24 February 2010
The Audit Commission has called on the government to allow councils more freedom after reviewing the results of its first round of Comprehensive Area Assessments.
The local authority watchdog released its first national overview of CAA today, having published its first set of results in December.
It concludes: ‘The principal message for government from the first year of CAA is that local public bodies need the freedom to tailor local solutions to local problems.’ The commission says that many successful innovations involved some local adjustment to programmes, approaches or interventions that operate nationally.
The report also echoes the approach of the Total Place pilots, which seek to identify savings by joining up local service spending, in urging the government to ensure that public bodies are not obliged ‘to seek multiple sources of funds for the same activity’.
Although the commission says that somewhere in England, a council is finding innovative and effective ways to tackle ‘every one of the major challenges society faces’, it says there is inconsistency across the country.
And many of the most impressive achievements have been in tackling the consequences of social problems, rather than the underlying causes, the report says.
Audit Commission chair Michael O’Higgins said the CAA results show ‘much progress has been made, although stubborn problems persist, including pockets of bad health, inadequate housing and inequality’.
He praised authorities that have adopted good practice pioneered elsewhere, such as the London Borough of Camden and Sunderland City Council. But he added: ‘It is frustrating that more are not learning from each other.’
The commission also warns that many smaller councils lack the capacity to be effective, with less than a third comprehensively rated ‘good’ or ‘excellent’.
An independent report evaluating the CAA and its costs is due to be published in the spring.
