Well, those of you who know me will be aware that I’m not a great fan of the Audit Commission and its many inspections. They take up a lot of time and cost a fortune to tell us what we know and are already well on our way to fixing.
But saying that, we are where we are and I am pleased that in the latest raft of inspections published today (December 9) they have acknowledged that many of our priority services are performing well.
Older people’s services, social care for adults and waste and recycling have all been given the thumbs up, as has WBC’s financial management. We are also seen as having a good track record in delivering value for money.
But what pleases me the most is how local satisfaction with the Council is above average. Most people – almost 90 per cent – think Wokingham Borough is a good place to live, so we – along with our partners – must be doing something right!
The not so good news is the judgement on the way children in the area are being kept safe from harm. But we are on the case! We have invested much time, effort and money in recent months to turn safeguarding services around.
Our staff and our new management team have put in huge amounts of effort and commitment to bring about these improvements, and people can be reassured that our services are not poor – indeed, we are now in the top 25 percent for child protection and safeguarding. Over 90 per cent of children referred to the Council are, for example, assessed within seven days – which is way above the national average.
This significant progress made has been acknowledged by the Minister for Children, Young People and Families, Dawn Primarolo, who, in a recent letter, said she was pleased to see the improvements that have been made and in particular the strong upward trend against safeguarding performance indicators.
So, whilst we still face a number of challenges, significant improvements have been made and we are definitely on the right track. We know we’ve got to embed the improvements, and that is exactly what we are doing. What we don’t need is to be told what we already know and are sorting out. And we don’t want our residents to get the wrong picture from these out-of-date inspections.
But the Audit Commission’s pièce de résistance is their criticism of our council housing. We are doing our very best to improve our housing stock but there is the small matter of funding. At the moment, some 50 per cent of the rent we collect from tenants has to be handed over to central government to be spent on housing in other parts of the country. So how can we improve the housing if we can’t keep the money that is needed to do it? Keeping the homes wind and watertight is as much as we can do until we find a solution. We’re working on it!
Finally, on behalf of all the residents of the borough, I just like to say a big thank you to all our staff for their excellent work and for a job well done despite us being the worst funded authority in the whole country.
I’ll be back with my next online instalment in a fortnight or so – unless, of course, something tickles my fancy or rattles my cage before then! If there’s anything you’d like me to blog on about, please shout! Please also let me know if there is anything you are concerned about in your neighbourhood or the borough as a whole.
Cllr David Lee
Leader of Wokingham Borough Council
Richard said
Hi,
This is the first time I have come accross this blog, and I am not the sort of person (I think?) who tends to comment on such things, but its Christmas and I have a few mins… I guess that a proper response would be very long and very nuanced and I certainly dont have that much time! What is lost in my short few thoughts though is both the admiration I have for the staff at Social Services and the complex nature of auditing, working with people in most need, the inter – agency work that has improved significantly in the last 5 years, and the limited nature of any audit.
I am pleased that refuse is doing well, and all the other things you mention. However I am surprised that there is anything except humilty and a keeness to listen to and welcome the auditors of Social services (instead of, ‘what we dont need is to be told what we already know’). I was also surpised of the way that this would be couched after the positive stuff, alongside what at my very brief reading felt like a slightly defnsive response.
I have watched over the years the social services team (teams), and the way that the teams have become increasingly demorolised, leading (along with a host of other things) to high staff turnover, spending issues, and a service which does not meet the needs of the area.
I would personaly value a truthful acknowledgment of how things have been rather than the ‘always improving, we dont need interfearance’ mentality. It seems that auditors can start to provide an element of facts (limited of course) rather than the brushing over and politisicing language that otherwise can occour. Without this it seems only too easy to try and pretend that things are ok really, things are improving, no real issues that cant be resolved on our own (if this were the case then we wouldnt have the situation that has occoured over the last few years?) etc etc. It seems that with evidence brave people can acknowledge the reality, not blame others, and the actual changes can take place that allows improvement rather than the past papering over cracks that has taken place – and this has and is occouring now better than before I believe, sinse (and during) the auditing occoured.
I am genuinely pleased and stand in awe of the hard work that has been taking place in Social services recently, many have worked again and again above and beyond their roles to patch up a service that has been unable to deliver what its targets say (instead of a ‘well done for nearly doing them….), and has been often hampered by the various structures and fiddling that have occoured. Auditing of course costs money, money that could be spent on services that would equip families to move out of the troubling situations that they find themselves in, but without audits services seem more at the whim of spin, marginalisation, the language of politics, and the consequent suffering of children. And obviously the same could be said of the mental health services, homelesness services, and drug and alcohol services – the way the most vulnerable in our area are treated seems to say alot for who we are and what our values are truly about? I am a fan of audits, despite their inherant failings and also limited scope, they seem to at least give a voice to those who are otherwise swept asside.
And if only the houses were wind and water tight!! That would be a wonderfull improvement to those with already high needs….
I hope that in amongst my seeming ‘pro auditing’ rant, I have managed to convey the respect I have for the front line staff in childrens social services and the excelent, I believe, steps that some of the managers are taking. Oh, and im not an auditor!
davidleeleader said
Thank you for your response. I hope I didn’t keep you from your Christmas festivities!
As a former auditor, I totally agree that independent checks are vital to ensure that systems work properly, especially ones as important as those involved in safeguarding children. And I certainly wouldn’t advocate doing away with timely independent checks.
My frustration with the government auditors, however, is that their latest judgement is based on information that is nine months old. So much has happened since then to put things right, and I join you in your praise of social services staff – they, led by the new management team, are doing a good job to turn things around.