Have you passed your "fit for purpose" rating, Whitehall's new measurement of a council's housing strategy? If you have, well done – you are apparently one of the few.

Given the welter of assessments, tests and targets to which councils across the country are now subjected, it's hardly surprising that this latest line in paperwork looks like one test too many. Comprehensive performance assessments, best value inspections, strategies for everything from homelessness to Supporting People – add them together across departments and it's not unusual for councils to be churning out 60 plans a year. No wonder many staff feel overwhelmed by bureaucratic demands – including the head of the Audit Commission.

This obsession with measuring performance has been on the government agenda for the best part of a decade, but the comprehensive performance assessments at the end of last year brought the issue to a head. The difference is that in the past the results were quietly published in a format not readily accessible to the public. Now, the CPA is effectively a naming and shaming device.

Comprehensive performance assessments are a naming and shaming device, but a measurement geared to the public must be encouraged property companies

With any assessment there are bound to be organisations that come out worst or feel they have been treated unfairly. Many councils feel the CPAs fail to take into account the differing nature of councils' catchments and resources. It's also understandable that the minority of housing departments whose high housing investment programme ratings have not been reflected in the CPA housing ratings should be irked.

However, measurement geared towards the public has to be encouraged if, and only if, it can demonstrably be used to raise standards. At the moment councils may be struggling to see the gain in the pain, but rewarding high-performing councils with inspection holidays as well as extra borrowing powers is a start. If nothing else it is an acknowledgement that local strategies are not best directed from the centre. That "Whitehall knows best" attitude is what will be most irritating to staff buried in paperwork as they buckle down to rewriting housing strategies for the next round of "fit for purpose".

Source

Housing Today