LCS have contributed to the development of local authority Community Safety work in a number of ways including:
- Currently managing a Community Safety service restructure for a south east borough, work which followed from an options appraisal which was undertaken in 2008. The work involves supporting the Head of Service to deliver the best possible configuration of staff and resources to drive improvements across the borough.
- Helping to prepare Community Safety services in a London borough for the new cross cutting inspection methodology in one of the Audit Commission pilot projects. This meant advising and assisting lead officers to prepare their self assessment and supporting evidence to new criteria and facilitating a workshop to enable staff to understand the inspection process.
- Improving value for money in an East London borough as part of longer project. LCS worked with Community Safety staff to find ways of evidencing the impact of their work and improve efficiency.
- For the IDeA (Improvement and Development Agency) we researched and produced national case studies of good practice sourced from the successful Beacon council scheme. These are now held on their website as a resource.
We have also contributed to the growing work to support the carers of substance misusers, particularly those who care for adults – the Hidden Harm group of children – in two London boroughs and presented our findings at a national conference.
For the Scottish Executive we have researched and evaluated the impact and development of a national Helpline for the carers of substance misusers and supported national carers organisations such as Famfed and PADA by presenting our work to their national conferences.
