It's official, Barking and Dagenham Council has been judged a '3 star' Council by the Audit Commission which says it is now amongst the 'highest performers in London'.
The 3 out of 4 star Comprehensive Performance Assessment rating comes after the council showed significant improvements in the services it delivers to residents.
And it does not stop there. The government inspectors are confident we will continue to improve and recognise we are not complacent about the progress we still need to make.
This was highlighted in the council's 'Direction of Travel' report, which assesses what progress the council has made in the last year. We were judged to be 'improving well'.
Inspectors also noted that 'overall public satisfaction with the council is increasing and is one of the highest in London.'
In 2004 the council was judged to be 2 stars and only improving adequately. But we have worked hard to ensure progress has been made across the board and that residents are receiving value for money.
The success can be attributed to a number of factors including significant advancement in children and young people, housing and environment services.
Inspectors highlighted that the overall positive change was achieved during a major reorganisation of the council in 2006 which allowed more capacity for services to improve.
All of the council's core services, which are benefits, children and young people, environment, housing and social care of adults, have scored a 3 out of 4 star rating except culture which scored 2.
We were also given 3 stars for how well we manage our finances and provide value for money.
Praise was also given to the council's partnership working. The Audit Commission report said:
"The Council works well in partnership and recognises the need to maintain its focus on the Local Strategic Partnership to achieve additional outcomes, including improved community cohesion, and is further developing relationships with the community and voluntary sector."
Councillor Charles Fairbrass, Leader of the Council, said:
"These results clearly show that we have some of the best services in London and that local people recognise this. Not only have we been told we are among London's highest performers but we also provide value money.
"It has taken a lot of hard work to get to where we are now but this is not the end of the road. The outstanding progress which we have made will continue until we become the best that we can be."
Rob Whiteman, Barking and Dagenham Council Chief Executive, said:
"This is fantastic news and a great achievement by Barking and Dagenham Council staff. I would like to thank them all.
"We set ourselves this target a couple of years ago and have always maintained our priority is to build communities and transform lives. These continuous strides forward show that we are managing to achieve this but we will not stop until we reach 4 stars."
Comprehensive Performance Assessment - the Harder Tests uses the following 5 elements to describe performance:
Christine Haggis
Group Manager - Comprehensive Performance and Inspection
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