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Following last week's article on a CAA assessment lead's typical week, SOLACE's CAA expert, Guy Ware, gives a different perspective – as a user. CAA is different. And David Jennings' week in the life of a CAA lead (The MJ, 6 August) showed just how different. He described working with local partnerships, sitting in on their business meetings, getting to know their areas – and their issues. Together with local performance information, he will use this knowledge to assess the chances that life in the area will get better. But is this really how CAA feels across the country? For 12 months, SOLACE Enterprises has been working with staff from councils, fire brigades, police forces, health services and other services, helping them respond to the challenges and opportunities that CAA will bring. The discussions have been robust and the feedback frank. Opinions differ on the ‘burden' area assessment will bring. Many councils and local partnerships are positive about the change and the discussions they are having. But one council's CAA lead has suggested a ‘three-day field trip' to gather evidence – which sounds pretty much like an inspection to me. Others – particularly in district councils – feel no burden at all, because they're just not involved. They haven't met a CAA lead. They feel disenfranchised and, sometimes, cynical. We can't blame the Audit Commission for the problems of trust within some county-level partnerships, but CAA leads will need to address these concerns, if their reports are to be credible. More positively, some districts can see area assessments focusing county-wide resources on very local priorities. If crime in one end of one market town is bad enough to get a mention in a county community strategy, then all partners will now have to help tackle it. Meanwhile nobody – but nobody – thinks organisational assessments reduce the burden of inspection. ‘Managing performance' and the broader, more demanding ‘Use of resources' framework feels to most like an even harder test than The Harder Test. As [political and spiritual leader of India during the Indian independence movement] Mahatma Gandhi said of western civilisation, looking at local public services as a whole would be a good idea. But when is it going to happen? Government departments are not sending consistent messages. When I ask people from police and health services what they're hearing, the answer is almost always, nothing. That's why they've come to our events. In healthy partnerships, this is a manageable problem. But where improvement is needed most, where partners feel no real collective accountability, an assessment seen as the Audit Commission talking to local government just won't help. Despite its reservations, the LGA has urged its members to ‘seize the initiative' – to get stuck in and make sure CAA delivers real benefits. Many – and many of their partners – are doing so. But some feel left out, while others are disengaging. I've heard chief executives say that CAA is ‘slipping off the radar'. I've heard of councillors telling managers not to bother – CAA will be abolished anyway. For some, higher ‘Use of resources' scores are just not worth the effort. Green flags and red flags can't be compared within areas – you can't subtract one from the other to get a ‘net score' – or between areas. So it won't be legitimate to produce league tables. But I have yet to meet anyone who doesn't think it will happen anyway. Organisational assessments, meanwhile, will be scored and will be ranked. This is a reality we need to work with, helping local journalists understand CAA and the judgments it will make. We must not get too defensive about flags. The more we insist on knowing precisely what constitutes a red flag, the more assessors will be forced to quote from a bureaucratic checklist to defend their judgments. Flags, like the assessments as a whole, will work best where they come out of open, critical conversation, not point scoring – in either sense. CAA is ‘work in progress'. As Mr Jennings showed, the commission is coming to the table with open hands. Its ambitions are worth working for. But they will be lost if anyone – assessors, the Government, local councils or their partners – steps away or wastes too much energy arguing about the rules. We should respond to the ambition of the CAA – and explain, promote and work within its spirit. Will that happen? The jury's out. Guy Ware is lead associate for CAA at SOLACE Enterprises

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WHITEHALL

Why the jury is still out on CAA

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