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Seven out of nine social services departments that had a performance action team working with them last year, but failed then to improve their rating, have now gained stars.

Bedfordshire, Oldham, Swindon and Birmingham all had PATs and have gone from zero stars in 2004 to one star this year, while Haringey, Walsall and Windsor and Maidenhead have increased from one to two stars.

Lambeth and Plymouth also had teams in last year but have failed to improve on their 2004 ratings. But Lambeth's capacity to improve children's social care has gone up from uncertain to
promising as has Plymouth's capacity to improve adult social care.

Coventry and Waltham Forest also had PATs working with them in 2004 and improved their ratings in the same year.