County Council score top marks

Hampshire County Council has scored four out of four in the latest test of its performance by Government watchdog the Audit Commission.

This is the sixth consecutive year that Hampshire has achieved the highest rating and been in the top performing quartile of county councils and unitary authorities.

As part of the test the County Council was also judged as improving well and this is borne out by higher judgements being achieved for environment and cultural services compared to last year. In making its judgement the Audit Commission stated that: “The Council continues to improve well in its priority areas.  It has strong leadership, effective plans, clear priorities and good capacity to delivery further improvement.”

You can read more about the Audit Commission judgment and what it means to us; CPA scorecard 2007, Hampshire County Council press release, and Audit Commission's press release,. See what this means to us.

The annual refresh judgement relies on service assessment of our major frontline services: Children's Services, Adult Services, Culture service assessment 2007 scorecard and Environment service assessment 2007 scorecard

In 2007 we had a thorough corporate assessment which tested the effectiveness of our ‘corporate engine’ in leading the community and managing our services. This happened in parallel with the Joint Area Review of Children’s Services and inspections of the Youth Service and the Youth Offending Team. This was a major event and was a big test of everything we do. The Council was awarded top marks in the Corporate Assessment, scoring four out of four, which put the Council in a strong position to retain its Four Star status. In relation to the Joint Area Review, services provided to children in Hampshire by the County Council and partners was rated as ‘good’ with some elements ‘outstanding’. You can read more about the corporate assessment and JAR