Shropshire is best performing council for third year

Press release - 20 July 2007

Shropshire County Council has been declared as the best performing county council in the country for the third year running.

Independent benchmarking of the council’s performance in 102 key areas has ranked Shropshire ahead of the other 33 county councils for 2006/2007.

The news was revealed to staff and councillors by accounting firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers yesterday (Thursday 19 July) in a special workshop.

As well as being named as the top performing council, Shropshire has also strengthened its overall performance.

Seventy eight per cent of areas assessed are in the top two quartiles – an increase of seven per cent on the previous year. The council is performing particularly strongly in adult social care and educational attainment.

Leader of the Council Malcolm Pate today congratulated all council staff for their continuing hard work.

“This achievement is testament to the excellent work being done across all sectors of the council by our dedicated staff.

“I am particularly delighted that as well as maintaining our place as the top performing county council we have managed to improve our performance year on year.”

Shropshire County Council is already rated as a 4 Star council that is improving strongly by The Audit Commission’s annual comprehensive performance assessment.

The County Council is also rated as one of the best councils in providing value for money. The Audit Commission's Annual Audit and Inspection Letter in 2006 said: "Total expenditure on services per head of population is among the lowest of all county councils, while performance per head of population is among the best in the country.”

ENDS

For further information, call Wendy Marston, Head of Performance Management, Chief Executive's Office, on (01743) 252004
For media contact, call Jo Cunningham, Communications Unit, on (01743) 252829

ref: PriceWaterhouseCoopers benchmarking / CU07/118
date: 20 July 2007