Wokingham

Wokingham District Council has been rated as a good council that is improving well in its latest national assessment.

The Wokingham district council’s comprehensive performance assessment (CPA) gave it a three out of four star rating, meaning it is defined as ‘good’, and rated its services as ‘improving well’. The CPA is an inspection by the Audit Commission to assess how well local authorities provide services. The authority’s overall rating is made up of individual assessments for: the way it uses its resources, its benefits services, children and young people’s services, cultural services, environment services, housing services and social care for adult services as well a corporate assessment that looks at the quality of the council’s leadership and plans for the future. The council’s most recent corporate assessment gave Wokingham District Council a three out of four rating.

The Wokingham district council scored a four out of four rating in the use of resources category – one of only two in the south east to achieve this (the other being Kent County Council). The use of resources section examines how the authority ensures it is providing the highest possible service standards at the lowest possible costs. The audit commission stated that the council is ‘improving value for money and is ahead of government efficiency targets.’

Wokingham District Council also scored four out of four for environment services (see separate press release, 105b/07).

The council’s benefits service, which scored three out of four, achieved a 97 per cent compliance level against national performance standards, up from 89 per cent in 2005. The council’s revenues service collected 99.1 per cent of council tax due, which was the highest level of performance in the country.

The Wokingham district council’s adult social care were judged by the Commission for Social Care Inspection, the national watchdog for social care, to ‘serve most people well’ and also earned a three out of four rating.

The Wokingham district continues to perform excellently in education, with GCSE pupils rating fifth nationally for the percentage who gained five A* to C passes including maths and English. Key stage three pupils ranked third nationally in English, second in maths and fourth in science for level five and higher achievement. And key stage two pupils ranked fourth nationally in English, second in maths and first in science for achieving level four or higher. However the CPA for children and young people’s services was based on an annual performance assessment carried out by the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) and the Commission for Social Care Inspection in June last year. This highlighted some problems in the way the council had served its looked after children that have since been addressed by an improvement plan. Overall, children and young people’s services earned a two out of four rating.

Wokingham District Council