Website to rank council services condemned as ‘woolly’
A website compiled by the Audit Commission to allow householders to hold their council, MP or hospital to account has been condemned by MPs and councils
The Oneplace site, which went live yesterday (9 December 2009), will allow users to rate public bodies on subjects such as infant mortality, child protection orders, traffic incidents, CO2 emissions and violent crimes. The idea is to allow people to access data on individual areas, for example if they are considering moving there.
The website’s assessments have been made jointly by the Care Quality Commission, Ofsted, the Audit Commission and Her Majesty’s Inspectorates of Constabulary, Prisons and Probation. It replaces the traditional league tables set up by the Audit Commission.
So far, Warrington, which has three red flags against it meaning it has several areas requiring action, and Doncaster have been ranked among the worst councils in England with Kent and Suffolk among the best.
The Conservative party has branded the site a waste of resources and two London councils have threatened to withdraw due to the costs involved.
Caroline Spelman, shadow communities secretary, said: ‘Labour has created an army of clipboard inspectors to monitor councils, which has done nothing to stop council tax doubling or frontline services like weekly bin collections being cut.’
Warrington council has condemned the website as ‘woolly’ and inconsistent. Ian Mark’s, the council’s leader, says: ‘The new comprehensive area assessment is a shambles.
‘It’s like a game of snap gone wrong for the Audit Commission where not a single issue it has red-flagged matches what our residents tell us matters to them.’
In response, John Denham, the communities secretary, said: ‘The new assessment system is putting more information about the state of local services into the hands of the public than ever before.
‘It is just the start of our efforts to give local people far better access to information held by local public organisations so they can challenge, compare or scrutinise their local services in order to drive up standards in their area.’