One Place Assessment

(Date of issue: Wednesday 9 December)

An Audit Commission survey has said that Carlisle City Council is performing adequately and is working hard to improve the quality of life for local people, focussing on things that are important locally.

The Audit Commission published its organisational assessments for councils and fire authorities, today, Wednesday 9 December. These assessments feed into the overall area assessment. It focuses on whether Carlisle City Council is using its resources effectively and provides good value for money. It also assesses how well the authority is managing its performance.

The Audit Commission has judged that Carlisle City Council is currently at level 2 across all assessment areas: Managing Performance; Use of resources; Managing finances; Governing the business and; Managing resources.

The Assessment acknowledges that the City Council is improving in most services and lists many services, projects and work which are good and improving as well as highlights the authority’s commitment to its residents, from social inclusion, neighbourhood working and community engagement to recycling, public parks, housing advice, preventing homelessness, reducing crime and responding to people with specific needs such as gypsies and travellers also shift workers.

It also recognises that the City Council has put significant effort into improving the economic prospects of the district and its residents.

There are examples of the City Council’s work which the Audit Commission has suggested require further consideration so the Council can continue to move forward. These are: providing clearer leadership to the community about the Council’s priorities, satisfaction levels with the way the Council runs things and providing value for money (as measured in the Place Survey) and the amount of affordable housing.

Cllr Mike Mitchelson, Leader of Carlisle City Council, said:

“This is a new approach of assessing local authorities and it has been designed so that residents can see how councils and other public bodies work together to meet the needs of the people we serve. It ensures that we are always looking forward, something which is at the forefront of our thinking as we develop new priorities and carry out a significant restructuring to better align our services internally and produce more efficiencies. We will also be using our influence and position to create opportunities which will impact positively on Carlisle such as the location of the University of Cumbria headquarters, the Sands Centre development and more land for affordable housing.”

The other key area of the Organisational Assessment is an organisation’s Use of Resources which means using its staff and money as affectively as possible. The City Council was also awarded level 2.

The report says that the City Council manages its revenue budget well and exceeds its efficiency targets. The report raises concerns around the high cost of some services and the need to make major savings as a result of limiting the Council Tax to 3.5 per cent over a number of years. An extra cost is the sickness absence levels.

Cllr John Mallinson, Carlisle City Council’s Portfolio Holder for Finance said:

“We are continually monitoring our performance against improvement plans so that we have a full picture of the targets we have set ourselves and where to align our resources. The restructure will make us more responsive to our communities and by working in new ways we can support our new priorities but gain savings and show that we are continuing to provide value for money.”

The Audit Commission praised the way Carlisle City Council is ‘leading by example’ by developing its own staff.

Maggie Mooney, Carlisle City Council’s Chief Executive, said:

“The training and development of our staff is a particular success. We are going through a period of significant change at the Council which will lead to staff needing to work in different ways and we will support them to develop the new skills needed to do this. We will continue to invest in learning as we know that supporting our staff in this way has many benefits for individuals, the organisation and our communities.”

Copies of Carlisle City Council’s organisational assessment is available at http://oneplace.direct.gov.uk/