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Comprehensive Area Assessment (CAA)

Comprehensive Area Assessment (CAA) assesses how well local public services are performing. The first round of CAA assessments was published in December 2009.  This section provides:

  • an outline of CAA
  • what it means for councils and their partners
  • the support Local Government Improvement and Development (formerly IDeA) offers.

Notice

In May 2010 the new government announced the abolition of CAA. On 28 May the Audit Commission wrote to all councils explaining how it proposed to bring all CAA work to a close. The following LGA article quotes parts of this letter:

Abolition of CAA – on the LGA website (member content, registration required)

CAA update – an official notice on the Audit Commission website

 

In this section

  • About Comprehensive Area Assessment (CAA) Last updated 26 July 2010

    Detailed information about Comprehensive Area Assessment (CAA), what it means for local councils and how it differs from comprehensive performance assessment (CPA).

  • Self evaluation of your area Last updated 26 July 2010

    The IDeA (now Local Government Improvement and Development) worked with 14 councils to develop and test an approach to self evaluation that enables local strategic partnerships to take stock of where they are and to initiate action where required. The approach is supported by the inspectorates and developed within the overall context of CAA. Most importantly, it is an improvement tool in its own right.

  • Self evaluation: a toolkit for partnerships Last updated 26 July 2010

    The IDeA (now LG Improvement and Development) and LGA have developed guidance to assist partnerships in developing a self evaluation of their locality.

  • Self evaluation stories Last updated 26 July 2010

    The LGA and IDeA (now LG Improvement and Development) worked closely with 14 local strategic partnerships (LSPs) to develop a new approach to locality self evaluation. Each undertook locality self evaluation for their area. Over two phases of trialling, 14 councils tested and helped to develop the final approach. The following councils have agreed to share their stories. Read more about their experiences about how they did it, what went well and what they learned.

  • Resources and guidance Last updated 26 July 2010

    Background resources and guidance related to comprehensive area assessment (CAA). Customer insight guidance for councils from the IDeA (now LG Improvement and Development) and Local Government Association.

  • Support from LG Improvement and Development Last updated 26 July 2010

    This section outlines the relevant support available to councils from LG Improvement and Development.

  • Discuss CAA in a community of practice (CoP) Last updated 22 October 2008

    Join the online 'Policy and Performance community of practice' to keep up to date with the latest news on CAA. You can also take part in discussions on CAA and help develop CAA tools for councils to use.

  • Sector-led improvement case studies Last updated 6 November 2009

    Discover how councils have improved their performance with support from the local government sector.

  • Comprehensive performance assessment (CPA) Last updated 4 January 2010

    CPA reported on how well a council was performing overall compared to other councils in England. It was introduced for single tier and county councils in 2002, and for district councils in 2003. It was replaced by comprehensive area assessment (CAA) in April 2009.

  • Best value Last updated 4 January 2010

    Between 2000/01 and 2007/08, best value provided the statutory basis on which councils planned, reviewed and managed their performance. Under best value councils had a duty to continuously improve their services. From 2002, audit and inspection became part of the comprehensive performance assessment (CPA).

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