Understanding Solihull

Introduction

Understanding Solihull is our first real attempt to bring together in one place a range of key information about Solihull. It is anticipated that this first report and the development of the underpinning database will provide a powerful tool to support policy and strategy development and underpin improved performance management.

It meets the need for responding to initiatives such as progress against Government prescribed PSA ( Public Service Agreements) targets and Local Area Agreements (LAA) . It provides a clear evidence trail of what the local issues are, allowing decision makers to focus on areas of greatest need and the targeting of scarce resources. This in turn will facilitate delivery of the aims and objectives of the Community Strategy and Council Plan through effective intervention - it is hoped that this will support bidding for higher levels of government and other external funding across the Solihull Partnership and all its related bodies in the public, voluntary and private sectors.

Understanding Solihull provides the Solihull Partnership and partner agencies with indicators that are composed of; headline commentary, a map showing variations, a bar chart showing the spread of ward figures and short text explaining the nature of the data - these indicators are standardised so as to provide comparison.

The other additional benefits over and above the available information on the Local Area Agreement blocks is that we are not constrained by the range of data determined nationally and particularly in the case of local consultation data we can add much more local knowledge. Similarly, for example, it would be possible in future developments to import data from mainstream client systems such as the CareFirst 21 database to evaluate patterns of assessment of needs to provision of service.

The report presently tracks the performance of 100 indicators allowing comparison of performance across the Borough.  It brings together a range of information including; consultations, census data, deprivation indices, performance indicators and provides it in a graphical format with a clear explanation, at ward level and below, where possible.

The current set of indicators was chosen with the following criteria:

• A broad spread of indicators across the range of Area Profile areas.
• Capacity to map to at least ward level and preferably to Super Output Area.
• Ability to obtain solid data and update over time to provide real data.
• Data which references to PSA and other statutory Government targets where there are established expectations and targets for performance improvements.

Understanding Solihull is divided into four sections that reflect the four blocks of the Local Area Agreement. The sections are:

1. Children and Young People
2. Safer and Stronger Communities
3. Healthier Communities and Older People
4. Economic Development and Enterprise

For further information regarding Local Area Agreements, please visit relevant pages on the Department of Communities and Local Government website.

No attempt has been made at this stage to correlate the findings of one indicator with another. Please be aware of potentially false conclusions from associations between indicators or combinations thereof that may not have a direct cause-and-effect relationship or comprise either exclusively resident or unrestricted populations. Further work would be required to analyse the indicator dataset to reveal patterns that would be a pre-requisite to enabling effective corporate intelligence that could be monitored over time and used to underpin policies and strategic choice.

The report has been possible through the co-operation of a number of colleagues within the Council and within partner agencies who have provided both data and commentary.  The future successful development of Understanding Solihull will be dependent upon the continued co-operation and goodwill of colleagues to provide both the data and further analysis.

If you would like further information regarding Understanding Solihull, please contact the Corporate Performance, Policy and Information Division on (0121) 704 6666 or e-mail: ppidivision@solihull.gov.uk.