As the final CPA fades, David Prince claims it was not all bad – but do the public really care?
How about a celebrity-led television series to spark interest in the bus queues about the Audit Commission’s final round of CPA – The Harder Test? A roaming Marr or Paxman could probe why North East councils lead the way on ambition, and the South East trails in capacity. And why improvement soars across the West Midlands, but not the East Midlands.
Panoramic backdrops of our great cities could introduce the question of why Liverpool, Birmingham and Leicester only merit two stars, while Manchester and Southampton get three.
The public didn’t notice, so was the ecstasy of The Final Score worth the agony since 2002? Or are the Conservatives right, that the widespread improvements claimed for CPA simply prove authorities have learned to play the box-ticking game?
The commission acknowledges, over CPA’s life, objective performance assessments moved in the opposite direction from public satisfaction with councils – currently 53%. But something real did happen. In 2002, one in five councils was in the two bottom score categories. Now, only four have one star. If games were played, 26 councils in 2008 forgot the rules and dropped categories – compared with 25 last year – almost cancelling out the 29 who rose. The two-star falls in five councils, including Surrey, prove the game is real when eyes wander off the ball. Those 13 councils achieving ‘excellent’ or four stars every year didn’t just tick boxes.
Corporate assessment held the mirror to those failed leaderships whose responses to failed services had been denial and hand-wringing. Contrast that with Waltham Forest’s case study, showing how strong leadership plus top-class interim management speedily delivered four stars.
CPA wasn’t perfect, but was good enough. Its initial speed back in 2002 provided the catalyst needed for political determination to improve, and to engage the IDeA’s peer support – itself a major contributor to the story’s happy ending. The biggest cultural gains from CPA and The Harder Test came in their early years, so fewer iterations might have supplemented resources for improvement.
Undoubtedly, councils are sounder for tackling residents’ needs in recession. Eighty-four per cent of councils stand in the top two categories for ambition, with two-thirds there for prioritisation. There have been commendable improvements in the provision of adult social care. Twenty-five councils increased their stars, with 87% above the minimum requirements.
But the finale is not all golden sunsets. Services for children and young people remain the least improved, with a net deterioration as 22 councils’ scores dropped. Even before this blow, the battle was uphill to support and develop staff facing the toughest of jobs amid media hostility.
While equalities and diversity are now better mainstreamed into services to communities than in 2002, more than 200 councils have yet to match the best performers. Action in both areas is vital to community cohesion during recession.
CPA succeeded by working with the grain of local government from the outset.
The commission should heed the LGA’s five challenges that CAA must be focused; reduce burdens; use experience as well as statistics; and use peers and look at two-tier issues.
In return, councils have to tackle the remaining low-performing areas and deliver the LGA’s pledge to work hard on delivering even better services.
The commission’s conundrum is delivering at lower cost the area dimension of CAA, without letting up on the visible weak spots in individual council’s corporate centres. Although 31 improved their financial reporting, the same number lost stars. Less than one-quarter have top ratings for use of resources. Just 20 councils have top scores for value for money.
The LGA can’t say inspection is the only obstacle in getting maximum resources to the frontline.
Resources and performance are where the watchdog is expected to bark. Whitehall was conspicuously muted about the starry CPA results. Paradoxically, corporate assessment may have to live on in CAA longer than either the commission or councils anticipated.
CAA promises to examine how people’s lives are lived, and how effectively local services and partnerships are performing and improving people’s lives.
Good. Yet I still can’t see the profiles exciting the bus queues, although they’re very vociferous about child social care, efficiency and council tax.
David Prince is former chief executive of the Standards Board for England – and ex head of local government at the Audit Commission
Panoramic backdrops of our great cities could introduce the question of why Liverpool, Birmingham and Leicester only merit two stars, while Manchester and Southampton get three.
The public didn’t notice, so was the ecstasy of The Final Score worth the agony since 2002? Or are the Conservatives right, that the widespread improvements claimed for CPA simply prove authorities have learned to play the box-ticking game?
The commission acknowledges, over CPA’s life, objective performance assessments moved in the opposite direction from public satisfaction with councils – currently 53%. But something real did happen. In 2002, one in five councils was in the two bottom score categories. Now, only four have one star. If games were played, 26 councils in 2008 forgot the rules and dropped categories – compared with 25 last year – almost cancelling out the 29 who rose. The two-star falls in five councils, including Surrey, prove the game is real when eyes wander off the ball. Those 13 councils achieving ‘excellent’ or four stars every year didn’t just tick boxes.
Corporate assessment held the mirror to those failed leaderships whose responses to failed services had been denial and hand-wringing. Contrast that with Waltham Forest’s case study, showing how strong leadership plus top-class interim management speedily delivered four stars.
CPA wasn’t perfect, but was good enough. Its initial speed back in 2002 provided the catalyst needed for political determination to improve, and to engage the IDeA’s peer support – itself a major contributor to the story’s happy ending. The biggest cultural gains from CPA and The Harder Test came in their early years, so fewer iterations might have supplemented resources for improvement.
Undoubtedly, councils are sounder for tackling residents’ needs in recession. Eighty-four per cent of councils stand in the top two categories for ambition, with two-thirds there for prioritisation. There have been commendable improvements in the provision of adult social care. Twenty-five councils increased their stars, with 87% above the minimum requirements.
But the finale is not all golden sunsets. Services for children and young people remain the least improved, with a net deterioration as 22 councils’ scores dropped. Even before this blow, the battle was uphill to support and develop staff facing the toughest of jobs amid media hostility.
While equalities and diversity are now better mainstreamed into services to communities than in 2002, more than 200 councils have yet to match the best performers. Action in both areas is vital to community cohesion during recession.
CPA succeeded by working with the grain of local government from the outset.
The commission should heed the LGA’s five challenges that CAA must be focused; reduce burdens; use experience as well as statistics; and use peers and look at two-tier issues.
In return, councils have to tackle the remaining low-performing areas and deliver the LGA’s pledge to work hard on delivering even better services.
The commission’s conundrum is delivering at lower cost the area dimension of CAA, without letting up on the visible weak spots in individual council’s corporate centres. Although 31 improved their financial reporting, the same number lost stars. Less than one-quarter have top ratings for use of resources. Just 20 councils have top scores for value for money.
The LGA can’t say inspection is the only obstacle in getting maximum resources to the frontline.
Resources and performance are where the watchdog is expected to bark. Whitehall was conspicuously muted about the starry CPA results. Paradoxically, corporate assessment may have to live on in CAA longer than either the commission or councils anticipated.
CAA promises to examine how people’s lives are lived, and how effectively local services and partnerships are performing and improving people’s lives.
Good. Yet I still can’t see the profiles exciting the bus queues, although they’re very vociferous about child social care, efficiency and council tax.
David Prince is former chief executive of the Standards Board for England – and ex head of local government at the Audit Commission
