'Year Zero' for councils

Dozens of authorities are to be paid a visit by the housing inspectors six months earlier than anticipated, it emerged this week.

Chief housing inspector Roy Irwin revealed that a number of councils who have been preparing for Best Value over the past 12 months may find their readiness tested in just eight weeks time.

The Audit Commission is also standing by its controversial star-rating system, which has been modified and plotted on a graph to show the likelihood of improvements to the service.

The main body of Best Value inspection, which was announced by the commission in a report this week, will not begin until early in 2001 - known as Year One inspections.

This is because Best Value performance plans completed in April need to be seen by auditors by June. Lead housing inspectors then review the inspection programme in July, before the different inspectorates discuss inspection programmes for each authority in December and reveal their programme by January 2001.

However, Irwin told Housing Today this week that "dozens and dozens" of authorities who had submitted early Best Value performance plans as trial runs will be inspected in late April or May - known as Year Zero inspections.

"Some authorities actually started last financial year, 1998/99," he explained. "We would want to inspect some of those reviews. We're concious, of course, that authorities will have pursued some of these reviews without the final guidance, or even without draft guidance, so to an extent we are taking that into account."

Irwin pointed out that every authority, whether or not they had done a performance review, is by law open to inspection by 1 April. But he declined to specify which authorities were in line for early scrutiny.

"We would inspect as many of the Year Zero reviews as possible. I don't think this will be a particular surprise to authorities."

Six key questions underpin the inspection process for all services. If authorities can answer these questions with confidence, Irwin said, they have nothing to fear. "If [authorities] actually use them as questions which they can honestly ask themselves, then they'll get a damn sight closer to Best Value than those authorities who don't."

Several supplementary housing specific questions will be published as guidance in April.