Local Area Agreements and Comprehensive Area Assessment

Local Area Agreements

Local Area Agreements (LAAs) set out the priorities for a local area agreed between central government and a local area (the local authority and Local Strategic Partnership) and other key partners at the local level.

LAAs simplify some central funding, help join up public services more effectively and allow greater flexibility for local solutions to local circumstances. They are increasingly likely to influence future commissioning practices.

Through these means, LAAs are aiming to help to devolve decision making, move away from a 'Whitehall knows best' philosophy and reduce bureaucracy.

LAAs are three year agreements setting out priorities for a local area agreed between central government, represented by the government office, and a local area, represented by the lead local authority, and other key partners through Local Strategic Partnerships (LSPs). The LSP brings together partners from the public, private and voluntary sectors who are the key players in a local area who deliver services. The agenda for the LAA is to set out the sustainable community strategy, a long-term vision for an area and its inhabitants, by addressing economic, social and environmental needs.

By March 2007, 150 LAAs were signed and cover the whole of England. As part of the local government white paper, Strong and Prosperous Communities in October 2006, a new framework for LAAs was set out with the following policies:

  • A new duty on upper tier local authorities to produce a LAA in consultation with other partners.
  • A new duty on named partners and the local authority to co-operate with each other to agree targets within the LAA, and have regard to those targets in order to strengthen their delivery.
  • A duty upon local authorities to prepare the sustainable community strategy in consultation with other local partners.
  • Opportunities for other local bodies such as those from the voluntary, community and business sector to be engaged in the process.

Thirty five local priorities are to be selected from 200 outcome based indicators covering national priorities from across central government.

The Department for Communities and Local Government is responsible for this policy area; see their web pages for more information.

Comprehensive Area Assessment

The Comprehensive Area Assessment (CAA) has been established under the local government white paper, Strong and Prosperous Communities, to monitor, support and assess the successful delivery of the LAA. The CAA will have four key elements:

  • Joint risk assessment carried out by all public service inspectorates
  • Annual scored direction of travel judgement for every local authority
  • Annual scored use of resources judgement for every local authority
  • Assessment against national and local performance indicators

In November 2007 a joint consultation by the Audit Commission, the Commission for Social Care Inspection, the Healthcare Commission, Ofsted, HM Inspectorates of Constabulary, of Prisons and of Probation, Comprehensive Area Assessment, was issued to look at the joint assessment framework for local services to be used from 2009.

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