Mr Williams said departments criticised earlier had improved

Graham Williams and his team have completed a five-year programme of inspecting the 22 social services departments across Wales.

He said he found a good deal to praise but added: "We're not seeing a sufficient pace of improvement".

The councils have said they are ready to respond.

Between them, Wales' local authority social services look after 140,000 people, while social services spending has gone up 45% in the past five years.

Mr Williams said that authorities which were inspected four years ago had improved, but overall he was not happy with the picture that emerged from his study.

He said: "While we can see that there are examples of good practice, while we can clearly see the commitment and dedication of staff at operational and management level in social services, we're not seeing a sufficient pace of improvement and strengthening of social services' performance across the board.

"What I would not like to see is priority attention being given to how to move forward the improvement agenda much more quickly than has been the case in recent years."

He said he believed the key objective of social services was to enable people to live independent lives in the community for as long as possible.

He said he wanted authorities to focus on that - and to listen much more to what users and carers were telling them.

The chief inspector said councils should also work together more

He said he also wanted councils to work together much more closely than in the past, to plug gaps in provision and to spread best practice right across Wales.

Mr Williams pointed out that the highest spending authorities were not always the ones with the best services.

Efficient management and strong political leadership were equally important.

But he said he thought social services did need more money -- and that should come both from a greater share of councils' existing budgets and from a larger allocation from the assembly government.

Mr Williams said three local authorities which have had critical reports in the past, Caerphilly, the Vale of Glamorgan and Torfaen, were much improved.

Councils to respond

And of the two councils currently on a special monitoring programme because of failings in their children's services, Blaenau Gwent and Cardiff, he said Cardiff was doing better, while Blaenau Gwent was showing the first signs of improvement.

But the chief inspector said this report was not aimed at particular "problem areas" as all councils in Wales should raise their game.

The Welsh Local Government Association is hosting a summit in Cardiff on Wednesday and Thursday where it is due to respond to his call with a nine-point agreement on sharing skills and securing adequate resources.