Forum Brief: Social Services

In performance tables published on Thursday, 60 per cent of social services departments have gained two or three stars - the best grades - compared with 42 per cent last year. The majority show "promising" or "excellent" prospects of improvement.

Dr Stephen Ladyman, health minister, said: "Star ratings are driving improvements in social services. Those who have criticised star ratings and performance indicators should accept they were wrong.

"SSI's inspection process is helping councils to identify problems and put things right. For the first time ever more than 80 per cent of councils are judged to have promising or excellent capacity to improve.

"Improving the quality of social services is part of our commitment to deliver quality for all."

Forum Response: Local Government Association

Councillor Alison King, chair of the LGA's social affairs and health executive, said: "The latest star ratings for social services show a consistent, objective improvement in personal social services to adults and children.

"Local councils, together with their partners in the NHS and the voluntary and private sectors, are determined to continue working to drive up the quality of social care they provide to their communities.

"The latest star ratings show that, despite uncertainty brought about by funding shortages and continuing recruitment difficulties in some areas,they are rising to this challenge and succeeding.

"But there is still much work to be done to maintain the momentum of this improvement and see through the changes resulting from the children's green paper.

"Central government must allow councils to build on the improvements they have already delivered by giving them the freedom to implement the requirements of the children's green paper in a way that meets local needs, rather than having structural change imposed on them from above."