Making headway

Two reports say that Hull City Council is improving its performance, but the council is not ignoring that more still needs to be done …

Inspectors from the Audit Commission, who visited Hull last October for the council's Corporate Assessment (CA), left no stone unturned.
They wanted to find out what progress Hull City Council had made since its last inspection in 2002.
And also in October, the children and young people's partnership across Hull was inspected as part of a new Joint Area Review (JAR).
During the CA, inspectors based at the Guildhall interviewed councillors and council officers to see how effectively the council was working.
They also toured the city by bus and spoke to local people and representatives from the council's partner organisations, such as Humberside Police, to hear honest opinions about how they measured Hull City Council's performance.
Meanwhile for the JAR, inspectors also spent two weeks out and about in Hull talking to children, young people and their families, as well as interviewing staff from across the children and young people's partnership.
As a result, two reports were published last month.
They make positive reading and show that the council is indeed making progress, while also highlighting where further improvement is needed.
The CA report looks at how well the council is managed and how it engages with and leads the local community.
The JAR, covering children and young people's services, rates the impact of services in improving the life chances of the next generation. It looks at services delivered by Hull City Council (including schools) and services that the council delivers in partnership with other agencies such as the NHS, Humberside Police, the Fire Brigade, the Probation Service, and the voluntary and community sector.
"The reports clearly show that Hull is making good progress," says Cllr Carl Minns, the Leader of Hull City Council.
"But we need to keep up the drive to provide the best possible services to our residents. The council and its partners need to reduce crime and antisocial behaviour, raise standards in education and tackle health problems in Hull. Only when these aims have been achieved will I celebrate."
The speed of improvement across all the council's services is faster than for most other local councils, the Corporate Assessment says.
It points out many areas of improvement, including:

• Good standards of street cleanliness.
• Improved recycling rates, with most households receiving kerbside collections.
• Better public transport via bus lanes and increased frequency of buses achieved by working with bus companies.
• The rate of new businesses being formed in Hull is increasing, and the council has helped 2,000 small and medium-sized firms to grow.
• Services for tackling drug abuse are good.
• The number of people killed or injured on Hull's roads is falling and is below the national average.
• The number of older people assisted to live at home has increased.

However, the Corporate Assessment also says the council must:

• Improve its housing stock and create a balanced local housing market.
• Reduce health inequalities across Hull, such as the rate of deaths from heart disease in different parts of the city, and make Hull a healthier place compared to the rest of the country.
• Reduce crime and antisocial behaviour.

Meanwhile, the Joint Area Review says the children and young people's partnership is well placed to deliver on the five national outcomes for children and young people, and help them to:

• Be healthy.
• Stay safe.
• Enjoy and achieve.
• Make a positive contribution.
• Achieve economic well-being.

And the challenges that the report says the partnership must now continue to address are:

• Reduced pupil absences from school.
• Do more to prevent youth offending.
• Ensure fast access to mental health services for children and young people.
• Help seven-year-olds to achieve more in the classroom.
• Support pupils to get better results in English and maths GCSE exams.
• Reduce the number of young people who are not in education, employment or training.
• Give young offenders opportunities in education, employment and job training.

"The inspectors have acknowledged the significant progress we have made to date, and how far we've come since the assessment in 2002," says Kim Ryley, Chief Executive of Hull City Council.
"It tells us that we are on the right track, but there is still some journey to make if we are to become an excellent council - this is our aim."
It was the first time the Joint Area Review inspection had taken place in Hull, and it will be carried out every three years to see that the improvement continues.
Welcoming its findings as a vote of confidence for the council and all the agencies working to improve the lives of children and young people, Cllr Christine Randall, who has responsibility for children and young people, says: "It gives us an enormous boost in taking forward our vision of making Hull a truly family-friendly city where no child is left behind."