What we did
We recognised the need to co-ordinate our inspection activity with that of other inspectorates. The Audit Commission carried out some inspections jointly with other inspectorates including:
Joint reviews of social services
The Joint Review Team was established in 1996 to bring together the skills and expertise of the Audit Commission and the Social Services Inspectorate (SSI) to review local authority social services. We carried out reviews of all local authority social services over a six year period from 1996 to 2003.
Local Education Authority inspections
The Education Act 1997 gave Ofsted a statutory responsibility for inspecting Local Education Authorities in conjunction with the Audit Commission. These inspections were carried out between 1998 and 2005 when Ofsted introduced a new inspection framework.
Joint area reviews of children’s services
In 2005, Ofsted introduced a three year programme of joint area reviews (JARs) of children’s services for all single tier and county councils. Ten inspectorates contributed to joint area reviews including the Audit Commission. To reduce the burden on councils, JARs and Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA) corporate assessments were normally carried out at the same time.
Supporting People inspections
In 2002 central government commissioned the Audit Commission to develop a methodology to inspect a new grant programme called 'Supporting People'. Details of our Supporting People inspections can be found in the housing section of our website.
Joint inspections under CAA
In early 2010, we consulted on a new framework for joint inspections triggered by Comprehensive Area Assessment (CAA). The aim of the framework was to ensure a more co-ordinated and proportionate approach to the inspection of performance issues covering the remit of more than one inspectorate. We carried out a small number of joint inspections in 2010 using the new framework.