PURPOSE
1.
The purpose is to:-
(a)
receive the Corporate Assessment Report, to
agree an improvement plan, and
(b)
recommend Full Council debates the outcome of
the Corporate Assessment and the steps being taken to deliver improvement.
BACKGROUND
2.
The Corporate Assessment undertaken by the Audit Commission and the Joint Area Review together
form the Comprehensive Performance Assessment, which is itself a very
significant part of the external assessment framework of the Council. That framework includes annual direction of
travel statement by the District Auditor (due in February 2007) and assessments
by regulators such as Ofsted, the Commission for Social Care Inspection and the
Benefits Fraud Inspectorate.
3.
Fieldwork for the twin assessments took place in
May 2006 and the parallel reports were published on 14 August 2006.
4.
The Council has an obligation to adopt an action
plan in relation to the Corporate Assessment and to publish a response to the
Joint Area Review. The response to the
Joint Area Review is proposed elsewhere on this agenda. The Corporate Assessment judged the Council
to be a two star Authority.
5.
Improvement planning in response to the
Corporate Assessment is not taking place in isolation from planning and
delivering improvements driven by other factors - not least the Council’s own
ambition. It is for this reason that the
plan bears the title ‘One Council’. One Council
will be the framework for improving the Council over the next 18 to 24 months,
looking forward to the next planned Comprehensive Performance Assessment in
2009.
6.
Cabinet Members will wish to note that the 2006
Corporate Assessment was undertaken under an inspection methodology called the
Harder Test. The methodology judges the
Council against standards which are higher than those applied in a previous
similar inspection in 2002. The practice
of requiring every assessment to be more rigorous and challenging than the
previous one matches the ambition of this Council to improve ever more rapidly
and the entitlement of local communities to see the benefit of that
improvement.
1.
Links to the Harder Test inspection methodology
and the full Corporate Assessment report can be found at Harder
Test Framework 2006. The summary and
recommendations of the Corporate Assessment are attached to this report as Appendix 1.
2.
Appendix 2 to this
report is the proposed improvement plan.
The plan sets out the actions which will be taken by the Council in the
short and medium term to address the weaknesses identified in the Corporate
Assessment Report. A number of longer term outcomes are identified, by which
the success of the actions in the plan will be judged.
3.
The Improvement Plan identifies where additional
resources are to be deployed.
4.
Full Council sets the budget and policy
framework within which the Cabinet operates.
The definition of the policy framework is set out in Article 4 of the
Constitution and includes the Corporate Plan.
Aim High was adopted as a corporate plan in March 2006. As Full Council adopted that Plan, it was
acknowledged that the CPA Improvement Plan would need to be added into the
corporate policy framework.
5.
It is therefore proposed that Cabinet recommend
to Full Council that it:-
(a)
notes the outcome of the Corporate Performance
Assessment, and
(b)
adopts the Comprehensive Performance Assessment
Improvement Plan to refresh the existing corporate plan
STRATEGIC CONTEXT
6.
The Corporate Assessment, and the opportunity to
develop an improvement plan, should be seen as opportunity to assist the
Council with its own locally driven improvement agenda, and most recently set
out in the Aim High Corporate Plan and to be further developed and driven by
the One Council document in the future.
CONSULTATION
7.
Stakeholders, including staff and partners, were
engaged in the CPA inspection process and their contributions are reflected in
the final report and recommendations.
Consultation in relation to the development of the improvement plan
included engagement with the various regulators who contributed to the CPA and
JAR inspection processes.
FINANCIAL/BUDGET
IMPLICATIONS
8.
Where additional resources are being deployed
they are identified in the plan.
LEGAL
IMPLICATIONS
9.
The process of CPA inspection, and improvement planning
is underpinned by the 1999 Local Government Act and the duty to provide
continually improving services.
OPTIONS
10.
The action plan submitted is recommended as
being the best response available to the Council to the Corporate Assessment
Report. Amendments can be made to the
plan however, the plan is a balanced and appropriate response to the outcomes
of the inspection, therefore the recommendation is that it is adopted as
drafted.
11.
The Improvement Plan will be submitted to
Regulators, including the Audit Commission
on 20th November. It is recommended that the Chief Executive be
given a specific delegation to make further amendments to the improvement plan,
in consultation with the Leader of the Council, where any amendments will
improve the quality of the Improvement Plan, without changing the overall
direction and objectives set out in the current draft.
12.
The Improvement Plan effectively replaces the
Aim High Corporate Plan as the principal driver of change and organisational
development. The recommendation to full council reflects this by proposing that
Aim High becomes, for the period until the proposed One Council plan is
adopted, the corporate plan.
EVALUATION/RISK
MANAGEMENT
13.
The principal risks to the delivery of the
improvement plan relate to ensuring that sufficient resources are deployed to
ensure it is delivered. Careful
programme management of the plan will ensure that the resources identified as
necessary for delivery are available and used effectively.
14.
Communication of the objectives and the detail
of the plan will also be extremely important and extra capacity continues to be
procured for both internal and external communications activity.
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RECOMMENDATIONS
15.
That the Cabinet:-
(a)
Receives the Corporate Assessment report.
(b)
Adopts the CPA Improvement Plan set out as Appendix
2.
(c)
Specifically delegates the Chief Executive to
make amendments to the approved draft, in consultation with the Leader of the
Council, where any amendments improve the quality of the Plan, without
changing the overall objectives.
(d)
Recommends that Full Council:-
(i)
notes the outcome of
the Corporate Performance Assessment, and
(ii)
adopts the
Comprehensive Performance Assessment Improvement Plan to refresh the existing
corporate plan.
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BACKGROUND
PAPERS
None.
APPENDICES
16.
Appendix
1 - Corporate Assessment Summary and Recommendations.
Appendix 2 - One Council -
CPA Improvement Plan.
Contact
Point : John Lawson, Director of
Policy, Performance and Partnerships and Deputy Chief Executive, ' 821000
ext. 3203. [email protected]
JOHN LAWSON
Director
of Policy, Performance and Partnerships and Deputy Chief Executive
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COUNCILLOR
ANDY SUTTON
Leader
of the Council
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