Relief for Council as improved rating is given
Ealing have been awarded a three star rating by the Audit Commission in its latest report on Council's performances across the country. The commission said that the Council had adequate prospects for improvement.
The rating will come as a relief to Ealing which had previously been ranked 'weak' by the Audit Commission, a score that was challenged unsuccessfully in the courts by the Council at a cost of £350,000.
The report highlights improvements made since the last assessment particularly in children's social services, education, customer access and aspects of housing. Social services for adults have improved markedly according to the commission. However, it states that the track record of improvement has been inconsistent and that the council needs to 'develop a more overarching value for money culture'. The report acknowledges a previous period of uncertainty within the Council which impacted on some services but said that the new leader, chief executive and corporate board were putting together a more robust system of corporate governance at the Council.
One area of continued concern for the Council is the assessment that they are 'improving adequately'. In terms of the level of improvement this makes them one of the lowest ranked Councils in the capital. Twenty-eight of the 33 London councils are ‘improving well’ or ‘improving strongly’ and 21 of those councils have three or four stars.
Under 'CPA – The Harder Test' councils receive an overall performance category ranging from 0 to 4 stars, with 4 stars being the highest. The former categories: excellent; good; fair; weak, and poor will no longer be used for single tier and county councils. The new scoring system also assesses the direction of each council’s overall improvement using the following direction of travel labels: improving strongly; improving well; improving adequately; and not improving adequately (or not improving).
CPA gives an overall council rating by looking at a council’s:
- use of resources;
- work with children and young people;
- adult social care arrangements;
- payment and collection of benefits;
- cultural services;
- environment services;
- housing services; and
- corporate capacity to improve services.
CPA provides a simple report in a straightforward way about how well each council is performing. It encourages councils to focus on continuous improvement and provides a robust independent challenge to stimulate positive change. Ultimately it is about working to improve the quality of services councils provide to local people.
The Audit Commission is an independent body responsible for ensuring that public money is spent economically, efficiently and effectively, to achieve high quality local and national services for the public.
www.audit-commission.gov.uk.
December 15, 2005