3-star thumbs up for Barnsley Council in new assessment

9 December 2009

CAA ORGANISATIONAL ASSESSMENT – BARNSLEY COUNCIL

BARNSLEY Council has been awarded 3 out of 4 stars under the Audit Commission’s new assessment regime for assessing how well local authorities are performing.

Introduced in April, with the first results published today (9 December), the new Comprehensive Area Assessment (CAA) is in two parts. The first part is a narrative assessment of how well local public and private sector partners are doing to improve their localities (this part is covered in the One Barnsley press release Partners working hard to improve future of the borough, 9 December).

The second part of CAA is an assessment of how well individual local authorities and other partners are delivering effective, value-for-money services. For Barnsley Council the overall score of 3 for the organisational assessment includes a score of 3 for managing performance and 3 for how it uses its resources to deliver value for money.

Available on the Oneplace website, the report for Barnsley Council shows that many of its services are effective and improve the lives of people in Barnsley. This is particularly the case with

• Excellent adult services
• Good children’s services

- and a number of other council services such as street cleanliness, educational attainment and improved community safety.

The CAA report states: “Overall Barnsley MBC performs well. The council has made good progress on tackling the priorities agreed for Barnsley. The council is good at managing its money and making savings. Some things the council does are working well. For example, older people and vulnerable adults get good quality care. Some things have improved such as services for children and street cleanliness.”

Referring to the Excellent rating for adult social care, the report says that key strengths include services to help more vulnerable people make choices and informed decisions about their lives, work to reduce differences in how healthy people are, and support for more people from under-represented groups to take up services.

Barnsley Council’s positive performance in children services is highlighted. The CAA report says: “The provisions made for young people in terms of being healthy, and enjoying and achieving are generally good. More children are taking part in physical activities. Making a positive contribution and achieving economic wellbeing are also generally good. The number of 16 to 18 year olds not in education, employment or training has continued to fall and is better than in similar areas.”

Reflecting on the assessment, the council’s Chief Executive Phil Coppard said: “Our 3 out of 4 star rating reflects the council’s continued commitment to deliver high quality services across the borough and contribute towards better outcomes for the residents that we serve. 

“We are particularly pleased with the positive assessment for children and adult services which reflects our continued improvement in these important areas. I would like to thank the contribution that our staff and members have played in achieving this 3 star assessment as part of the new CAA framework.”

Leader of the Council Cllr Steve Houghton added: “This excellent result demonstrates our continued ability to deliver efficient, value for money services and make a difference to people’s lives across the borough, as well as planning for the future through key initiatives such as the Advanced Learning Centres.”

Areas for improvement include the need to improve public satisfaction levels, communication with residents, community engagement with the public, and steps with partners to reduce worklessness. The CAA will be an annual assessment overseen by the Audit Commission, published in December each year.

Click here to read about the overall area performance verdict from the Audit Commision, or alternatively read the full details on the Oneplace website.

ENDS