Council Officers deserve praise for 'Excellent' rating ……. not a rejected administration (Leeds Liberal Democrats)

Leeds Liberal Democrats <info@leedslibdems.org.uk>

Council Officers deserve praise for 'Excellent' rating ……. not a rejected administration

April 18, 2005 8:29 PM

Cllr Mark Harris, Liberal Democrat Group Leader and Portfolio Holder with responsibility for the Chief Executives Department; has condemned the Leaders of the former administration on Leeds City Council for trying to take the praise for the Council's "excellent" rating in the recent Comprehensive Performance Assessment by the independent Audit Commission.

Cllr Harris said "The joint administration put down a motion at Wednesday's (13th April) Council Meeting stating that the result of the CPA was 'a tribute to the hard work of Council employees", and that it was 'an endorsement of this Council's commitment to delivering first rate services for the people of Leeds.'. The motion did not attempt to garner any plaudits for the new administration, but the previous administration, led by Cllr Wakefield could not resist the temptation to try and turn the motion into one congratulating them instead.

"Their amendment, which attempted to add the words 'and the previous Labour administration and other political groups' to the motion (which made no reference to any political groups or administrations) was misguided and no more than blatant political opportunism. The real story of the review is that when the Inspectors first came they would not rate the Council as excellent until the new administration had shown it was producing new Council Plans, and shown that there were willing to tackle such crises as the Social Services deficit by taking the necessary 'difficult policy decisions'. These were decisions which the previous administration had failed to grasp.

"The decision to rate the Council as excellent means we will be exempt from external inspection for three years, though we will continue to monitor our progress closely. This exemption will free up additional capacity to further improve services. It also improves our opportunities to exchange good practice with other leading Councils and enhance the opportunity to obtain additional funding for special projects.

"All our employees thoroughly deserve the praise they received at the Council meeting, but the members of the previous administration who tried to share in that praise deserve nothing."