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This chapter discusses the various theories and concepts of partnership working and explores what partnership working is, the opportunities and barriers to working in partnership, and the various modes of governance underpinning partnerships. It argues that a networked approach to the governance of partnerships is needed based upon systems thinking to tackle the complex ‘wicked issues’ found in public health.

This chapter examines partnership working as a mechanism for the development and delivery of anti-poverty and social exclusion strategies in local authorities in England and Wales. Drawing on research into local authority anti-poverty strategies, this chapter addresses the rationale behind anti-poverty partnerships and examines the nature and extent of partnership structures. It evaluates the impact of partnership initiative on efforts to promote unitary and innovative policy responses to poverty and exclusion.

This introductory chapter explains the coverage of this book, which is about partnership working in public services in England. It explores the experience of partnerships in different policy fields and identifies the theoretical issues and the practical impediments to making partnership work. The chapter discusses the current debates about partnership and examines the implications of partnership for changing radically the current cultures of service provision and addressing the government's social exclusion agenda.

This introductory chapter begins with a brief discussion of the origins of the author's interest in social work practice within nontraditional settings. It presents the five main goals of this book. It then discusses social work partnerships within nontraditional urban settings and the application of concepts to case studies.

This chapter presents qualitative research findings of the views of frontline practitioners and service users of public health partnerships in four selected tracer issues. The topics examined include: the benefits and barriers to partnership working, the effectiveness of partnerships in providing a more seamless service for users, and what is needed to improve services for users through the aegis of partnership working.

This chapter presents the research findings, through qualitative research, derived from the views of senior practitioners and their perceptions of the effectiveness and efficacy of public health partnerships. Interviewees include: Directors of Public Health, Directors of Commissioning, Councillors, and other senior public health practitioners.

This chapter explores what some of the social workers being interviewed say about relationships and partnerships, and how they explain the significance of these concepts to social work. It also illustrates ‘relating’ and ‘partnering’ in practice. There is already a great deal of discussion about relationships, partnership, and collaboration between social workers, other professionals, and their clients/service users. Relationship-based practice is an important development, especially in UK-based social work, which has become particularly important as a counter to managerialist tendencies in policy and practice. This chapter discusses what social workers say about relationship work with clients/service users and with other professionals, and draws upon aspects such as attitudes towards stereotyping in relation to professionals and links between partnership/collaboration and organisations, using some original research examples.

The chapter reports on the findings of a systematic review of the impact of partnership working on public health, and considers whether these partnerships have delivered better health outcomes for local/target populations. It finds that there is little evidence that partnerships have produced better health outcomes for local/target populations or reduced health inequalities.

This concluding chapter sums up the key findings of this study on partnership working in public services. It describes the advances made in theoretical and practical approaches to partnership working in the last decade in various fields including health, social services and housing. In argues that inclusive partnerships can be developed only if fundamental inequalities between partners, based on differences in income, culture, ethnicity, disability, age, education and training and other factors, are recognised, challenged and changed.

This chapter examines the challenges inherent in partnership working with communities and service users and the questions of power and power imbalances in partnerships for community regeneration. It describes the evaluations of a range of regeneration initiatives and considers how far the continuing barriers to partnership can be eroded and the tensions addressed. It discusses some of the practical steps that need to be taken to strengthen partnership working in policy making, service delivery, consultation and training.

Partnerships have played an increasingly prominent role in local governance and there has been considerable debate about the impact which self-organising capacity and government intervention have on their effectiveness. This paper examines what kinds of self-steering local public service partnerships require in order to address intractable public policy problems, and whether external steering by government helps or hinders them. It concludes that 'soft steering' by government can be instrumental in establishing and mobilising partnerships. The type of self-steering they deploy depends on the context in which they operate and the kinds of collaborative activities they attempt.

