CPA Latest News....

Now that our latest CPA result has been released the Improvement Unit are busy working on our forthcoming Corporate Assessment.....

Each year the Audit Commission gives all county and unitary authorities a rating from one to four stars based on performance in all areas of service provision, along with a Direction of Travel (DoT).

For the last three years the Council has retained its Four Stars -‘Improving Well’ (DoT) rating.

In addition, every three years, on top of the annual CPA assessments, authorities also receive a Corporate Assessment (CA). This involves visits from inspectors who will, as part of the process, want to speak to staff and partner organisations. Inspectors will first be on site the week beginning 9th June 2008.  The Improvement Unit has already started preparing the authority for this assessment

Wendy James, Improvement Manager, said: “Our staff are an important part of the Corporate Assessment process. Everything we do as a County Council aims to articulate our values and the benefits that our staff give when delivering services to our customers. To that end, we want staff and managers alike to tell us how they have met customer’s needs, or successfully worked with communities and partners. We need to ensure that managers record information on performance, service delivery and achievement. This is a key opportunity for us all to showcase what we do well.”

Although CA is part of the CPA process, its focus is on the importance of a sound ‘Corporate Engine’ to drive good services and improvement with our partners and communities. It measures how effectively the Council is working in the following five theme areas:

Ambition for Worcestershire

How we set priorities linked to visions and plans

Capacity – how we manage and allocate resources

Performance – track records of improvement

Achievement against priorities

The Audit Commission judges the Council’s performance against these themes and gives the council a Corporate Assessment score as follows:

4. Well above minimum requirements – performing strongly

3. Consistently above minimum requirements – performing well

2. Only at minimum requirement – adequate performance

1. Below minimum requirement – inadequate performance

In 2005 the Council received a CA score of 3.

The key dates for the inspection process are available here  (87.55 KB) and the Corporate Assessment Timeline  (23.93 KB) gives a visual picture of the process and where we are.

Watch this space for more information about the Corporate Assessment.

Information on the CPA and the Corporate Assessment can also be obtained externally from www.audit-commission.gov.uk/cpa