News

Residents in Poole are provided with good services and this has been certified by an independent assessment to be published next week. Poole was recognised as a successful and open unitary authority with a clear focus on improving services across the community.

As part of a national scheme, all 150 County and Unitary Councils across the UK have been assessed and scored by the Audit Commission under a new Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA). The results are based on evidence from a range of sources to assess the quality of each Council’s core services, how it used resources and its capacity to improve. These assessments are combined into an overall result placing each Council in one of five categories: excellent, good, fair, weak or poor.

Cllr Leslie Legg, Executive Portfolio Holder for Best Value, said: "This process has provided us with a robust evaluation of our services and has meant we can focus on our improvement plan which is crucial to helping us build and develop. Many areas within the plan are already under way such as extra investment in street cleansing and we are starting to see the benefits now. It is very encouraging to see the report praising, amongst other things, Poole’s commitment to consultation and its keenness to communicate with its residents. "

The CPA is the most wide-ranging assessment of the authority ever carried out by an independent body. It used a comprehensive range of information about the quality of the Council’s services and its ability to improve services in the future. It shows that the Council provides good services in comparison to other authorities and is capable of making further improvements in the future.

Cllr Brian Clements, Leader of the Council, said: "To be rated as ‘good’ in this assessment is a true reflection on the Council and the hard work of members and staff to achieve its goals. Some of the recommendations outlined in the assessment have already taken place, whilst some are in progress. The improvement plan will help to take us forward and achieve higher quality services and provision throughout the Borough."

He added: "We have done well to achieve this result with such a poor financial settlement from the Government but with up to £3million less in Government funding this year we now face incredibly tough challenges ahead. We have difficult decisions about the Council’s overall priorities and how these are going to be financed. For example, Town Centre regeneration, affordable housing, waste strategy, investment in leisure facilities, all of which are key to the Borough’s positive development."

As a result of the assessment the Council will draft an Improvement Plan which outlines areas for improvement such as the need to focus on long-term priorities.

John McBride, Chief Executive, said: "This is a wonderful outcome and one that staff across the Council should be proud of. Despite achieving such a good result it is important that we continue to strive towards providing excellent services for the local community. We must learn from this assessment and move forward, using it as a tool to help us improve."

The assessment gives Poole high scores in:

• education
• libraries and leisure
• benefits
• planning

Key areas for improvement include:

• waste – achieving higher levels of recycling
• social care – continuing to improve services for children

Joint working across the Council was praised with successful partnership working in such areas as education, social services and crime prevention clearly providing benefits for the community. Also recognised was the Council’s appreciation of the need to find the right balance of economic, social and environmental factors surrounding the new bridge and regeneration.

By December 2004 the Audit Commission will have completed a comprehensive performance assessment (CPA) of every Council in England.

The assessment is based on information and performance indicators from 2000/1 and 2001/2.