End of CAA Announced
In The Coalition:
our programme for government, the government states: "We will
cut local government inspection and abolish the Comprehensive Area
Assessment"
(
The Coalition: our programme for government, page
12).
No further details are given, but in the Conservative Party's 2010
election manifesto, Invitation to Join the Government of
Britain, they committed themselves to "ending the bureaucratic
inspection regime that stops councils focusing on residents' main
concerns"
(Invitation
to Join the Government of Britain, page 76).
In their February 2009 green paper Control Shift - Returning
Power to Local Communities, the Conservatives stated: "A
Conservative government will cut back local government inspection
and abolish the Comprehensive Area Assessment. The Audit
Commission's role will be to ensure the propriety of local
government's spending and to investigate complaints. There are
several other bodies that inspect aspects of local government
services.
"As the Baby P case in Haringey has highlighted, these inspections
should be risk-based, and targeted at areas where public welfare is
most at stake - such as local authority social services. Should
such inspections identify a failing local authority service which
endangers public safety, then, in those rare cases, the Secretary
of State should consider using the Government's reserve powers to
intervene"
(
Control Shift, section 2.6, page 18).
Similarly, the Liberal Democrat Manifesto 2010 pledged to
"Scrap nearly £1 billion of central government inspection regimes
on local councils"
(Manifesto
2010, page 90).
The story so far...
CAA measures progress
towards and prospects for achieving agreed local targets. It is a
single assessment process, undertaken jointly by the Audit
Commission and its partner inspectorates. It replaces the former
Comprehensive Performance Assessment.
CAA offers an independent assessment of how well people are served
by their public services. It considers the prospects for people's
quality of life in the local area and is intended to ensure the
£200 billion a year spent providing local public services is used
effectively.
Who is responsible for CAA?
CAA brings together the work of six inspectorates, formerly
conducted separately:
-
the
Audit Commission
- the Care Quality
Commission (replaces the Commission for Social Care Inspection,
Healthcare Commission and Mental Health Act Commission)
- HM
Inspectorate of Constabulary
- HM
Inspectorate of Prisons
-
HM
Inspectorate of Probation
- the Office for Standards in
Education (Ofsted)
CAA is being reported through a new website, called
oneplace, launched by the Audit Commission on 9 December
2009.
CAA and VCS organisations
CAA measures progress in tackling local challenges in which many
voluntary & community setcor (VCS) organisations are major
stakeholders. It is designed to ensure local services address local
needs and local people and communities are involved in the design
and delivery of services.
The local VCS can engage with CAA in a variety of ways. They
can
- ensure they are familiar with their LAA, Sustainable Community
Strategy, Community Engagement Strategy and the role the local VCS
should play in defining local needs and delivering services
- consider how well local priorities express community needs and
aspirations
- review progress towards the delivery of national indicator (NI)
7, "Environment for a thriving third sector"
- check the practice of their local authority against the
principles set out in the local Compact
- find out how their local VCS is involved in CAA and consider
how it can contribute
- share information about the opportunities offered to the VCS by
CAA and how to engage with the process
- provide a channel through which local people, especially those
most marginalised and excluded, can make their voices
heard.
Resources:
Further information is available on the following websites: