Unified Needs Assessment

The Unified Needs Assessment brings together some of the key findings and themes of the local intelligence and customer insight developed within the Solihull Partnership. As a summary document the evidence provided in the Unified Needs Assessment is by no means exhaustive but a thematic approach is used to identify the key cross cutting issues within the Borough and to provide a link between detailed local evidence and the Partnerships’ core priorities outlined in the Sustainable Community Strategy.

It focuses specifically on gaps of inequality in Solihull, through variations in outcomes at a locality level and among different community groups. Identifying and measuring these gaps of inequality through a core set of indicators provides insight into need within the Borough and the drivers of this need.

Throughout the Unified Needs Assessment, reference is made to more detailed service specific evidence. The key evidence based strategic assessments from across the Partnership are as follows:

• Local Economic Assessment produced by Community and Economic Regeneration;
• Children and Young Peoples Outcome Review, the Children & Young Peoples’ Trust;
• Joint Strategic Needs Assessment, Solihull Care Trust;
• Community Cohesion Strategy;
• Safer Solihull Strategic Assessment, Safer Solihull Partnership;
• Anti-Poverty Strategy;

It also draws upon work undertaken during the Sustainable Community Strategy refresh (workshops, the Story of Place) and Partnership engagement mechanisms such as the Neighbourhood Partnership Forums.

The Unified Needs Assessment is broken down into seven sections:

• Executive Summary
• Theme One: The Pattern of Need
• Theme Two: Cross Cutting Drivers
• Theme Three: Identifying Need Amoung Population Groups
• Theme Four: Opportunities for Tackling Need and Inequalities
• Theme Five: Trends, Performance and Benchmarking
• Appendices

A list of contacts for further details on the individual strategic assessments is provided in the appendices.