"DWP commissioned the Centre for Urban and Regional Studies at the University of Birmingham to undertake a short review of the international experience of governance arrangements for employment-related initiatives. In addition to desk-based research, two in-depth case studies were conducted; one in Denmark and the other in Vancouver, Canada. These case studies have confirmed the department's understanding of partnership and governance arrangements. The main findings were as follows:

# Those involved in partnership working must be committed to the goals agreed for that partnership and it must be accepted by local and non-local partners alike that time and resources will be required to initiate and maintain it.
# There needs to be a willingness to negotiate and compromise on the part of all participants.
# Delivering effective employment services can never solely be a local concern. It is both unfair and potentially inefficient for otherwise similar workless individuals and groups to receive radically different services.
# There has to be some mechanism for ensuring like treatment of similar people in different areas, whilst encouraging local involvement and innovation.
# One such mechanism might be the requirement that local partnerships meet some specified standards in fulfilling their functions or have to meet given priorities.
# This mechanism should be incentivised so that the achievement of such standards and requirements can result in the allocation of additional resources and/or additional discretionary powers to partnerships which are successful."

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