Comprehensive Area Assessment (CAA) 2009

From April 2009, a new approach to assessing local public services begins

A new joint assessment made by a group of independent inspectors about the performance of public services and their prospects for improvement will take place. 

This is known as the Comprehensive Area Assessment (CAA) and it will look at how well councils and other local partners are working together to improve the quality of life for local people. It will require public bodies, such as: councils, the Police Force, Fire and Rescue services and health organisations to increasingly work together to address the challenges that communities face and deliver improvements. 

The CAA will provide local people with information about local services, increasing their awareness of the services available and enabling them to make informed decisions and get value for money.

·         It is about people and places

·         It will give people a snapshot of life in their local area each year

·         It will help local services improve quality of life in their area

·         It will help local people understand if they are getting value for money from their local services

·         The CAA will focus on issues that are important to our community

Two types of assessment will take place each year:

Area Assessment – an assessment of how well public services are addressing the issues that matter the most to local people. This will look at the Local Area Agreement and the Sustainable Community Strategy and will cover issues such as:  increasing the availability of affordable housing, reducing the fear of crime and attracting investment into the area.

Organisational Assessment – this will be conducted for all local authorities.  It will cover two elements: their performance management and use of resources. This will result in an overall score for Purbeck District Council.

The assessments will be publicly available, in print and online, and will provide an annual snapshot of life in Purbeck. 

The Comprehensive Area Assessment takes the place of the Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA), which was an assessment of councils.  The CAA looks at how well people are served by all their local public services:

·       It assesses the way the council and local partners work together in the area.

·       It focuses on what matters most in each area – what local people need/want and do priorities reflect these

·       It is a forward-looking assessment, exploring how the priorities for the area are going to be achieved

·         It is conducted as a joint assessment from all inspection bodies, including:

·         Audit Commission (external link)

·         Healthcare Commission (exteranl link)

·         Ofsted (external link)

·         HM Inspectorate of Constabulary (external link)

·         HM Inspectorate of Prisons (external link)

·         HM Inspectorate of Probation (external link)

The CAA regime will begin in April 2009. The guidance for conducting these assessments is due in mid February 2009 when further information relating to the inspection will be available here.

Contact: 

Frances West, Head of Legal & Democratic Services

Purbeck District Council.  Telephone: (01929) 557215

Links:

Audit Commission (external link)

Healthcare Commission (exteranl link)

Ofsted (external link)

HM Inspectorate of Constabulary (external link)

HM Inspectorate of Prisons (external link)

HM Inspectorate of Probation (external link)