28 July 2006
A new, more streamlined inspection regime for district councils will release them from many of the burdens of regulation, the Audit Commission said last week.
The commission promised a more targeted approach as it launched the new Comprehensive Performance Assessment Framework for district councils.
The changes follow a nine-month consultation period and mean district councils will be reassessed through a corporate assessment only if there is evidence of a change in performance.
A council will be able to request a corporate assessment if it can demonstrate significant improvement. Similarly, the Audit Commission will be able to impose a corporate assessment on councils that have shown a slide in performance.
Corporate assessment decisions will be made by a panel of commission staff from within and outside the region and a representative from a peer council.
The assessment methodology has also been streamlined. The number of themes has been halved to five and comprise: ambition for the community; prioritisation; capacity; performance management; and achievement and improvement. As not all district councils will be reassessed, the five categories of excellent, good, fair, weak and poor remain so results can be compared.
Audit Commission chief executive Steve Bundred said: 'Our extensive consultation over the past nine months has helped us to develop a consensus about which aspects of CPA for district councils could be improved.
'As a result we have developed a framework which not only enables the Audit Commission to help drive improvement in public services in a more efficient and targeted way, but also reduces the burden of regulations.'
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