'YES MINISTER' WINS TOP MARKS FOR BRACKNELL

5.16.18pm GMT Mon 11th Feb 2008

BFBC gains its reward for cosying up to Whitehall

The annoucement that Bracknell Forest Borough Council has received the highest star rating by the Audit Commission for its performance needs to be put in some context. Local authorities across the country have generally managed to improve their performance in recent years and most now have either a three or four star rating. The Audit Commission's assessment that the Council was 'improving strongly' suggests there is still some way to go and while this latest assessment might suggest that the Council is moving in the right direction, many of its findings must be in some doubt.

So-called improvements in adult social care, housing management, education and children's services have clearly been assessed in direct relation to Government policy in these areas. There has undoubtedly been less concern about those who are supposed to benefit from these improvements or indeed those who are supposed to carry them out. This is particularly so in the case of social services and in areas where the improvements could have been made with much less cost and effort eg recycling.

The report states that the Council has made good improvements in healthcare, street scene, and community safety but it is far from clear where these improvements have occurred. The Council's direct involvement in the provision of healthcare services is at best restrained, street scene budgets are under-funded and community safety shows few signs of improving. For the report to conclude therefore that overall customer satisfaction is good can only add to doubts about its authenticity.

Commenting on the annoucement, Lib-Dem Prospective Parliamentary Candidate, Ray Earwicker, said 'public confidence in the criteria used by the Audit Commission to make its assessment was in danger of being undermined if residents could not identify with its conclusions. Council tax was rising by more than the rate of inflation every year and yet the Council repeatedly says it is struggling to maintain services.

The Council was becoming smaller; education budgets had been devolved, the housing stock had been removed, various social and leisure services were being out-housed and the needs of Whitehall were being increasingly met by a growing army of highly expensive consultants and agency staff. In fact the Council was in danger of simply becoming an arm of the Government and it was time for this to stop!

A Press Release on Behalf of the Bracknell Liberal Democrats