Audit Commission

Today sees the publication of the Audit Commission's assessment of single tier and county councils across England, and the final allocation of stars to individual local authorities.

The number of top-performing English councils has almost tripled since Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA) - the Audit Commission's annual measure of English councils' performance - was introduced in 2002.

CPA's scope is wide - it looks at how efficiently councils are run, the quality of local services, and whether they are delivering value for money for the taxpayer.

CPA ends this year with 62 councils achieving 4 star status, having started in 2002 with just 22. This year's total is a record over the life of CPA, which has also seen 30 of the 149 councils make substantial improvements and leap two or more star categories.

This is the last ever round of CPA, so published alongside the 2008 report today is a special publication 'Final Score' giving an in-depth retrospective look at local government performance and the impact of CPA over its seven years.

Among this year's headline figures:

• 27 councils have maintained their position as 4 star councils for four years running.
• No council is in the lowest zero rating, nor has been for the last three years.
• 27 councils have risen by one star this year, and two by two stars.
• 91 per cent of councils performed consistently or well above minimum requirements for use of resources in 2008, and none performed below minimum.
• 35 councils are rated as 'improving strongly' - more than ever before.

However,

• 5 councils have dropped by two stars. A factor in 4 of these has been low scores for Children and Young People's Services.
• A further 21 councils have fallen by one star rating. A factor for some councils in this final year has been the removal of protected corporate assessment scores put in place temporarily to bridge the introduction of the revised CPA 'Harder Test' in 2005. Now that all councils have taken the harder test, year-on-year comparisons from 2005 to 2008 are possible.

Chairman of the Audit Commission Michael O'Higgins says:
"CPA has been a challenge to which local government has risen very well, and our retrospective report records the success of many councils that are to be congratulated. As we say goodbye to the star rating system, it is heartening to see a record number of 4 star councils, and 29 rising by one or more categories in this last year alone. There will be many others who, although they have improved their performance, didn't quite make it into the next division. We hope they will all take this experience and commitment to improvement into CAA from April, and help us to reflect the wider impact of local public services on people's lives."

In recent years there was an increasing sense that CPA had run its course, not least because councils' performance had clearly improved overall. With many key local services now being provided in partnership - such as crime and disorder reduction, and children's trusts - a new challenge was sought which reflected councils' growing role as community leaders, and which asked more fundamental questions about service delivery from the citizens' perspective.

As a result, from April 2009 CPA will be succeeded by Comprehensive Area Assessment, a radical shake-up of the way public services in England are inspected and reported on. Having more of a user-focus, and relying more on already-existing data, CAA will require less on-site activity by inspectorates, freeing resources to concentrate on areas of particular concern, making it more cost-effective and better-targeted. Although there will still be organisational assessments of councils, they will also be assessed on their pivotal role in achieving improved local outcomes in partnership with other providers of services to the public.

Use of resources assessments for England's District Councils are also being published today by the Audit Commission.

Each council had a corporate assessment over a three year period, which assessed its ability to lead its local community having clearly identified its needs and set clear ambitions and priorities. Inspection teams included a peer officer and peer councillor. Since September 2005 these assessments have been conducted at the same time as the Joint Area Review of children's services led by OFSTED or the Commission for Social Care Inspection.

Notes to editors

1. CPA pulls together the results of a range of different assessments carried out by the Audit Commission and other inspectorates (such as Ofsted and the Commission for Social Care Inspection) to provide a picture of how well an individual council is performing.
2. This year's results allow comparisons between 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008.
3. Under CPA - The Harder Test, introduced in 2005, councils receive an overall performance category ranging from 0 to 4 star, with 4 star being the highest. The system also assesses the direction of each council's overall improvement using the following direction of travel labels: improving strongly; improving well; improving adequately; and not improving adequately (or not improving).
4. At the time of publication, the children and young people score for Surrey County Council and the social care (adults) scores for Gloucestershire County Council and Lincolnshire County Council were subject to judicial review. If any of these reviews are upheld, they could result in an increase to the overall star category for the relevant council. The current scores for these councils have been included in the report's analysis. The Audit Commission will publish any changes to these scores on its website following the conclusion of individual reviews.
5. Comprehensive Area Assessment will be a partnership between the Audit Commission, the Care Quality Commission, Her Majesty's Inspectorates of Police, Prisons and Probation, and Ofsted.
6. Among the headline findings from 'Final Score - the impact of the Comprehensive Area Assessment of local government 2002-08' are:
   • Of the 128 councils that could improve between 2002 and 2008, 92 received a relatively higher CPA score in 2008
   • Top performance was much more common in 2008, when 42 per cent of councils were in the highest CPA category compared to 15 per cent in 2002; and
   • Councils responded to CPA and very poor performance was tackled. By 2006, there were no councils in the lowest CPA category compared to 9 per cent in 2002.
   • Thirteen councils were Excellent/4-star every year between 2002 and 2008: Bexley, Blackburn with Darwen, Camden, Corporation of London, Derbyshire, Hampshire, Hartlepool, Kensington and Chelsea, Kent, Sunderland, Wandsworth, Westminster and Wigan
   • Four councils improved from Poor to 4-star: Coventry, Islington, Wakefield and Waltham Forest
7. The Audit Commission is an independent watchdog, driving economy, efficiency and effectiveness in local public services to deliver better outcomes for everyone.
8. Our work across local government, health, housing, community safety and fire and rescue services means that we have a unique perspective. We promote value for money for taxpayers, auditing the £200 billion spent by 11,000 local public bodies.
9. As a force for improvement, we work in partnership to assess local public services and make practical recommendations for promoting a better quality of life for local people.

For further information please contact: MARK NICHOLSON, Media Relations Manager, Audit Commission, Millbank Tower, London SW1P 4HQ

Direct line 0844 798 2135 / 0207 166 2135, 24hr Press line 0844 798 2128 Mobile 07813 038132, E-mail m-nicholson@audit-commission.gov.uk