This chapter considers the spatial location of public services and how spatial location difficulties can be amplified when multiagency policies and multidisciplinary teams are established. It discusses the relationship of space with welfare services and rejects the Marxist notion that human space is entirely defined by capitalism, social life and social relations. It provides a salutary reminder that spatial location and spatial operations are a crucial aspect of partnership working and have a major impact on multiagency and multidisciplinary service development.

Within the campaigning community work during the 1970s, the purpose of the community development role was to support local communities to challenge and make demands of the local state. Pressure was viewed as the way to achieving change. This chapter looks at the way practitioners worked by drawing on the examples provided by the interviewees. It compares and contrasts these earlier confrontational approaches with the shift towards practice within a community planning framework. It also looks at the community development inspired by conflict approaches including the recent shift towards a community planning model based on dialogue and partnership working.

This chapter highlights the need for partnership working, which has been a long-standing objective of health and social policy. For many years, the National Health Service (NHS) and local authorities have been attempting to deal with 'wicked issues'. Issues such as homelessness, disaffection of young people, and the ageing society that have complex multiple causes require joined-up approaches by the statutory and third sectors at national and local levels. In 2012, at the time when Public Health responsibilities were transferred from the NHS to local authorities, health and wellbeing boards (HWBs) were established in England. With few exceptions, HWBs punch below their weight and are not the powerful system leaders that were hoped for. Evidence of their value and impact is negligible, with poor-performance indicators, and the difficulties in overcoming deep-seated departmentalism and a silo approach prevalent in government and public services, leaving 'wicked issues' as deep-seated as ever.

Issues of conflict and competition are explored in this chapter, as Law Centres found themselves competing with other providers for contracts and for other sources of funding. Increasing competition had been a specific objective of public service modernisation agendas, competition having been assumed by previous governments to improve efficiency, value for money and choice for service users. The New Labour government continued this commitment to the promotion of competition as a mechanism for driving up standards in public service provision – although New Labour also emphasised the potential value of partnership working. A number of Law Centres had already found themselves competing with other advice agencies for resources. In face of the mounting pressures towards increasing competition, however, some came to the view that collaborative strategies could offer more positive ways forward. This chapter concludes with case studies of Law Centres that were succeeding in developing collaborative approaches, working in partnership rather than competing with other like-minded agencies in order to provide better co-ordinated, more holistic services to their communities – and in more cost-effective ways.

This chapter critically discusses the importance of coalition-building in challenging gender-based violence (GBV) in universities and for laying the groundwork to facilitate and support cultural transformation in the complex and risk-averse environment of higher education. Drawing on the example of a cross-institutional, multipartner coalition initiated by student organizations in collaboration with security, service, and academic staff in two Scottish universities, local service providers, and police, this chapter critically discusses the tensions encountered and challenges posed in creating a “whole-university” approach to preventing and responding to GBV. In so doing, it highlights the centrality of student leadership for developing an informed response and driving forward meaningful change and the importance of internal/external partnerships for prevention work, root and branch reform of university policies and practices, the provision of training and awareness-raising, and the delivery of a thorough institutionalized response to tackling GBV.

When New Labour came to power in 1997, its commitment was to build strong communities. In their third term, they talked of putting power and resources in the hands of the ‘law-abiding majority’. During this period, there were more resources than ever for community-level activities and communities were positioned to have a central role in decision making within their neighbourhoods. It was a time characterised by the devolution from central government to local government and from local government to citizens and communities. It is also a period marked by the increasing engagement of citizens, which is becoming a statutory duty, and it is also a period marked by the need to involve those who are ‘hard-to-reach’. This chapter discusses some of the key shifts in terms of the landscape of community development. In particular, it looks at the change from a confrontational approach to the model of partnership working which predominates in all areas of regeneration and urban renewal. Today, participation in the partnerships has brought with it a greater recognition of the potential role of community development in achieving policy objectives. Thus the community development workforce has grown substantially. Practitioners are now required to be more accountable for how they carry out their roles, although their accountability is upwards to the funders or authorities rather than to the communities in questions.