The Future of Assessment Beyond 2010

Kindly supported by Improvement and Efficiency West Midlands and South West Improvement and Efficiency Partnership


How we assess and evaluate public services impacts explicitly on the services citizens receive. While standards have undoubtedly risen over the last decade, inappropriate targets have distracted policy makers from the needs of users while centralised management has rewarded compliance rather than innovation. The emerging agendas of localism, personalisation and greater citizen-focus are now dismantling and undermining this outdated and centralised approach. There is recognition from all quarters that methods for local flexibility and discretion must be included in any reformed system.

The question is: what should a new audit system look like?

The Comprehensive Area Assessment (CAA) process has made a number of moves in the right direction, with more focus on the citizen and risk-based assessment. However, it remains debatable whether the current framework has struck the appropriate balance between rigorous quality assurance and lighttouch audit.

More radically, the recent Conservative Party Control Shift paper has pledged to ‘free councils from intrusive and ineffective inspection regimes’ by abolishing CAA altogether, while drastically slimming down targets. Under current plans the intention is for councils to publish comprehensible, standardised information about the quality of frontline services online, so that citizens can compare performance. Whatever happens at the General Election the three year lifespan of each inspection regime suggests that the Audit Commission will be rolling out a revised inspection framework around 2012.

Despite the laudable consensus on local discretion and citizen-focus beginning to
emerge there are other aspects that feel unresolved and which the research will
look at in detail:

  • What methods would a new system adopt to strike a subtle balance between over-regulation and allowing dangerous practice to breed?

  • What should risk-based assessment look like? How should we define performance and risk in terms that shape outcomes and reward innovation?
  • How could a new regime retain the beneficial aspects of the current Area Assessment’s focus on place, area and outcomes?
  • How can citizens in one area meaningfully compare their services to neighbouring areas that might function in an entirely different context?
  • What tools, expertise and techniques for citizen evaluation should be developed to complement satisfaction surveys to give a more informed and subtle grasp of performance and improvement?
  • With the new emphasis on outcomes for citizens, how can councils ensure that they translate better feedback into positive outcomes across their local area?

For further information please contact Nigel Keohane.


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