The CPA arrangements are due to change significantly in 2008, but for now there are two types of inspection happening under CPA. The first is a “Snapshot” of how the organisation is performing. This results in a label for the authority of “Poor”, “Fair”, “Good” or “Excellent”. It also results in a judgement on prospects for improvement, not whether the council is actually improving, but whether it has the capacity to do so. These only take place every few years and can be for the whole Authority, or for a single service. You can find a list of planned inspections at Audit Commission.
The second type of inspection under CPA is a look at whether the organisation is actually improving, getting worse or staying the same. These happen every year and result in four reports;
- The annual Audit Letter
- A Direction of travel Statement
- A Statement on Use of Resources
- A Statement on Value for money
Data relating to national CPA figures can help you identify:
- how overall performance management in your authority compare with national trends
- Whether your authority is improving or declining over time
- Where the strengths are, and the weakness in your authority, as far as the external auditors are concerned
- The Councils progress on equalities and diversity issues
- Examples of good practice
which may in turn help you identify
- How your service contributes to the delivery of corporate priorities or Community Plan objectives
- Best practice examples that may have potential for you to emulate
- The potential of your service to contribute to improving the Authority’s overall performance
- potential for managing your own facilities more effectively
There are slightly different arrangements for Single Tier Authorities (County Councils, Unitary Councils and London Boroughs) and for District Councils. The Audit Commission publishes guidance for Councils about to undertake these annual inspections. The Audit Commission require Councils to undertake a self assessment, so each council has to assess themselves on their use of resources, on value for money, and has to prepare a self assessed “Direction of travel” Statement.
Because these annual inspections are about improvement, councils can put examples of good practice in their self assessments. This might be around public consultation; and if your service has an example of where this has been effective it’s a good idea to get involved in the process to show how your service can help the council to improve its score.
More
|
