Information on Loughborough
News Index
2012
Feb 2012Jan 2012
2011
Dec 2011Nov 2011
Oct 2011
Sep 2011
Aug 2011
Jul 2011
Jun 2011
May 2011
Apr 2011
Mar 2011
Feb 2011
Jan 2011
2010
Dec 2010Nov 2010
Oct 2010
Sep 2010
Aug 2010
Jul 2010
Jun 2010
May 2010
Apr 2010
Mar 2010
Feb 2010
Jan 2010
2009
Dec 2009Nov 2009
Oct 2009
Sep 2009
Aug 2009
Jul 2009
Jun 2009
May 2009
Apr 2009
Mar 2009
Feb 2009
Jan 2009
2008
Dec 2008Nov 2008
Oct 2008
Sep 2008
Aug 2008
Jul 2008
Jun 2008
May 2008
Apr 2008
Mar 2008
Feb 2008
Jan 2008
2007
Dec 2007Nov 2007
Oct 2007
Sep 2007
Aug 2007
Jul 2007
Jun 2007
May 2007
A One Star Council
Posted on 30/05/2007
P. Klein
A One-star Service.
That is the report by the Audit Commission on Charnwoods performance for access to services.
The Council was assessed between September last year and January this year and the results have just been made public and reveals the overall satisfaction with the Council is at a low, along with complaint handling and cleansing issues.
The report that was recently published criticises the Council for 6 main reasons. The first two reasons cited by the Audit Commission are how it approaches, engages and consults certain groups within Loughborough and Charnwood. Other issues raised by the report include access to services, how enquiries are dealt with, advising people on what they expect and value for money. The report identifies also the council has short term delivery plans and that medium and long term delivery plans are needed if services are to be improved. The aims of these plans also need to be specific and timescales established. The Council employs approximately 600 staff (full time equivalents) and sickness amongst them is running higher than average.
However it is not all bad news are the report identifies that the council is succeeding in certain areas. Access to council buildings is improving. The council shows evidence of application of consistent equality and diversity considerations, and provides high quality in appropriate locations and formats and publicity with many people in the town being aware of the Council and the services they provide. Mystery shopping exercises show user experience is high. Amongst the positives, the results show that the majority of residents are satisfied with waste recycling in the Borough " among the top rankings in the Country. Good ratings were also achieved for the percentage of residents satisfied with the parks and open spaces in the Borough, at 77%, with up to 73% of residents satisfied with other cultural services such as libraries, sports and leisure provisions.
The Leader of the Council, Cllr. Richard Shepherd, said: "The Audit Commissions survey reveals that public satisfaction with Charnwood Borough Council is the lowest it has been since the current system of surveys began in 2001. "This is disappointing but not surprising news. Unfortunately it confirms what residents have fed back to Councillors over recent months. It reinforces the determination of the Council to make improvements and reminds us what a long way there is to go."
More Information:
The Audit commission has made the following recommendations to assist Charnwood Borough Council to improve its services:
By July 2007 extend and improve the Councils approach to consultation and engagement by building on the work undertaken to date and engaging with:
- users and non-users;
- marginalised groups; and
- local community groups.
By September 2007 establish a systematic approach to managing and improving value for money for access to services functions by:
- using comparative data already collected, supplemented where necessary, to identify areas where performance is low and/or high cost compared to that achieved by other councils; and challenging the reasons for this;
- establishing robust cost and efficiency indicators; and
- maximising opportunities for benchmarking to improve understanding of the relative quality and effectiveness of the revenues and benefits contact centre, and to learn from the experiences of other councils.
By March 2008 develop short, medium and long term action plans to deliver access to services strategies by:
- including clear aims, objectives, milestones and resourced improvements over the next three to five years.
The Report is available on line at
http://www.audit-commission.gov.uk/reports/BVIR.asp?CategoryID=ENGLISH^576^LOCAL-VIEW^AUTHORITIES^101683^REPORTS-AND-DATA^283&ProdID=2B18417A-D754-4c30-A882-7EA25A49C36A&prodType=BVIR&SectionID=toc#