GOVERNMENT INVITES 81 FOR OLD AGE PILOTS

The government this week invited 81 councils to bid to be the first to deliver streamlined services for old people in partnership with health authorities and other agencies.

The Citizen's Charter Unit in the Cabinet Office has written to councils which have shown commitment to old age policy initiatives, inviting proposals for around 25 pilots to be launched in April.

Councils which successfully lodged best value pilot bids for old age services have been excluded from the list, but proposals from any interested councils will be looked at, the unit says.

The thrust of the pilot guidelines is integrated service provision in partnership with other organisations. This ties in closely with the government's white paper on health published last month, signalling a formal role for councils in administering health authorities.

The briefing paper stresses that local pilots must adopt an inter-agency strategy. Partners could include health authorities, social security, police, old people's groups, trade unions, and community and voluntary organisations. The programme will run for two years.

It wants an audit of resources each agency can contribute, showing where current control over resources lies 'and what decisions and actions by whom would be necessary to commit those resources to the inter-agency strategy'.

Dubbed 'Better government for older people', the pilots aim to give the aged better access to services and information, more input into services and better links between agencies.

Cabinet Office project manager Liz Lawrence said the invited councils were chosen in collaboration with the local government associations. Councils were picked which 'can get up and going quickly . . . there will have to be a lot of talking locally now', she said.

Association of Directors of Social Services president Roy Taylor said there was already much collaboration but the initiative gave it a new focus and brought in other agencies.

It was positive that older people were placed at the fore but the tight timescale gave councils little time to design their proposals, he said.

Proposals must be submitted by 13 February, with pilots chosen by 5 March.

The programme is being overseen by a steering committee comprised of the Citizen's Charter Unit, Warwick University Local Authorities Research Consortium, Age Concern, Anchor Trust and the Carnegie Third Age Programme.

Those invited to bid:

England

Berkshire CC

Bolton BC

City of Bradford MDC

Brighton and Hove Council

Bristol Council

Bury BC

Calderdale BC

Coventry City Council

Cumbria CC

Derby City Council

Devon CC

Dorset CC

Gloucestershire CC

Hampshire CC

Hartlepool Council

Isle of Wight Council

Kent CC

Kirklees MBC

Leeds City Council

Leicester City Council

Lincolnshire CC

Barnet LBC

Bexley LBC

Enfield LBC

Greenwich LBC

Hackney LBC

Hammersmith and Fulham LBC

Islington LBC

Lewisham LBC

Newham LBC

Redbridge LBC

Southwark LBC

Tower Hamlets

Macclesfield DC

Manchester City Council

Middlesbrough Council

Newcastle Upon Tyne City Council

North Tyneside BC

Northumberland CC

North Yorkshire CC

Nottingham City Council

Nottinghamshire CC

Oxfordshire CC

Portsmouth City Council

Reigate and Banstead BC

Salford City Council

Sandwell MBC

Sheffield City Council*

Solihull MBC

St Albans DC

The Royal Borough of Kingston Upon Thames

Warrington BC

Warwick DC

Warwickshire CC

Watford BC

Waverley BC

Wiltshire CC

Wolverhampton MBC *

City of York

Wales

Caerphilly CBC

City & County of Swansea

Conwy County BC

Denbighshire CC

Flintshire CC

Gwynedd Council

Isle of Anglesey CC

Pembrokeshire CC

Powys CC

Rhondda Cynon Taff CBC

Torfaen CBC

Northern Ireland

Department of the Environment**

Department of Health and Social Services **

North Down BC

Scotland

Dumfries and Galloway Council

East Dunbartonshire Council

City of Edinburgh Council

Highland Council

Moray Council

Scottish Borders Council

South Lanarkshire Council

Stirling Council

Note * Shortlisted for selected exemption from CCT as part of best value.** Potential pilots to be approached through Northern Ireland departments.