| Local
Council Performance Fair at best
Assessment
of performance rates Hounslow as "fair" and Ealing fails
to obtain High Court injunction to suppress publication of their
"weak" assessment
The
Audit Commission has released the results of a country-wide assessment
for the performance of Council's this week. Neither of the Councils
that cover the Chiswick area were rated in the top half and Ealing
Borough Council was rated "weak" overall. The results
came out on the day the voters of the Ealing borough were deciding
whether to switch to an elected Mayoral system.
Ealing
made a last minute bid to prevent the report being published but
the judge threw out their plea saying it was in the interest of
local people to see the full report. The Audit Commission expressed
disappointment that they were challenged in this way. Ealing are
arguing that last minute changes in the report meant that their
rating fell from "fair" to weak.
Hounslow
"The Council is clear about what it is trying to achieve,
and provides a range of effective services for local people,
including education, housing and libraries and leisure, coupled
with strong financial control. "
Ealing
"The
Council provides very mixed quality local services. Environmental,
social care, benefits administration, housing and resource
management all need to improve."
Audit
Commissions conclusions on our local councils |
Hounslow
missed being rated narrowly missed a better rating in the Audit Commission’s
Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA). With an overall score
of 37, Hounslow is classed as a ‘fair’ authority, and was just one
point short of the 38 points required for ‘good’. 35% of Councils
received a "good" rating, with 15% achieving an "excellent"
rating including Hammersmith and Fulham and Wandsworth.
The
CPA's overall assessment of Hounslow was, "the Council is clear
about what it is trying to achieve, and provides a range of effective
services for local people, including education, housing and libraries
and leisure, coupled with strong financial control. "
The
report also noted that “Hounslow has effective consultative and
intelligence gathering systems to identify user and local community
views, particularly within services."
For
Ealing it said, "The Council provides very mixed quality local
services. Environmental, social care, benefits administration, housing
and resource management all need to improve."
Both
councils received a low rating for environmental services.
The government sees the CPA as an important step in its drive to
improve the effectiveness of local government and the Audit Commission
have made assessments of every Council in the country.
Cllr
John Chatt, Leader of Hounslow Council said: “We are delighted that
so many of our achievements have been recognised, but it is obviously
a disappointment that we have been pipped at the post by just one
point. As this assessment shows, we have ambitious plans to make
Hounslow a borough where everyone is proud to live and work. We
see this first CPA as an important step on the way to making the
changes necessary to achieve that."
Leader
of Ealing Council, Cllr John Cudmore, said:"We do not accept
this verdict and we are pleased that the commission has recognised
our concerns and has immediately set about investigating them. Some
of the council's achievements commended in the draft report have
been removed or modified at the last minute; we are asking the Audit
Commission why this has happened."
They
are hoping that an Audit Commission investigation will result in
a change in their rating.
December
12, 2002
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Scorecard
for Hounslow
Scorecard
for Ealing
Council
Tax Rises in both Hounslow and Ealing - 27/3/2002
Does
Chiswick pay the highest tax in London? |