16 January 2004
Local government leaders are to urge ministers to review the entire regulatory framework for councils, while broadly endorsing the Audit Commission's planned reforms to the Comprehensive Performance Assessment.
Sir Jeremy Beecham, chair of the Local Government Association, told Public Finance he will ask Chief Secretary to the Treasury Paul Boateng to launch a review of the inspection regime faced by town halls.
Local authorities are keen to see the CPA's proportionate approach to inspection adopted by other watchdogs, such as Ofsted and the Social Services Inspectorate, and recognised by the government departments that oversee them.
Beecham indicated that frustration was mounting over the failure of the rest of Whitehall to acknowledge the CPA's benefits. 'It is not at all clear that the Department for Education and Skills and the Department of Health take any notice of the CPA, and that is highly irritating,' he told PF. 'Having different inspection systems runs fundamentally counter to the idea of boosting corporate capacity and services.'
Beecham went on: 'Perhaps all the inspection work should be brought under the auspices of the Audit Commission. I don't hang my hat on any particular prescription but these issues certainly need to be examined, and we should be radical.'
He spoke to PF after the Audit Commission published its revised CPA methodology, due to be implemented from 2005, for consultation on January 15.
The proposals place much greater emphasis on the community leadership role of authorities, their performance against shared priorities agreed with central government, and their work with other agencies and organisations.
The commission has suggested revising the corporate assessment to reflect authorities' performance against their communities plan, which is based on the shared priorities.
It also proposes strengthening the 'use of resources' measure by considering capacity issues, such as procurement and human resources, to give a more robust measure of a council's cost-effectiveness and value for money.
The service assessments would also be overhauled: education and social services scores are likely to be replaced with one each for children's services and adult services, reflecting the impending shake-up.
The commission suggests keeping the current performance categories but adding a 'direction of travel' statement to say whether a council is improving or failing.
Commission chair James Strachan said the proposed changes would maximise the CPA's ability to bring about change. 'Focusing on leadership and governance, not individual services, is what will drive improvement. Councils also need to demonstrate clear priorities based on what local people want,' he added.
PFjan2004
