Plans to have a council judgment and rating as part of the new comprehensive area assessments have been branded as CPA with a CAA ‘add on' by local government managers. And concern is growing that the plans for CAA will be watered-down because the commission ‘has not got the intellectual capacity' to cope with the task ahead, according to one local government insider. A single organisational score for the council could potentially give local authorities a one to four rating, in the same way CPA is rated zero to four stars. Up until now, the commission has been reluctant to create a ‘league table' and has shied away from scoring councils individually, in favour of judging their partnerships. Under the latest plans, which will go out for consultation for the second time next month, councils will be judged on use of resources and managing resources. The use of resources judgment is expected to carry a score, but whether there will be an overall score for both is still up for debate. One local government insider claimed the CAA system was proving difficult, as there was just not the intellectual capacity to make the system work. He claimed the aim of CAA – to give residents a clear picture of public services in their area – was being lost as the commission became bogged down in detail. However, the commission has made it clear that the CAA system was still only at consultation stage and plans for an organisational touch were very much ‘lighter touch'. A full CPA score on top of a CAA judgment is unlikely to be possible, as the commission has to cut its resources as part of the switch-over to the new inspection regime.
