NVSC - Newham Voluntary Sector Consortium

Getting Ready for the Comprehensive Area Assessment!

September 17, 2008

The Comprehensive Area Assessment (CAA) is coming to Newham from next April. It replaces the Comprehensive Performance Assessment that all Councils were assessed by. The real difference is that this is not just an assessment of the Council but of all organizations delivering public services in Newham and will include the Voluntary Community and Faith sectors.

Comprehensive Area Assessment (CAA) represents a fundamental change in the approach of the public service inspectorates, reflecting the progress made by local public services in recent years and the changing environment in which they work. Since 2002, the performance of local public services has improved and they are increasingly working together to deliver improvements.

CAA looks at how well local services are working together to improve the quality of life for local people. It will make straightforward independent

information available to people about their local services, helping them make informed choices and influence decisions.

> It is about people and places.
> It will give people a snapshot of life in their local area each year.
> It will help local services improve quality of life in their area.

It will help people understand if they are getting value for money from their local services. For the first time, local public services will be held collectively to account for their impact on better outcomes. This means that CAA will look across councils, health bodies, police forces, fire and rescue services and others responsible for local public services, which are increasingly expected to work in partnership to tackle the challenges facing their communities.

CAA will focus on highlighting barriers to improvement and identifying success and innovation from which others can learn.

CAA will look most at what matters locally. It may cover issues like improving access to healthcare, increasing the availability of affordable housing, reducing the fear of crime, improving educational achievement, attracting investment or reducing the area's carbon

footprint. The issues assessed in each area will reflect local priorities for improving quality of life and protecting people at most risk of disadvantage.

Where there are significant issues arising from the area assessment, the inspectors will use red and green flags to indicate this. A 'red flag' will indicate that significant concerns about outcomes or performance and future prospects are not being adequately addressed. 'Green flags' will indicate where others may have something to learn from innovative or exceptional practice in the area. They will represent more than the 'good' performance or steady improvement that will be expected everywhere. It is quite possible that an area assessment will include no red or green flags in a particular year.

The CAA will also include an assessment of the Newham Compact and the relationship that public bodies have with the Third Sector. We have no further details of how the sectors will be involved - the Audit Commission will be holding information events - we will continue to provide information as we get it and will be encouraging the sectors to play a full and active roll in the assessment.

Posted by webmaster at 01:40 PM