That’s the view of Council Leader Peter Jones following the Council’s Cabinet Committee this week and publication of the Audit Commission’s inspection letter that confirms Council services are ‘improving well’.
The Audit Commission’s assessment of council services says that East Sussex is rated three stars out of four overall. The Commission has also confirmed that the County Council achieved the top rating of four stars out of four in the ‘use of resources’ and ‘environment’ categories and that its Children’s Services are consistently above average with their capacity to improve further assessed as ‘outstanding’.
Council Leader Peter Jones said: “Over a number of years other UK councils have received the big slices of the spending cake and we’ve been left with Government crumbs. Although we’ve had a slightly better deal this year, we have been the poor relations when it comes to local government funding so this audit report is an even better achievement.
“Our primary concern is to provide our residents with high-quality services and keep council tax rises as low as possible. The Audit Commission has confirmed that we have the highest rating possible when it comes to managing our finances and offering our residents value for money. It says we are providing good services and that we are improving well. Credit for this result must go to all councillors, but particularly my colleagues in the Council’s Cabinet, and to our management team and staff who are delivering quality services and caring for people every single day of the year.”
The Council also reported that it has made good progress in addressing the areas highlighted by the Commission for attention. These include the three-year programme for Adult Social Care which is already delivering significant improvements, work on a countywide waste strategy submitted to Government towards the end of last year, ideas to improve rural transport following a scrutiny review, better arrangements for consulting with the public and more work to enhance equality and diversity action and policies within the Council.
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