Meeting documents

1 THE ISSUE

1.1 This report is to inform the Council Executive of the Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA) - Use of Resources result for 2005 as assessed by the Council's External Auditors, and identify the actions arising to improve the overall score

1.2 The report also notifies the Council Executive of potential changes for 2006.

2 RECOMMENDATION

2.1 Approve the proposed actions and review progress again in six months time.

2.2 Note the Audit Commission's proposals to make further changes to the `Use of Resources' Key Lines of Enquiry in 2006 and that this makes predicting future years' scores difficult.

3 FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

3.1 There are no financial implications arising as a result of this report. All actions will be dealt with within existing resources.

4 THE REPORT

4.1 The revised `CPA - Use of Resources' introduced in June 2005 is subtitled ` the harder test' and has been described by the Audit Commission as `raising the bar' against the previous standards. Many Councils would therefore find it difficult to retain their previous score unless there is positive evidence of continuous improvement.

4.2 The new assessment included a new key line of enquiry on Value for Money (VFM) for which Councils were required to complete a self assessment. The evaluation of VFM is concerned with realisation of efficiencies rather than mechanisms through which they are achieved and how those efficiencies are then redistributed through resource plans in pursuit of Council objectives. A key requirement of VFM is the active engagement of Council Members.

4.3 The Council scored a `2' in its Use of Resources assessment, meaning that the Council is assessed as- `adequately performing.' The scoring mechanism used ensures that unless all elements of a previous scoring level are achieved it is not possible to attain the next level i.e. level 3 cannot be achieved unless all level 2 criteria have been satisfied. The full External Auditor's report is given in Appendix 1. The Resources Director has written to the Audit Commission following consultation with the Chief Executive and Executive Member for Resources regarding the prescriptive and rigid nature applied to the criteria used.

4.4 It is anticipated that a number of optional criteria will become compulsory in 2006 further `raising the bar'. A consultation document has been issued by the Audit Commission with responses due by 17^th March, the Council's response is available as a background paper to this report. The consultation indicates significant changes particularly to the Value for Money Key Line of enquiry and it is expected that these changes will be applied to the 2006 Use of Resources Assessment.

4.5 In order to ensure that the Councils assessment is at least able to keep pace with the changes being made to the Use of Resources assessment, an action plan has been produced, attached as Appendix 2. The Corporate Audit Committee reviewed the Use of Resources assessment and Action Plan in January 2006 and their comments have been included in the proposed actions. The Corporate Audit Committee did also request that a small member working party be established to examine the issues around member engagement. This work is being led by the Director of Support Services and is due to report back to the Corporate Audit Committee in April 2006.

5 RISK MANAGEMENT

5.1 Failure to maintain the `Use of Resources' score will result in a reduction in the overall Council CPA score and the possibility of increased inspection. The Action Plan will make significant strides in mitigating those issues.

6 RATIONALE

6.1 The Council Executive is required to consider the findings of the External Auditor and take action as appropriate.

7 OTHER OPTIONS CONSIDERED

7.1 None

8 CONSULTATION

8.1 The Use of Resources assessment has been thoroughly reviewed by the Corporate Audit Committee.