Quality service delivery.

10. Sub Regional Partnerships' (SRP) Programmes - The establishment and funding support for the five SRPs has enabled engagement with all East Midlands 46 local authorities and five Fire & Rescue Services. Through this engagement the SRPs have been able to support the development of shared services and two tier working collaboration within
the five county areas of the East Midlands.

11. Total Place - The EM IEP has supported the Leicestershire/Leicester Total Place Pilot, sharing best practice and developing the thinking in the region through two workshops in the early part of 2010. The EM IEP Board has subsequently approved and additional £1.1m to support a range of Total Place projects across the region in 2010/2011.

12. Efficiency and Transformation Programme - An additional £6m capital funding has been received by the EM IEP to support Efficiency & Transformation activity. These funds have been allocated to a range of projects requiring capital expenditure, in particular systems innovation, which is enabling transformation of delivery of a range of shared services.

These regional and sub regional programmes have been developed to achieve real change in the way services are configured and delivered. These programmes have enabled all of the region's 46 local authorities and five Fire & Rescue authorities (and in many cases other partners i.e. police, PCTs etc) access to funding and support at a regional and sub regional level to 'join up' services, improve service delivery and accelerate efficiency gains. Progress of delivery of benefits are reported in the body of this report.

For more information about individual programmes, please contact the relevant member of staff, contacts information is available on our Support Team page.