CPA Final Report - January 2004

CPA Background

 

Contents:

 

 

Our inspection was from 29^th September - 3rd October, when a team of 4 were based in the Civic Centre. They spoke to councillors and members of staff at all levels, as well as to the public and our partners, to get a view of the council from as wide a perspective as possible. They wanted to see how we deliver our services, what improvements we could make, what difficulties we face, before they made a judgement and awarded us a rating.

 

The ratings are excellent, good, fair, weak and poor. Their rating was accompanied by a report, explaining how they reached their conclusion.

 

Councils achieving good or excellent ratings enjoy certain freedoms, which include relaxation of financial controls and a holiday from inspections.

 

The main parts of the CPA are:

 

The Council had to produce a report for the inspection team which looked at our achievements, strengths and weaknesses

 

A kind of dummy run for the real inspection. We had a team of Peers (colleagues from other authorities) visit us at the end of July '03. Their job was to speak to representatives groups and individuals, study evidence and our draft self assessment (see above) and let us have a report which amongst other things suggested improvements to our self-assessment (which we have included). Their report had to be sent to the Audit Commission Inspectors as part of our evidence.

 

An official check on how the council operates. Linked to our self-assessment and the Peer Challenge, this looked at our performance against four questions:

 

The answers to these questions are scored between 1 - 4 as follows:-

1 = weak; 2 = weaknesses exceed strengths; 3 = strengths exceed weaknesses; 4 = strong

 

Over 50 key documents, such as strategies, policies, and reports were required to be sent to the Inspection Team before they arrive. They have also received long lists of contacts in community groups and the Councils partners many of who were asked to speak to them during the inspection.

 

We had to supply considerably detailed reports relating to how we deal with public open space and housing in the Borough. These so-called diagnostic assessments measure the council against set standards. We were also asked to demonstrate how we are performing on things we consider to be important, such as 'a Cleaner, Safer, More Prosperous Borough', and how/where improvements can be made. These were scored according to the level of improvement required and the results fed into the main CPA assessment.

 

 

This is the final version of the Self Assessment document which was sent to the Audit Commission. In preparing it we incorporated comments made by our external partners in the Local Strategic Partnership (representatives of local commerce, other public bodies and voluntary groups and organisations), councillors and staff. Included in the document is a self scoring matrix (we were asked to score ourselves against the same set of criteria as the Inspectors), and the reports on public space and housing (see above).