Excellent report on Council services - 02/11/06
An all-Wales local government report has highlighted the
excellent progress being maintained by the Vale of Glamorgan
Council.
Produced by the Local Government Data Unit (Wales), the report
has been welcomed by Council Leader Cllr Jeffrey James, who said:
"We have done a great deal of good work over the last few years and
it is of immense pleasure that it continues to be recognised.
"The last few years have been particularly challenging for local
government but we have maintained our impetus to improve
services.
"It is a pleasure to positively promote the outstanding progress
being made by the authority and the first-class initiatives we are
rolling out across many service areas."
Cllr James added: "All Council directorates should be
congratulated for delivering services which are, in many cases,
well above the Welsh average."
The Vale is particularly outstanding in – the number of
households covered by a kerbside recycling collection service, the
number of "high risk" food premises inspections, the accuracy of
Housing and Council Tax Benefit claims processing and children
entering care with a Care Plan in place at the time of placement,
In these areas, the Vale, along with a number of other authorities,
is highlighted as a 100 per cent achiever, while the Welsh averages
were 78%, 91%, 98% and 86% respectively.
The performance of the Vale in other areas (with Welsh averages
in brackets) includes:
• street lamps repaired, on average, within one day of being
reported (4.2 days is the average in Wales)
• 97% of roads and public spaces of an acceptable level of
cleanliness (96%)
• 18.75% of waste recycled (14.7%)
• 91.74% pupil attendance at secondary schools (91%)
• a 46 external qualifications point score for 16 year olds
based on exam results (40)
• 1% of pupils left school without a recognised qualification
(2.3%)
• the average number of days taken to re-let dwellings was 59.4
(53)
• 92.1% of emergency repairs to council dwellings completed
within 24 hours (95%)
• 87.6% of people presenting as homeless receiving a decision
within 33 working days (83%)
• 74% of domestic planning applications processed within eight
weeks (73%)
• the rate of delayed transfers of care (also known as bed
blocking) was 5.28 (7.7)
• Council workers took an average of 13.2 days sick leave (11.7
days)
• a 97.4% Council Tax collection rate (96.5%)
Cllr James added: "We appreciate that there are a number of
areas of concern, and our officers will be looking at ways of
addressing problems and ensuring that we continue to be among the
top performing authorities in Wales."
The Council's progress has also been recognised by the Welsh
Assembly Government.
As part of a policy agreement requiring the authority to meet a
number of yearly service delivery targets, it has been rewarded
with a £1.2m performance incentive grant from the Assembly.
Areas covered by the agreement include adult education, schools,
youth service, homelessness, energy efficiency, adult and
children's services, libraries, equalities and waste.
In a letter to the Vale, Minister for Finance, Local Government
and Public Services Sue Essex said: "I was particularly pleased to
note evidence of strong performance against milestones for young
people leaving school without a qualification, use of bed and
breakfast temporary accommodation for homeless people, delayed
transfers of care, older people in residential care, electronic
service delivery and recycling of waste. In all of these, you have
significantly exceeded your targeted performance and/or shown a
high degree of improvement, and the Council and its officers should
be commended."