22 February 2002
Mel Usher, executive director of the Improvement and Development Agency, this week dealt a blow to ministers' hopes that the new-look inspection format would end complaints from local authorities. Councils have long objected to the bureaucratic burdens and simplistic judgements they say the regime imposes.
Usher said ministers had not properly thought through how the proposed comprehensive performance assessments would lead to improved standards in failing councils.
He criticised the failure to decide the type of support that would be offered to authorities deemed 'coasting' or 'poor', or which organisations would
supply it. Under the reforms, first outlined in the local government white paper, all authorities will be classified as high performing, coasting, striving, or poor performing.
'The government needs to make a clear statement on what will happen at the end of the process, and who will be at the end of it. Where is the improvement going to come from?' he said.
Usher spoke to PF at a conference on the white paper on February 18. He argued that another body would have to work alongside the Audit Commission to boost standards in authorities, and staked the IDA's claim to this job.
'The Audit Commission can't change from being policeman to social worker,' he argued.
Usher said he wanted the IDA to be recognised as the official improvement agency for the new system, which will be introduced over the next year, but confirmed he would not seek statutory recognition for this role.
He also called for more money to be put into improvement work and stressed that this needed to start right away, so the bodies that would work with struggling authorities could start to prepare.
'More resources need to move from inspection to improvement and it needs to happen now,' he told PF.
The IDA currently charges local authorities for its services. But Usher said it would not expect authorities to foot the bill for work done under the CPA process.
'We would look for money from central government so that authorities didn't have to pay for our services.'
A joint review, by officials from the Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions and the Office for Public Service Reform, is currently examining ways of implementing the white paper's proposals. It is thought that they will produce draft recommendations at the end of this month.
PFfeb2002
