A presentation will be made by Jackie Barry-Purssell, Audit Commission CAA Lead.
Minutes:
The Board received a presentation from Jackie Barry-Pursell and Christine Moody of the Audit Commission, on the findings of the draft Area Assessment.
A briefing note was tabled by the Audit Commission that provided an overview of the draft findings.
Following the presentation the Board was advised of the next steps in terms of finalising the Area Assessment and publication. It was noted that there would be a meeting between the Audit Commission and Council officers leading on the Area Assessment during the next week to discuss any areas of concern arising from the draft Assessment. On the 19 October the Council would formally received the findings of the Area Assessment, the Organisational Assessment and the Use of Resources evaluation.
There would then be a period of just over seven weeks prior to the publication of the Area Assessment on the Audit Commission’s website on 10 December 2009.
The Board discussed the draft Area Assessment and questions were put to the Audit Commission representatives.
In response to a query relating to the period of time covered by the Area Assessment, the Board was advised that although the timeline for CAA began in April 2009, some of the data gathered may be up to two years old. Conclusions had been drawn after looking at this range of data in the round.
Concern was raised with respect to some of the language used within the document and it was suggested that reference to an ‘emerging Red Flag’ with respect to ?? should be removed until Ofsted’s assessment had been received.
It was also suggested that NHS Haringey should liaise with the Audit Commission to re word parts of the document relating to ‘Economic Vitality and Prosperity Shared by All’ to reflect the recent improved figures and action being taken to reduce instances of teenage pregnancy and the recruitment of health visitors.
In terms of improving skills levels it was noted that the Council actively encouraged the organisations it worked with to use apprentices and it was requested that this was reflected in the document. The Council had also given additional funding to support the Citizens Advice Bureaux to enable it to meet the increased demand it faced for information from people affected by the change in economic climate.
It was noted that further information specific to the role of the Council may fit better within the Organisational Assessment also untaken by the Audit Commission.
There was agreement that partners should advised the Council’s Assistant Chief Executive, Policy, Partnerships, Performance and Communications, regarding any areas where they considered additional information should be considered by the Audit Commission.
A demonstrations of how the Audit Commission’s new website ?? This would provide a tool for members of the public to obtain information regarding their Local Authority and how it performance in certain areas.
Following the demonstration members of the Board put questions to Christine Moody of the Audit Commission.
The Board was advised that information relating to ‘Value for Money’ would be contained within the Use of Resources assessment. This would also be published on the website.
In response to a query the Board was advised that the site’s search engine would enable searches to be carried out both by theme and by the flagging system used to indicate areas of innovation and concern. All of the information published would make reference to the date when the information was obtained and links to the organisations referred to would be provided.
The Board was advised that when updates were undertaken these would be carried out across each every area at the same time. This would provide consistency and insure that members of the public had a rounded view of the Borough.
In conclusion the Board was reminded that the website would be launched on 10 December.