He said: "The CPA process is a constructive way to stimulate councils, examine their performance and raise their game. It should improve and enhance the aspirations and expectations of councils and communities. The same process could be equally produced for a range of organisations such as housing associations, and national agencies such as the benefits agency and Housing Corporation."
He also called for Whitehall to be subject to wide-ranging inspections.
Local government minister Nick Raynsford was reluctant to be drawn on the issue, but said: "We put a lot of effort into raising our standards in terms of performance and in terms of the agencies for which we're responsible. It may be something to which some people might aspire in the long term."
John Perry, policy director at the Chartered Institute of Housing, responded: "It's difficult to see how this will work for housing associations as they're going to be inspected separately anyway."
National Housing Federation head of research Danny Friedman said: "Local authorities – public sector, multifunctional organisations – are very different from RSLs.
"We'd want evidence the CPA could satisfy the rigorous requirements we have now; simply adding a CPA-like process would be duplicative and inefficient."
Source
Housing Today
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