​From the Councils’ perspective, the primary purpose of partnership working should be to improve the experience and outcomes of people who use services.  Partnership working should support the delivery of one or more of our Sustainable Community Strategy or Corporate Plan outcomes.  We should not be in a partnership if it is not delivering or will not be delivering in the future, part of the Sustainable Community Strategy or Corporate Plan.

More generally, it is important that partnerships build from a starting point of trust and a shared vision.  Only if these are in place can we be sure that the partnership has the foundations to build the conditions necessary to deliver change.  This recognises that partner organisations, whether they be public, private, voluntary or community sectors, are all coming to the partnership from different positions and it is important to clearly define the common ground.

• Checklist (PDF, 31KB) identifying the skills and knowledge required to support effective partnership working