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Poole's Improving Well

'Some significant improvements to services important to local people' introduces the Government's latest assessment for Poole.  Rated under a new framework, Comprehensive Performance Assessment - The Harder Test, the Council maintains its status towards the top end of the scale achieving a 3 star overall performance and rated as 'improving well'.

The CPA assessment, run by the Audit Commission , intends to 'bring a complex set of judgements into easily understood terms, to provide a more complete picture for the public.'  The new framework consists of star ratings, 4 being the highest and 0 the lowest, and a 'direction of travel' label.  This replaces the previous system that rated Councils as poor, weak, fair, good or excellent - last year Poole was rated as 'good'.

Cllr Brian Leverett, Leader of the Council, said: "I am delighted that it is officially recognised once again that we are a good authority.  We have managed to maintain a good rating despite a harder test this year and poor funding from the Government.  This is due to the skill, commitment and dedication of our staff and Councillors who continually strive to improve services to residents."

The assessment recognises that there is greater focus on leadership, partnership working, value for money and the achievement of local priorities.  It states that educational performance remains strong and identifies that strengths significantly outweigh weaknesses in social services, although more work is needed to help older people live at home.  It acknowledges the Council's efforts in building essential partnerships with public, private and not-for-profit sectors essential for the regeneration and although the total amount of waste collected per resident remains high, the blue bin scheme has helped increase recycling.

John McBride, Chief Executive, said: "Achieving 3 stars in this new, harder test is great news all round - well done to all of our staff.  It means that we are doing well in most areas but there is always room for improvement and we will strive to achieve this in the coming year.  We have a skilled and dedicated workforce and have developed excellent partnerships across the borough - I am confident that we will continue to provide good services to our residents and improve wherever possible."

A recent staff survey, aimed at finding out how staff felt about working for the Borough of Poole, returned some excellent results for the Council, for example:

·         90% enjoy working for the Council

·         93% believe they make a valuable contribution to the Council

·         97% agree they have the necessary skills to do the job

With an increased return rate of 59% these are just a couple of headlines from the data, which will be analysed and made available to all staff from the end of January.

Ruth Lawson, Communications Manager, Borough of Poole tel 01202 633029