Dismal Childcare Record Overall Puts Good Work By 149 Councils In Shadow

On-the-spot checks for childcare and assessments for a much wider range of services are to be introduced next month in an attempt to make public sector inspections more rigorous.

The Audit Commission, which first compiled town hall annual performance league tables in 2002, now admits that the collection of data needs to be updated and improved.

From next month the Audit Commission will join up with other inspectorates to compare town hall, police, health, education and social services in an effort to allow the public to be better informed about the calibre of local services. Ofsted, the children’s inspectorate, has announced that it will instigate spot checks across a range of education, child protection and care services and the Care Quality Commission will cover health and social care.

Today’s report from the Audit Commission, covering last year, shows that many councils have improved since 2002 over a range of services including housing, adult social care, environment, culture and resources.

The dismal performance in children’s services, with nearly a third of councils providing inadequate or the bare minimum of services, has overshadowed achievements by many of the 149 councils tested.

One of the main criticisms of previous reports is that the same councils have tended to do best each year. These included the London Tory councils of Wandsworth, Westminster, and Kensington and Chelsea, which feature again in the top authorities this year. Other high performers this year include East Riding of Yorkshire, Bolton, Middlesbrough, Sutton and the Corporation of London.

The poorest performers are those that have been criticised over children’s services: Surrey, Doncaster, Milton Keynes and Haringey. But the score of one for children, which puts them automatically at the bottom of the league table, masks higher scores on other services.

Surrey, which is seeking a judicial review over the ratings, scored three, the second-highest mark on corporate management, use of resources and culture, and four for environmental services. Milton Keynes, which is furious about its Ofsted rating, scored three for adult social care, housing, environment, culture and benefits. Doncaster scored high on use of resources, housing and benefits; Haringey did well on culture, adult social care and environment.

In previous years culture and environment have been “cinderella” services and this year it is the turn of social services. The use of resources is as heavily weighted as children’s services on the tables and only three years ago nearly half of all councils were providing only the minimum or inadequate value for money. This year the scores have improved, with 21 councils getting a better grade and only three marked down. Seventy-eight per cent of councils performed consistently or well above the minimum. Twenty-six councils improved last year by one star across all services, and two by two stars; 22 declined by one star, and five by two stars.

Michael O’Higgins, the Audit Commission chairman, said: “CPA has been a challenge which local government has risen to very well, and our retrospective report records the success of many councils that are to be congratulated.”

Hazel Blears, the Communities Secretary, said: “The challenge ahead is for councils and the rest of the public sector to do all they can to help their communities through the downturn, building on councils’ role as community leaders. And despite overall progress, resolute work is needed to tackle areas which are not performing as well and where we are determined to see further improvements.”

Seventeen of the 35 councils improving strongly are Tory, against seven with no overall control, six Labour, four Lib Dem and one independent.

— Up to 200 children, most of them Chinese, may have been trafficked through Heathrow between January 2007 and March last year, according to minutes from a Home Office meeting attended by the Serious Organised Crime Agency and UK Border Agency.