Best councils

Derby Derbyshire Redbridge

The Social Services Performance Statistics, published by the Department of Health on Friday, also show that many children living in care are being deprived of a good start in life. Just one in three leave homes with a basic GCSE pass.

The report details how England's 150 councils are performing against 37 quality indicators, ranging from home help services to adoption procedures to child protection standards.

While all councils have improved on their performance last year, when the statistics were first published, some are still lagging behind.

Worst councils

Calderdale City of London Isles of Scilly Islington Kingston Upon Hull Knowsley West Berkshire Windsor and Maidenhead

Eight councils have been earmarked for urgent action because they have failed to improve in more than half of the 37 areas assessed.

These are Calderdale, in West Yorkshire; the City of London Corporation; the Isles of Scilly; Islington, in London; Kingston Upon Hull; Knowsley, in Merseyside; West Berkshire; and Windsor and Maidenhead, also in Berkshire.

Just three councils - Derby, Derbyshire and Redbridge in London- were rated as excellent. They improved in at least 30 of the 37 areas.

Delight

A spokeswoman for Derbyshire County Council said staff were delighted with their results.

"We are extremely pleased with these latest statistics. We feel they reflect all the hard work that is going on within Derbyshire social services."

Steve Hitchins, the Liberal Democrats leader of Islington Council, said it was committed to improving its services.

"The council is committed to quality and we are working to achieve this across all services."

He added: "We know we are doing better and in six of the indicators we are branded as good or very good. We recognise the ones we need to improve on and we are committed to achieving the targets set."

Health Minister John Hutton said the review found that services had improved.

"There is now clear evidence that social services are getting better and standards are on the way up."

John Hutton: "Services are improving"

But he added: "Although social services performance improved last year, there is still a lot more to be done.

"There is evidence that some national targets are not being met and there is evidence that vulnerable people are still not receiving the type of care they have a right to expect."

The government is planning to assess councils on even more areas of performance next year. These will include the time people wait for the provision of specific services.

'Tackling variations'

The Local Government Association said the figures showed councils were tackling regional variations in care.

Rita Stringfellow, chair of the LGA's social affairs and health executive, said: "These results clearly demonstrate that local authorities are actively tackling the regional variations in the quality of social care.

"Postcode lotteries are totally unacceptable and we must continue all our efforts to ensure these improvements continue."

Jo Williams, president of the Association of Directors of Social Services, said: "Councillors, directors of social services and others will be studying the information at local level in order to look into areas of local concern.

"In the meantime, we share the government's and the public's ambition to ensure ever-improving social services to meet the needs of vulnerable members of our society."