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Strategies and policies
Comprehensive Area Assessment (CAA)
Comprehensive Area Assessment, or CAA, is a new way of assessing local public services in England. It examines how well councils are working together with other public bodies to meet the needs of the people they serve.
CAA is a story about people and places. For the first time, six individual inspectorates will provide a joint assessment of what it is like to live in each area of England and assess the prospects for sustainable improvement in the future.
Local public services will be held collectively to account for their impact on improving quality of life for residents. This means that CAA will look across councils, health bodies, police forces, fire and rescue services and others responsible for local public services, which are increasingly expected to work in partnership to tackle the challenges facing their communities.
CAA will focus on what is preventing improvement and identifying success and innovation that others can learn. In this way CAA will be:
- a catalyst for improved local services and better value for money
- a source of independent information and assurance for citizens, service users and taxpayers
- an independent evidence base for central government on progress against national priorities
- a means of rationalising and coordinating inspection.
CAA will look most at what matters locally, reflecting the priorities of local communities, political leaders and service chiefs. It may cover issues like reducing health inequalities, increasing affordable housing, reducing the fear of crime, improving education, attracting investment or reducing the area's carbon footprint. The issues assessed in each area will reflect local priorities for improving quality of life and protecting the most vulnerable.
Other service or organisation specific assessments will continue. For example, health and police services will still be assessed by their respective inspectorates for those services that they are solely responsible for, but these will be delivered alongside CAA to avoid any duplication. Schools, colleges, social housing and residential care homes will also continue to be inspected to check they meet required standards.
Latest Information
In May 2010 the new government announced that they would abolish CAA. All work on updating the area assessment and organisational assessment has stopped and the assessments on the Oneplace website will not be updated.
See also : www.communities.gov.uk/statements/newsroom/localgovaccountability
For further information please contact Performance, Scrutiny and Communications Manager.
