09 May 2003
Local government leaders are warning of 'major concerns' over the planned overhaul of Comprehensive Performance Assessments put out to consultation by the Audit Commission last month.
Authorities have been warning the Local Government Association that the proposals relating to the annual reassessments between 2003 and 2006 risk 'distorting the whole CPA process' because they are so demanding.
In particular, councils fear that those that have made substantial improvements since the 2002 league tables were published will not be able to move up a category because of the stringent conditions they will have to meet.
Under the proposals, authorities would have to demonstrate substantial progress, over and above the performance thresholds used in the 2002 evaluation, to increase their overall score.
The LGA executive was due to meet commission officials to discuss the CPA proposals on May 8. Its chair, Sir Jeremy Beecham, told Public Finance he would use the opportunity to press home members' worries.
'There is a concern that we could find councils falling down over individual services and being held back by them. The real test should be the reassessment of corporate services,' he said.
A document produced by LGA officers for the meeting highlights the disquiet being expressed by member authorities. 'Initial representations from authorities suggest that there are some major concerns with the proposals,' it said. 'We are concerned that the proposals may be potentially demotivating through the use of very restrictive triggers and progression routes through the categories.'
Councils are also unhappy that they will be able to request a corporate reassessment only if they meet criteria set down by the commission.
Beecham said authorities might sometimes feel another corporate assessment was justified. 'It would not be unreasonable if an authority could demonstrate robustly that the situation had changed, for example if there had been a change in political control.'
But he expressed optimism that the commission would listen to local government's concerns once the consultation ends on May 22.
A commission spokeswoman emphasised that the purpose of the consultation exercise was to gauge councils' reactions. 'We are interested in what people say and we will take their views on board,' she added.
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