A pot of £1.5million for 16 projects across England, led by beacons including Leeds, Sheffield and Rotherham will help local authorities deliver on some of the toughest targets in the Local Area Agreements announced this Monday.
The Beacon Scheme encourages local authorities to share their best working practice and ideas with their peers, and the Peer Support Fund supports this cause, financing innovative and targeted support to help raise standards and performance.
Authorities among the winning bids this year have raised £1.3m on their own to match their Peer Support funding, ensuring that even more authorities will benefit from their advice and guidance. For example, the four Beacons for delivering cleaner air have provided additional funding of £250k to supply tools, resources and mentoring to other authorities, and working with stakeholders to feed in to DEFRA's emission policies.
