Agenda item

A presentation will be provided.

The Board received a presentation on the forthcoming Comprehensive Area Assessment.

An overview was given of the scope of the CAA and it was noted that it 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

This strand would consider the use of resources and performance management and how the Council delivered value for money through their 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.

In terms of specific arrangements for Children’s Services, it was noted that Ofsted was developing proposals to meet CAA requirements, which included:

• A three year rolling programme of inspection for all Looked After Children and Safeguarding (including Annual Inspections and unannounced Visits)
• Annual self evaluation
• Performance Profiling

The results of these measures would be reported on a quarterly basis by Ofsted and published on its website and would also inform the area and organisational assessments that would report in November 2009.

In response to a query, regarding the publication of CAA report, the Board was advised that once this had been circulated to the Chief and Executive and appropriate Lead Members it would be published on the Audit Commissions website.

With respect to the use of flags, to indicate where arrangements were considered to be inadequate to deliver improvement or where exceptional or innovative practice was demonstrated, the Board was advised that this would only be used in these circumstances. Consequently there may Assessments that consisted solely of a narrative.

It was noted that as part of the Organisational Assessment undertaken of the Metropolitan Police, performance in Haringey would be assessed in comparison with other areas that were deemed to share similar characteristics.  However, some of the areas that Haringey had been compared to meant that the comparisons drawn were likely to be unfavourable.

The Board was advised that the HSP Performance Management Group (PMG) had considered the role of the Voluntary Sector in achieving the a good CAA report. In addition to this any Voluntary Sector groups providing services under contract to the Partnership would be considered as part of the inspection process.  

 RESOLVED:

That the presentation be noted.