Contact: Chris Lawrence-Pietroni, ext 7385; email: [email protected]

With the concurrence of the Chairman under Section 100B (4)(b) of the Local Government Act 1972, this matter has been included on the agenda to ensure the most up-to-date information is brought to Members attention.

1 Executive Summary

1.1 The final draft of the self-assessment for the 2007 Corporate Assessment has been completed and is submitted to Cabinet for approval.

2 Self-assessment status

2.1 Cabinet considered the third draft of the self assessment on 26 February 2007. The Executive Member for Performance, Efficiency and Communications has collated and represented the combined views of Cabinet to the self-assessment author and these have been integrated within this fourth version.

2.2 A small number of external stakeholder comments have been received since the last Cabinet meeting. The Chief Executive of Portsmouth City Council has strongly praised the County Council for its partnership working, while the voluntary sector are expressing concerns over the consistently positive nature of the document in the light of the loss of capacity related to reduction in grants.

3 Presentation of the self-assessment

3.1 The Corporate Communications Team have taken this version for professional editing and proof reading. Appendix 1 is the front cover for the self-assessment, which is derived from the Corporate Strategy publication.

4 Conclusion

4.1 This draft reflects the key messages agreed at Cabinet and has incorporated key information or comments that have been received from other source either within the text or as supporting evidence.

5 Recommendations

5.1 That Cabinet approve the self-assessment for submission to the Audit Commission on 19 March 2007, subject to professional editing and proofreading and final approval by the Leader and the Chief Executive.