Press Releases

Improving Ealing Council services praised by local government watchdog (PR 937)

Ealing Council has accelerated the rate of improvement of its services according to local government inspectors.

The Audit Commission’s latest rating confirms services are now ‘ improving well’, compared to ‘improving adequately’ the year before.

The watchdog has also given Ealing three out of four stars for its overall performance for the second year running.

This was achieved despite the rating system being called ‘The Harder Test’ by the Audit Commission, which made it more difficult for councils to receive high scores.

The ratings have come via the Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA). It said the way Ealing Council provides social care for adults, uses its resources and delivers housing services, have all improved.

Darra Singh, Ealing Council’s chief executive, said: “This really was the harder test and it confirms that Ealing is providing quality and value for money across a wide range of services.

“The inspection report shows we have consolidated on the good work from a year before and accelerated our improvement.

“This can only be good news for residents who expect and deserve only the very best from their council.”

The report highlights the reasons why it has assessed the council is improving well.

It states: “Through strong and clear leadership the council has developed an ambitious vision for the area with partners.

“The council has a clear focus on improving priority areas and core services and is well placed to continue to improve services for local people.”

Council Leader Jason Stacey, said: “I am pleased to see the quality of services in Ealing being recognised by the inspectors.

“Ultimately, all the improvements we make are aimed at making the borough a better place to live and work.”

Under the CPA, the Audit Commission rates local authority performance as a zero, one, two, three or four star, with the fourth one being the highest.

This rating is achieved by looking at:
· use of resources
· work with children and young people
· adult social care arrangements
· payment and collection of benefits
· cultural services
· environment services
· housing services
· corporate assessment

It also grades the 'direction of travel' of each council's overall improvement using the following labels: improving strongly; improving well; improving adequately; and not improving adequately.

The CPA 2006 relates to the period April 2005-March 2006 in terms of performance indicators, inspection reports over the last three years and our last corporate assessment in 2002.