The Audit Commission has kicked-off its consultation for the last Comprehensive Performance Assessments. CPA 2008 will be the final chance for councils to up their ratings before the league tables are scrapped for good. The commission has claimed it will not make any major changes to the CPA regime in its dying days. However, it has removed a temporary protection for corporate assessment scores which could see some councils losing out. The consultation says: ‘We do not… propose to make substantial changes to the overall CPA framework, and are aiming to retain consistency and to minimise disruption as far as possible, to smooth the transition to CAA.' Audit Commission chief executive, Steve Bundred, said the changes were ‘in line with the general views expressed when we initially consulted in early 2007 on the transition from CPA to CAA'. Under the proposals for the new-style Comprehensive Area Assessments, there will be no star ratings. However, the final CPA scores will be used to ‘inform' the first CAA scores. In the final CPA ratings, there will be minor changes to service assessments and proposals for dealing with the performance indicators of flood-hit councils. The ‘temporary protection' of corporate assessment scores were put in place when the CPA shifted to the Harder Test. It was designed to level the playing field while some councils were given new-style corporate assessments and others were judged on their previous scores. The protection meant councils were given the highest of the two scores. The consultation is open until 11 April, and the Audit Commission will respond by July 2008. For details of the consultation, see the Audit Commission website: www.audit-commission.gov.uk
