Cumbria County Council is improving well in priority areas and serving people better but has only received one star in the latest government inspectors' report.
The Audit Commission's Comprehensive Performance Assessment of Cumbria County Council, published today (Thursday), gives the authority a one-star rating and assesses it as "improving well".
Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA) is the Government's way of gauging how well a local authority is serving the public.
Against the backdrop of the more rigorous testing regime introduced this year, Cumbria County Council has been given one-star status. According to the Audit Commission, the one-star rating is an improvement on the "weak" assessment Cumbria received in its last CPA in 2003.
The CPA this year introduced what it calls the "harder test" and switched from the old system grading them as “poor” , "weak", "fair", "good" or "excellent" and now awards a star rating between zero and four.
The overall CPA judgement is made up of scores awarded for various areas of council activity:
Culture (including libraries and archives) achieved the top rating of four out of four, Use of Resources scored two while Environment, (including highways, transport and waste management) scored one.
As announced on 1st December, both Adult Social Care and Children's Services scored two, reversing the loss of a social services star in 2003.
The county council's Direction of Travel statement received a score of three - "improving well".
Audit Commission inspectors said Cumbria County Council is: "Making improvements in priority areas resulting in better outcomes for the community…Educational attainment is consistently above the national average…areas of poor performance have action plans and resources allocated to generate improvement…Strategic planning, performance management and working with public and private partners have radically improved."
Council leader Tim Stoddard said: “There is a tangible sense of improvement across the county council and it's good to see that improvement has been recognised by the inspectors. But, the fact remains that we are only a one-star authority - we still have a long way to go.”
Deputy leader Joan Stocker said: “It is disappointing that we have done no better than one-star. The inspectors have recognised that the authority is already 'improving well'. A lot of the work that has been done is only now starting to bear fruit and we hope to improve our scores substantially in the CPA next year."
Chief executive Peter Stybelski said: "We are glad to be 'improving well' but there is nothing to be complacent about - we have been rated as a one-star authority and we are aiming to be an excellent four-star county council.
"But the direction of travel statement is encouraging. It means the Audit Commission recognises that we have turned a corner and the measures we put in place are really starting to tell."