A presentation will be provided.
Minutes:
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:
In terms of the Area Assessment the following key areas would be focussed upon:
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.
The CAA placed a strong emphasis on effective partnership working and therefore Inspectors would be looking for evidence that partners had the capacity and capability to the Strategies and Plans agreed by the Partnership. In order to achieve a good Assessment effective partnership and tangible outcomes would need to be demonstrated.
In preparation for the Self Assessment a group consisting of representatives from Partner agencies had been established that was Chaired by the Fire Borough Commander for Haringey. In addition, a dedicated LAA web page had also been created within the Council’s website and briefing notes would also be posted and undated on a regular basis. There was agreement that a link to the web page should be circulated with the minutes.
In response to a query regarding the awarding of flags the Board was advised that there may be many Local Authorities that would not receive any flags at all as they would only awarded as an indicator of innovative practice or where there insufficient plans in place to improve performance. Local Authorities not awarded flags would not be perceived in a negative light.
It was confirmed that there representatives from both NHS Haringey and HAVCO on the Working Group established to oversee the Self Assessment process.
RESOLVED:
That the report be noted.