The Comprehensive Area Assessment (CAA) is the new framework for the independent assessment of local public services in England. It is an annual assessment carried out by the Government’s watchdog of public services - the Audit Commission. CAA is made up of two separate reports, which are linked and inform each other, these are:
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Area Assessment examines how well local services are working jointly to deliver improvements and progressing towards long term goals. The Area Assessment seeks to assess the effectiveness of partnership working, and the implementation of the sustainable community strategy and local area agreement. The area assessment report provides the public with direct access to information on performance and an independent assessment of the prospects for the local area.
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Organisational Assessment of Leeds City Council’s performance which is made up from two assessments – Use of Resources and Managing Performance. These separate assessments are each given a score and these scores are aggregated to produce a single overall score for the council’s overall performance.
This year is the first round of reporting under this new framework which has completely replaced the annual star rating of the Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA).
The CAA reports bring together into an overall judgement a range of other assessment and inspection work which has been carried out over the previous year including the annual performance assessments of both Adult’s and Children’s Services. It incorporates the views of all the other public sector inspectorates (eg Ofsted, Care Quality Commission, Her Majesties Inspectorate of Constabulary etc).
The Area Assessment is reported as a narrative and does not receive a numerical score or other rating; instead ‘red’ and ‘green’ flags are issued in relation to the progress being made in an area. It is important to note that ‘red’ and ‘green’ flags are not the opposite of each other; they each have their own distinct purpose and criteria ie:
- Where the action being taken in an area to improve an important outcome is assessed by the inspectorates as unlikely to deliver the improvement sought, this may be highlighted as a significant concern using a red flag. It is important to note that a deteriorating outcome will not necessarily result in a red flag.
- Where exceptional performance or improvement is identified, or there are promising prospects for improvement through innovation, this may be highlighted as a source of learning for others using a green flag.
The Organisational Assessment looks in more detail at Leeds City Council and covers the following key questions:
- Managing Finances – how effectively does the council manage its finances to deliver value for money?
- Governing the Business – how well does the council govern itself and commission services that provide value for money and deliver better outcomes for local people?
- Managing Resources – how well does the council manage its natural resources, physical assets and people to meet current and future needs and deliver value for money?
- Managing Performance – how well does the council manage and improve its services and contribute to wider community outcomes?
The first three questions are assessed in the annual Use of Resources Assessment. The last question is assessed in the Managing Performance assessment and this is where the Audit Commission brings in the opinions and judgements made by other inspectorates eg the annual performance assessments on Adults and Children’s services. Both the Use of Resources and Managing Performance assessments are given a score on a scale from 1 (lowest) to 4 (highest) and the overall Organisational Assessment result is a combination of the two scores.
The 2009 Organisational and Area Assessment reports can be found on this page on the right hand side along with past CPA reports.
If you need further information on how the council is performing, write to:
The Corporate Policy and Performance Team
Leeds City Council
2nd floor East, Civic Hall
Leeds LS1 1UR
Telephone: 0113 224 3462
email: councilplan@leeds.gov.uk