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Council services ‘improving’
LIVERPOOL city
council’s services have continued to improve over the last year,
according to an independent standards watchdog. The annual
Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA) by the Audit Commission,
has given the council a 2 star rating, and says services are ‘improving
adequately’.
Top marks went to the benefits service, which got the maximum score
for the 2nd year running following further improvements in the time
taken to process claims. Just 5 years ago it was one of the worst in
the country. Also singled out for praise are services for
children and young people, with a record 55.6% of pupils gaining 5
or more A*-C grades at GCSE - just 0.4% behind the national average.
Work to tackle childhood obesity through free access to leisure
centres is described as ‘innovative’.
The inspectors noted improvements in adult social care, with
advances in the assessment, delivery and review of care packages
highlighted. The Audit Commission also concluded that the
modernisation of day services and home care are both progressing
well. Improvements in street cleansing and the environment are
also praised, as is the city’s regeneration through major schemes
such as the £920 million Liverpool One retail and leisure
development and the 10,500 seat arena and convention centre at Kings
Dock.
Council leader Warren Bradley said:- “A lot of progress has
been made in recent years and this report outlines what we are doing
well together with the areas where we need to improve. I am
pleased that the huge efforts we are making in ensuring children get
the best possible start in life have been recognised. There
has also been a massive drive to improve the care we provide to
older people, and this is now also making a difference to the lives
of many vulnerable people. But there is still an awful lot of
work to do, particularly in improving the condition of the housing
stock in the city."
The city council’s Chief Executive Colin Hilton said:- “We
have come a long way over the last few years and many of our
services have changed beyond recognition. The challenge now is
to take our services to the next level and there are a few areas we
really need to concentrate on if we are to become a top ranking
authority. We have plans in tackle the major challenges such
as housing and the use of resources to improve our services
further.”
In housing, a stock transfer ballot is set to take place later this
year, releasing £300 million to improve homes if tenants vote in
favour. On recycling, the council is rolling out a new service
soon which will enable local people to re-use plastics, glass, paper
and cans. And the council is to improve its use of resources
by more effective targeting of spending against priorities and
increasing the level of reserves.
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Real, but oh so slow, progress
UNPAID
overtime is on the decline in the North West, but progress is so
slow that it will take until 2020 before no-one is doing more than
10 hours unpaid extra work every week, according to an analysis of
official statistics published by the TUC. The new research is
published on the TUC’s Work Your Proper Hours Day 2007, the day when
people who do unpaid overtime would on average get paid if they did
all their unpaid work at the start of the year. The TUC is urging
people in the North West to take a proper lunch break and leave work
on time to remind managers of all the extra unpaid hours they do,
and is calling on Britain’s bosses to say thank you for the extra
work by taking their staff to lunch or an after-work coffee or
cocktail. There are many fun ways of marking the day at
workyourproperhoursday.com,
including the chance to win a special “work your proper hours day”
clock for a photo of what people get up to in their lunch breaks.
Those workers who do unpaid overtime in the North West put in on
average an extra 6 hours 42 minutes of work a week, according to the
Government’s Labour Force Survey. This would add £4,219 to pay
packets every year if paid at the average regional hourly wage – and
across the North West adds up to almost 2 billion pounds (£1.78
billion). There has been a small decline in the proportion of
the workforce in the North West doing more than 10 hours a week
unpaid overtime over the last five years. 81,893 employees currently
do unpaid overtime averaging more than 10 hours a week, which is 3%
of the workforce – down from 4.1% since 2001. On current trends it
will take until 2020 before no-one in the North West regularly does
more than 10 hours extra every week – more than an extra day’s work
each week. This means that the North West has seen the biggest fall
in those doing more than 10 hours a week of unpaid work every week
of any of the UK’s nations and regions.
Employees across the UK will have to wait until 2030 on current
trends before unpaid overtime of more than 10 hours a week
disappears. Nationally 3.4% of the workforce do more than 10 hours
overtime every week – down from 4.1% in the last 5 years.
North West TUC Regional Secretary Alan Manning said:- “Work
Your Proper Hours Day is a chance to have bit of fun at work
tomorrow, but it should also get people asking some serious
questions about work/life balance in the North West. The best we can
say is that our long hours culture is not getting any worse, and
there are some real, but pretty glacial, signs of progress over the
last 5 years. But we should not have to wait until 2020 before
there are no longer any workers in the North West regularly doing
more than 10 hours extra unpaid work each week. That is a recipe for
burn-out and inefficiency. It is working stupid not working smart.
Of course we are not calling for Britain to become a nation of
clock-watchers. Most staff are happy to put in some extra time when
there’s an emergency or extra pressure of work, but it should not be
taken for granted week in, week out. Employers in long hours
workplaces should be asking hard questions about their culture, how
their work is organised and whether they can repay staff through
allowing more flexible working arrangements. That is why the TUC
will mark Work Your Proper Hours Day by adding our support to the
campaign to change the law to give everyone the right to request
flexible working and a better work/life balance.”
To view the regional figures click on
here to be directed to the
table. |
