Watchdog Finds Council Services ‘Are Good Value For Money’

Colchester Borough Council is delivering services which are improving and are good value for money, according to the Audit Commission.

In this year’s annual Audit Letter, the independent watchdog found that Colchester Borough Council’s approach to delivering value for money is effective and the council is taking effective action to improve both performance and efficiency.

The report added: “The Council’s revised corporate objectives are enabling it to deliver what is important to local people. It is increasingly delivering community leadership particularly as a member of the Local Strategic Partnership.”

The Audit Commission recognised that two thirds of the council’s services, which are monitored through performance indicators have improved and a third of these are in the best performing 25 per cent of all district councils.

However, the Audit Letter also recognised there are still some areas where the council needs to improve further such as making sure it has the capacity to deliver its ambitious improvement plans, and in identifying the needs of hard to reach groups in the community.

Adrian Pritchard, Chief Executive, said: “As an excellent council we are always delighted to get independent external confirmation that we continue to perform extremely well as a council. We know there is always room for further improvement and appraisals of this sort to ensure we do not become complacent.

“The Audit Commission’s report is a testimony to all the hard work and dedication of all our staff in providing value for money services and continuing to make improvements for the benefit of our customers.”

The report suggested a number of actions the council could take to improve further such as developing its performance management systems to ensure more consistent service improvement and building its capacity through partnership working.