Best in Britain

Staff from the Hull Building Cleaning team receive the award for Team of the Year from Mo Baines, from APSE (fourth from left)

It's official! Hull City Council serves its residents better than any other local authority in the UK.
Hull beat 140 councils to become 'Overall Council of the Year' after a panel of judges, made up of industry experts and professionals, found excellence in a range of areas, including best practice, innovation, service improvements and better outcomes for local residents.
"This is proof of our commitment to improving the services we offer to local people, and our staff can be proud that their hard work and dedication has been recognised," said Hull City Council chief executive Kim Ryley.
The award comes from APSE, the Association for Public Service Excellence.
The council also scooped the APSE award for Team of the Year for its building cleaning team, which cleans more than 300 premises across the city, including schools, libraries, day centres, offices and leisure facilities.
The team of 450 staff was recognised for a number of achievements, including the part it played in the huge clean-up operation following last year's floods.
This year there were more than 350 entries to the APSE awards from councils across England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
APSE is a not for profit local government organisation working with over 300 local authorities, police, fire and civil defence authorities throughout the UK.

For more details visit www.apse.org.uk