What is CPA?
The Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA) was introduced by the government in 2002 as a way of measuring and rating the overall performance of councils and their ability to deliver and improve services to local people and communities. The framework uses the following five elements to describe performance:
- A direction of travel statement;
- An overall star rating;
- A score for each of the council’s core services – children and young people, social care (adults), environment and culture
- An overall use of resources score
- A corporate assessment score
How are councils rated?
Each year, every council is given a CPA star rating of between 0 and 4 stars, with four stars being the best. This judgement of what they have achieved is accompanied by a direction of travel statement that indicates the level of improvement over the last year. There are four levels of improvement:
- Improving strongly
- Improving well
- Improving adequately
- Not improving adequately or not improving
What is a Corporate Assessment?
A corporate assessment is an inspection that measures how well the council and it's partners are working to improve services and communities in the county. Warwickshire County Council is having a Corporate Assessment for two weeks between 30th June and 11th July 2008.
What is the Direction of Travel (DoT)
The DoT assessment is part of the Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA) framework and is an assessment of improvement. It defines the progress made, if any over the previous year and the plans and resources put in place to sustain and strengthen improvement. In particular it looks at:
- Assesses the track record of achievements of outcomes during the previous year and the robustness and delivery of improvement plans
- Helps keep momentum and focus in delivering improvement priorities
- Signals further support and improvement work
- Provide learning about good and poor practice to inform improvement planning
- Informs audit and assessment programmes to ensure they target the right areas
What is Use of Resources
The Use of Resources assessment looks at how well the council manages and uses its resources. Whilst this mainly focuses on financial resources, it also covers procurement, asset management and staffing. Primarily it focuses on the importance of having sound and strategic financial management to ensure that resources are available to support the council’s priorities and improve services.
What is Warwickshire County Council's current rating?
The latest CPA process (2007) saw Warwickshire County Council rated as a 3 star local authority, which is 'improving well'
- use of resources - we are 4 out of 4
- work with children and young people - score of 3 out of 4
- adult social care - score of 3 out of 4
- culture - score of 2 out of 4
- environment - score of 4 out of 4
- fire and rescue service - score of 2 out of 4
- corporate capacity to improve services - score of 3 out of 4
Where can I find out more information about CPA?
The Audit Commission CPA web pages contain lots of information, including the latest CPA scores and inspection reports for every council.
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