Audit commission’s judgements queried

Councils are questioning how much care the Audit Commission is
taking over its inspections into the Supporting People programme
after a “handful of second draft reports” revealed that the
commission was cutting and pasting sections.

One council’s supporting people manager, whose draft report
contained references to a different council, questioned how
inspectors could be making adequate judgements on the effectiveness
of current service delivery if reports were being prepared in this
manner.

The commission is currently inspecting how councils have set-up and
implemented the Supporting People programme after the Office of the
Deputy Prime Minister increased its budget for England from
£1.4bn to £1.8bn for 2003-4.

The Audit Commission’s supporting people inspection co-ordinator
insisted that “every report is unique to the particular council”,
blaming an administrative error by one inspector using the same
second draft report template.

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