12:10am Thursday 26th March 2009
By Will Kilner
A Bradford Council-run service that helps vulnerable people live independently has again fallen short of being rated ‘good’, according to a watchdog report released today.
The Audit Commission has awarded a one-star ‘fair’ rating to the Supporting People Programme, which helps people with mental health problems, older people who need support, people with learning disabilities, homeless people and many others.
The Council declared that the results represented a “turnaround” for the service, while the Audit Commission said the service had “promising prospects for improvement”.
During previous inspections the programme was given a ‘poor’, no-star rating.
In 2008/09, the service received £19.21 million in Government funding for more than 11,500 vulnerable people across the district.
Domini Gunn, senior manager at the Audit Commission, said: “Bradford Council and its partners have made progress in planning and delivering the Supporting People programme and are now able to commission the right housing-related support services, of a good quality, for vulnerable people in the city.”
Inspectors highlighted several strengths, including strong involvement from service users resulting in positive changes to the service and a comprehensive five-year strategy with a clear vision, agreed priorities and plans for delivery.
But the inspectors also identified areas in need of improvement, including a lack of awareness of the programme across Bradford and the services it funds, considerable delays in increasing the choice of services available, appropriate arrangements not yet in place to measure outcomes from the programme and the value for money achieved by the programme needs to be improved.
Moira Wilson, the Council’s strategic director of adult services, said: “A great deal of hard work has gone into turning this service around and it is a credit to the staff, our partners and the involvement of people who use the services, that we have received such an improved inspection report.
“Work is already being done to address the areas which still need to improve, but I am confident that we can still take the service in the right direction.”
Councillor Dale Smith, the Council’s executive member for adult services, said: “Elected members will intensify their support and scrutiny to ensure that we continue at the pace we have gathered over the last 12 months so that the service will continue to grow and develop with positive outcomes.”
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