07 October 2008Sevenoaks District Council continues to improve its performance according to the Government's independent financial watchdog, the Audit Commission.
The Commission's Annual Audit and Inspection Letter, made available in June 2008, says that the Council continues to be an 'Excellent' authority, with high standards of service, visionary leadership and is a top performing council in terms of efficiency and value for money.
In terms of overall performance, Sevenoaks District Council continues to improve to a greater extent than other councils. The Council’s performance is well above average with nearly half of its national performance indicators in the top 25 per cent performing councils during last year. Fifty-eight per cent of its national performance indicators have improved over three years, again above the national average.
A number of the Council's key services and achievements were praised by the Audit Commission. The Commission said that:
The Council invests in extra services which are reducing community isolation. For instance, the Council has its own fleet of minibuses to provide transport for older people and youth groups.
The Council has also exceeded targets for affordable housing.
Crime and disorder is being reduced through highly effective partnership action and the Sevenoaks District is the lowest crime area in the county. In 2006/7 crime in the District fell by 21 per cent.
There has been improvement in the proportion of waste recycled and composted which is now at more than 30 per cent, above the national average.
The audit letter also says the Council is improving those services that do not perform as well as other areas of the authority.
Housing Benefit has in recent times improved with the average time to process new claims down from 49 to 33 days in 2006/07. Alongside this, the processing of claims is accurate - 99 per cent of claims are processed correctly, placing the Council in the top performing councils nationally.
The Council's planning service is also improving and at the end of last year it met or exceeded its performance targets.
However, both services can make improvements to their performance.
Cllr Ramsay the Council's Cabinet member with responsibility for Value for Money, says: "The Audit Commission's inspection letter is extremely positive, recognising the hard work from everyone at the Council to improve our performance for the benefit of all our residents. According to the Commission, we are leading the way in many areas and our performance is commendable. We continue to improve the way we work and we are already strengthening those areas where performance does not reach the same high standards as the other areas within the Council."
The Audit Commission's Annual Audit and Inspection Letter can be viewed on the Council's website www.sevenoaks.gov.uk/performance.
