8 December 2009

The leader of Waltham Forest Council, Cllr Chris Robbins, has welcomed the Audit Commission’s assessment of the Council published today.

Cllr Robbins pledged to act where the Commission has identified areas which need to be improved, including the quality of support given to independent childminders and the way the Council manages contracts.

Cllr Robbins also confirmed the Council will ensure continued improvements in areas where Waltham Forest has been judged to be performing well, including working with the police to tackle crime, secondary schools’ performance and improving care for the elderly.

The assessment for Waltham Forest is one of 152 across the country and is made up of two reports. The first is an area assessment which looks at how well the Council, police, NHS and other local services are improving quality of life in the borough. The second is an organisational assessment which looks at how Waltham Forest Council uses its resources, provides value for money and manages performance. The organisational assessment for Waltham Forest found the Council is judged to perform adequately. The area assessment is not scored.

The Audit Commission uses green and red flags: green to indicate exceptional performance or improvement that other public services could learn from: red to signal significant concerns about performance and prospects for improvement where more, or something different, needs to be done.

No green or red flags have been identified for Waltham Forest.

Cllr Chris Robbins said:

"We welcome the Audit Commission’s findings and will act where they have identified shortcomings in some areas of our work such as the quality of support given to independent childminders and the way the council scrutinises some aspects of its work.
The Audit Commission noted improvements in the performance of secondary schools, our work with the police to tackle crime and care for the elderly. We are proud of what has been achieved in recent years. We are well aware however that some of our services need to improve a great deal.
Ultimately the test of our performance will be views of our residents on the quality of the council’s services and, if this is reflected in our next Audit Commission rating, so much the better.”

Cllr John Macklin, Deputy Leader of the Council, said:

"The Audit Commission have identified a number of areas for improvement for children's services and the way the Council manages contracts.
"We will act on the issues highlighted by the Audit Commission today, and the Independent Panel last week, in order to deliver better services for our residents."

Notes for editors

  1. The Audit Commission’s assessment of Waltham Forest is designed to help residents see how well their local services, including councils, police and the NHS, are performing and has been published in full on a new website, ‘Oneplace’ www.direct.gov.uk/oneplace
  2. The Audit Commission’s assessment is based on judgements that have been made jointly by the Care Quality Commission, Ofsted, the Audit Commission and Her Majesty's Inspectorates of Constabulary, Prisons and Probation.
  3. On 25 November 2009 an Independent Panel chaired by Sir Peter Rogers, Chief Executive of the London Development Agency and former Chief Executive of Westminster City Council, published a final report into the way council spends money and manages contracts. The Chief Executive of Waltham Forest Council, Andrew Kilburn, will present a Council Improvement Strategy to Cabinet on 12 January 2010.
  4. The Audit Commission drew attention to the standard of support given to independent childminders in the borough. The Council cancelled the contract with the organisation responsible for delivering this support at the end of November and has distributed its responsibilities across three children centres in the borough to improve the quality of support. These three children centres, (based in the north, central and south of the borough) will provide childminders with access to:
    • Weekly drop-ins with invited experts
    • Toys and education resources, such as books and multi-sensory equipment
    • Training on Saturdays or evenings, including safeguarding measures, Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum, welfare requirements
    • Peer mentors