Audit Commission

Inspectors¹ today, 17 March 2009, welcomed two independent and robust evaluations of the impact and cost of Comprehensive Area Assessment (CAA)².

CAA results were launched in December 2009 at http://oneplace.audit-commission.gov.uk/. It offers a unique picture of social care, health and council performance, and local aspirations for improvement and value for money.

The reviews look separately at the impact of CAA as a whole and the cost of the first year of CAA to councils. The impact review is published by a team from the consultancy Shared Intelligence, the Cardiff University Business School and the pollsters Ipsos Mori. The comparison of costs incurred by councils during CPA (the Audit Commission's "star rating" assessment) and under CAA is by an independent consultancy, the Office for Public Management.

On behalf of the inspectorates Michael O'Higgins, the chairman of the Audit Commission, welcomed the reports:

'We are pleased that there is widespread support for this new approach to assessing local public services. CAA is a major cultural change for both inspectors and inspected, and we believe it points the way to reducing the cost of inspection and promoting improvement.

'Clearly we have learned much in year one. Both the inspectorates and those delivering services to the public will now be more familiar with CAA and better able to focus and help reduce the costs of preparation in year two.

'Our evidence is http://oneplace.audit-commission.gov.uk/ has already increased the public's appetite for information. It has provided a baseline for those spending public money to monitor their own, and others', progress in driving up standards locally and nationally. Oneplace is now established, alongside Area Scrutiny and Total Place as part of the triangle of initiatives that are giving the public a real view of what is being spent and how much difference it is making where they live.'

The evaluations show a balanced view of CAA. They praise some elements:

• 80% of people think independent inspection is important and will lead to improvements and there is a widespread welcome for assessing services in the round
• the emphasis on services available in places, not just the organisations providing them
• looks at outcomes on local priorities, rather than just evaluating plans
• the new relationship with the CAA Leads; rather than a one off inspection "event" these 42 people continually liaise with councils and other service deliverers and users and ultimately write the reports that appear on the website. Four in every five who have visited the website or read a Oneplace report say it was written in language they can understand
• the new focus on partnerships, the report notes CAA has already encouraged local public services to work more closely together
• indications that the new approach has helped reduce the cost of inspection for larger councils, but not for smaller ones. The overall cost to councils has reduced by at least 15 per cent³

However, they draw attention to lessons to learn from the first year of CAA. The OPM report shows that there is great variation in the costs incurred by similar councils, suggesting they make choices about how much to spend preparing for and responding to inspections.

During year two and beyond, the inspectorates will:

• use the baseline information from the first year of CAA to ensure future assessment is targeted at those who need it
• improve joint working across inspectorates and be clearer about how we arrive at our joint judgements
• ensure councillors are more involved in CAA
• work with the district councils to reduce their costs

Additional information

The inspectorates' detailed response to the findings of the independent evaluations.

To arrange a briefing or an interview please contact the Audit Commission press office on 020 7166 2128 (24 hours)

Notes to editors

1. Audit Commission, Care Quality Commission, HMIC, HMIP, HMI Probation and Ofsted
2. The results of the Comprehensive Area Assessment are published on http://oneplace.audit-commission.gov.uk/. This is a new website that provides independent information on local issues in England. The site includes assessments of each area, of different local public services and a wide range of information on how these public services are performing.
   
   We've focused on the areas that these services cover, for example your council area. In rural areas, where there can be more than one council, we report on the county as a whole. But these reports will also raise issues about particular neighbourhoods, districts or wider regions where this makes more sense.
   
   It brings together the views of six independent inspectorates: the Audit Commission, Care Quality Commission, Ofsted, and Her Majesty's Inspectorates of Constabulary, Prisons and Probation. Working together, we've looked at how well your local public services are delivering the things that are important where you live - not just in the past, but now and for the future. Public services can have a big impact on people's lives - they do things like collecting rubbish, providing education and health services and fighting crime.
   
   We've looked at each area in England separately, using lots of evidence about how well you are being served by local public services.
   
   In addition to reporting on the issues facing each area, we've also scored how well local services, such as councils, health services (Primary Care Trusts), police and fire and rescue services are using public money to provide value for money. For councils and fire and rescue services we've gone into more detail about how well they are performing overall.
   
   The site also contains information and data on how local public services are doing in the area on things like crime, education, social care, housing or the environment. Opinions and views of local people are also included on the site, through data gathered in the Place Survey.
3. Overall, the independent OPM report shows that the costs to councils of CAA are lower than they were for CPA by at least 15 per cent. This is OPM's most robust estimate, but also a conservative one, which excludes county councils; county councils have seen a large reduction, but OPM want to be cautious in interpreting this figure. Single tier councils have seen a 22% reduction in costs, amounting to a £44,000 average saving for each one. The costs to district councils as a group increased by about 5 per cent, equating to an average increase of about £7,000 per council.