Contact: Jenny Heath, ext 7402

1 Summary

The following decisions are sought:

· That Cabinet note the development of the Comprehensive Performance Assessment Framework by the Audit Commission.

· That Cabinet approve the response to the recommendations made in the Corporate Assessment report.

2 Reason for the recommendations

Having a clear and measurable response to the recommendations made by the Corporate Assessment Team is a vital factor in maintaining the Council's `excellent' status.

3 Other options considered and rejected

Not applicable

4 Conflicts of interest declared by the decision maker, or member, or officer consulted

Not applicable

5 Dispensation granted by the Standards Committee

Not applicable

6 Reason(s) for the matter being dealt with if urgent

Not applicable

Approved by: (signature) Date: (date of decision)

7 Development of the CPA Framework

7.1 The Government are moving forward on planning the next steps for CPA. On 3rd April they launched Patterns for Improvement - a summary of lessons learnt from the first round of CPA.

7.2 At the same time the Audit Commission launched a consultation document, CPA - Next steps, asking for views on proposals for a medium to long term strategy for CPA until 2010 and a short term approach to maintaining the framework prior to 2005/06.

7.3 Given the importance of CPA to the Council's activities, a `full' response was written, introduced by two strong statements about:

· the Council's disappointment at the continuing levels of inspection

· the importance of local Government serving its communities, rather than being a local service outlet for central Government policies.

7.4 Appendix One provides a copy of the response sent on 22 May 2003, which was based on the following assumptions:

· The Audit Commission's Relationship Manager should have a pivotal role in commenting on performance and be a deciding factor in whether a local authority is re-categorised - rather than it being simply an issue of passing calculated thresholds

· Phased assessment rather than the current league table approach with every local authority assessed in the same - protracted - timeframe

· A differentiated approach to re-categorisation is preferred- to reduce the risk of downwards movement, while enabling other local authorities to move upwards more swiftly.

7.5 At the same time the Council was also invited to comment on the framework for district council CPA. The response, which was also sent on 22 May, is attached at Appendix Two. Work is underway to plan how the Council will manage the inevitable demands to be involved as 'witnesses'.

8 Maintaining excellent status

8.1 While the Council is pursuing ways of capitalising on the freedoms and flexibilities afforded by being `excellent', it is important to devote some thought to the factors that will maintain this status. The framework has assessed all authorities on two elements :

· The quality of services provided

· The capability of an authority, measured by its ability to act corporately and strategically

8.2 The audit plan for 2002-2004 has been drawn up with reference to the CPA result and the Hampshire Improvement Programme, which flowed from it. It will help to maintain the focus on areas for improvement identified by the various auditors and inspectors. The Council will undertake its own re-assessment using the current CPA model to keep track of its position.

8.3 The Audit Commission's short term plans for CPA indicate annual improvement reporting, which will focus on performance in individual services and may result in re-categorisation, either upwards or downwards. The annual improvement reports will be compiled by reference to the relevant inspection bodies. While excellent authorities should not be subject to further inspection, improvement reporting will take account of trends in performance indicator results. Inspectorates will also be taking a keen interest in progress with improvement programmes, as these have been drawn up to address areas which have been prioritised for further work.

8.4 Mechanisms are in place to keep Members informed with progress against targets:

· a report on this agenda provides Cabinet with the results and targets in relation to key national performance indicators.

· the Council receives an annual report in May, collating the elements of the statutory Performance Plan, which shows how well the Council is achieving the goals it has prioritised.

· all Councillors receive a copy of the annual Performance Plan. With the changeover to a web-based version, this will result in access to a dynamic site with updates being made as information becomes available.

8.5 The Audit Commission's Corporate Assessment Team reported on the Council's capability and made five recommendations for improvement. These have been considered and a response is now attached at Appendix Three which indicates how the Council is responding to these recommendations.

8.6 There are no new issues identified in the response to the recommendations and cabinet is therefore asked to approve the matrix at Appendix Three.

Recommendation

i) That Cabinet note the development of the Comprehensive Performance Assessment Framework by the Audit Commission.

ii) That Cabinet approve the response to the recommendations made in the Corporate Assessment report.

Section 100D - Local Government Act 1972 - background papers

The following documents disclose facts or matters on which this report, or an important part of it, is based and has been relied upon to a material extent in the preparation of this report.

NB The list excludes:

1. Published works.

2. Documents which disclose exempt or confidential information as defined in the Act.

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