In search of that elusive green flag

Unfortunately Hertfordshire did not get any green flags in the last inspection of public service delivery (also called the Comprehensive Area Assessment or CAA). Our search for a green flag has therefore, taken us across the border to Essex which is being held up as a beacon of best practice for their Response to Recession programme. The programme is made up of a number of strands across the county including:

Banking on Essex, a programme designed to reduce the effects of the recession on local people. Under this initiative, the County Council has partnered with Santander (formerly called Abbey National) to support businesses affected by reduced bank credit. In the first month of operation, the partnership distributed £220,000 worth of loans.

The Post Office Initiative, a high profile initiative to support the reopening of village post offices. Post offices are being saved and turned into community information points. This allows people to use a range of services provided by partners in addition to post office services. It is expected that a total of 14 Post Offices will be part of the scheme by Spring 2010.

Business Health clinics. Basildon District Council is working with the private sector eg. Accountants and banks, giving advice and support to small businesses.

Other support activity around the county:

· Rebates to pension
· Mobile advice service
· Information leaflets
· Redundancy advice line
· Debt clinics
· Supporting Essex attractions
· Apprenticeships and others.

For information about other Green Flag in the East of England, see the Improvement East website. For information about countrywide (including Hertfordshire’s) CAA performance, see the Audit Commission’s One Place website.