BOLTON Council may have to undergo annual examinations to hold on to its "good" rating.

The Audit commission is considering whether to increase the rate it carries out the Government's dreaded Comprehensive Performance Assessment until 2006.

The attempt to drive up standards across public services in England began last December when 150 single-tier councils including Bolton were ranked good, fair, weak or poor.

All were analysed on their services - including formal inspections of social services, education benefits and other sectors - and their ability to improve.

Councils condemned as below standard can upgrade their ranking by December provided they show "measurable improvements", the Audit Commission said.

This would be judged on new measures to raise standards, comparisons of how services were performing in the previous year and scrutiny of statutory inspections, such as those conducted by Ofsted and the Social Services Inspectorate.

Results from 238 smaller district councils are expected to be rolled out from September. New assessment frameworks are to be introduced in 2006 and 2010 to take account of issues such as shared central and local government priorities and local people's expertise.

Nick Raynsford, the local government minister, defended the system as "very fair" in response to the scorn it has drawn from some local councils.

He said: "Any grumbling is probably coming from the district councils who did not perform all that well."