News

• Councils fail to make tough decisions needed for progress

Chief inspector Denise Platt told delegates at the National Social Services Conference: "Don't slavishly pursue performance indicators. If people are focusing on hitting a performance indicator on April 1 they will hit it and duck under it."

Platt, who launched the sixth annual report of joint reviews, added that the way to improve services was to "capitalise on the experience at the frontline and use the ideas of frontline staff".

Joint reviews head John Bolton said "on the ground services do not reflect what the performance indicators seem to suggest".

Bolton emphasised that "getting the basics right" at the frontline should be the priority. He said structural changes "rarely deliver what is intended on their own".

Graham Williams, chief social services inspector for Wales, said local government reorganisation in Wales in the mid 90s "had a horrendous impact, but we cannot keep using it as an excuse" for poor services now.

Williams also warned against relying on structural change to improve services. "Structures can enable or disable, but they do not solve anything."