Audit Commission

Audit Commission

Focusing on the CPA Themes

CLIENT ASSIGNMENT:

CPA Peer Challenge for District Councils

Duration: 2 Years

Location: All English Regions

EiB Role:

Audit Commission 'Accredited' Provider of District Council Peer Challenge

Project Overview: 

Prior to the first CPA inspections of District Councils, the Audit Commission decided to 'encourage' all of these councils in England to undergo a peer review as part of their preparation. The AC therefore decided to accredit three organisations to perform this role and following a selection process EiB was appointed as the only private sector company.

EiB were then actively involved in developing the Peer Challenge process with the AC and the 'process guide' we subsequently produced to specify and quality assure the reviews was promoted as good practice.

We conducted a total of 39 Peer Challenges for District Councils in each region of England. The feedback we received on the robustness of our process and the degree to which it had prepared officers and members for their CPA inspection was excellent.

Project Outcomes/Impact:

• All individual council Peer Challenges were completed within the specified timescales;
• Officers and elected members from each Council had a clear understanding of the CPA inspection process and believed they were well prepared for their real inspection;
• The impact of our review and the recommendations subsequently implemented by the councils we reviewed resulted in each council receiving a rating of at least one better from their AC inspection;
• The evaluation of our reviews highlighted that 92% of councils were 'very satisfied' with the robustness and added-value of our Peer Challenge;
• As a result of our Peer Challenge, 60% of the councils we reviewed commissioned us to support them with improvement activity as part of their final preparation for the AC inspection.

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