Watchdog praises borough services

The Council's ambition is to ensure that the Royal Borough is recognised as one of the best places to live in London. Its services have been consistently rated as “excellent” and in the first year of the Audit Commission's new assessment method, the Comprehensive Area Assessment (CAA), the Council was given the highest available overall score when the results were released last December.

Its children's services and adult social care services also achieved the highest scores possible also achieved the highest scores possible.

Under the previous review system, which focused solely on the Council's performance, Kensington and Chelsea was one of three local authorities that achieved the highest Comprehensive Performance Assessment rating each year from 2002 to 2008.

The new CAA system examines how the Council works with other public sector bodies, such as police, fire and rescue services and health bodies, to meet the needs of its residents. The results show that public services in the Royal Borough are rated among the top six in London and top 14 nationally.

The CAA also assesses the Council's performance in isolation and in this assessment the Council scored an overall four out of four, leading the Audit Commission to conclude: “Overall, the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea performs excellently.”

The new assessment regime uses a series of red and green flags to highlight area of concern and major achievements. Significantly, the Royal Borough Kensington and Chelsea received no red flags and was awarded two green flags for improving educational results and reducing crime. The borough was one of only ten areas to receive two green flags or more.

The report outlined how Ofsted have judged the Royal Borough's children's services to be performing excellently and in the top ten in the country. The Royal Borough's outstanding primary and secondary results were also commended; the proportion of young people achieving five or more higher grade GCSEs was well above the national average and exam results for pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds and those on free school meals were also identified as being well above the national average.

Levels of crime are falling and the borough remains one of the safest in London.

Antisocial behaviour is also falling, thanks to the Council's introduction of a borough-wide alcohol control zone. The Council has also paid for 76 Community Safety Officers to patrol the streets each day and has committed to do so for the next five years.

The report also praised the Council's achievements in key areas including its: high standard of refuse collection, street cleaning and recycling services commitment to helping vulnerable residents remain independent and the wide range of home care choices available investment in parks and open spaces which in the past year saw 12 new small playground sites opened, as well as a new adventure playground at Wormwood Scrubs.

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