The Evolution of Regulation Comprehensive Area Assessment for local services 27 September 2007 Chief Fire and Rescue Officers’ Association Autumn Conference

Context The success of CPA in supporting improvement Audit Commission’s 2006 papers on the future of regulation The local government white paper The Commission’s duties under the Fire & Rescue Services Act New National Framework from 2008

A vision for Comprehensive Area Assessment (CAA) To help drive more effective improvement of local public services for citizens, especially those in need, CAA will need to be: Relevant to the quality of life of local people Area and outcome focused Constructive and forward looking Joint and participative

Comprehensive Area Assessment The new approach means CAA will look more at: Areas rather than organisations But we will report back on individual AIBs Appropriate assurance for the fire and rescue service Risks to future delivery more than performance in the past Outcomes for communities and in particular, those most in need, rather than outputs/process Local priorities as well as national targets

Risk Assessment – key questions? How well does the LSP: Understand and assess the needs of its communities, now and in the future? Use this understanding to inform its local priorities? Organise itself and ensure it has the capacity to deliver these priorities? Ensure effective arrangements to identify and manage the risks to achieving priority outcomes?

Challenges Forward looking Reducing inspection, but widening the scope Greater consistency across the sector/s Ensuring the quality of data Providing assurance on the capability of the fire and rescue service

Opportunities More sophisticated regulation Forward looking and preventative Outcome and area focus Greater integration Less duplication More consistency More involvement of stakeholders Sector led self-assessment and improvement

Milestones Significant discussion and consultation programme throughout. Comprehensive Spending Review (Autumn 07) Working with other regulators to publish joint consultation document (Winter 07) New Local Area Agreements from April 2008 Pilot projects (Autumn 07 – Summer 08) Further consultation (Autumn / Winter 08) Publish framework (Early 09) CAA begins in 2009/10