Issue - meetings

A presentation will be provided.

The Board received a presentation on the new Comprehensive Area Assessment (CAA).

An overview was given of the scope of the CAA and it was noted that this was comprised of two key strands:

Area Assessment

This strand would consider how effectively local public services delivered local priorities, economic prospects, community safety and potential for future improvement.

Organisational Assessment

The second strand would consider the use of resources and performance management and how the Council delivered value for money through the combined use of resources and performance management.

It was noted that Partners would be inspected by their own inspection regimes and that these would liaise with the Audit Commission.

In assessing this four key themes would be considered:

• Management of finances
• Governing business
• Managing resources
• Managing performance

In terms of the Area Assessment the following key areas would be focussed upon:

• How well do local priorities express community needs and aspirations?
• How well are the outcomes and improvements needed being delivered?
• What are the prospects for future improvements?

It was noted that the Local Authority would be required to produce and publish an Annual Summary, which would include an overview of key priorities, overall successes, challenges and future prospects. It was envisaged that these would form a tool for members of the public wanting to obtain an overview of the Borough.

In addition to this a system of red and green flags would be used to indicate areas where arrangements were considered inadequate to deliver improvement or where exceptional or innovative practice was demonstrated.

The Board was advised that that the CAA would take a more holistic approach to assessing performance and would gather evidence over the course of a year rather than focussing on a limited period.

With regard to the use of flags the Board was advised that these would only be applied if there was either evidence of innovative practice or where there were concerns over performance or prospects for change. The pilots that had taken place suggested that it may be harder to attract a green flag than a red flag. However, there may a shift in emphasis once the pilots had been reviewed.

It was confirmed that, within the Area Assessment, individual organisations would not be awarded flags.  

In response to a query, as to what the mechanisms were for gathering information from key housing providers, the Board was advised that a number of groups had already been consulted. Any additional groups that had not fed into the process that had examples of effective partnership working should contact the Council’s Corporate Policy Team.

RESOLVED:

1. That the presentation be noted.

2. That members of the Board wishing to provide examples of partnership working, which had not already been contacted, should contact the Council’s Corporate Policy Team.