Bradford Council has taken the brave step of inviting a high-powered team into City Hall to scrutinise operations. The result is a detailed report giving both praise and criticism, as the Council modernises its structures. City Hall reporter Olwen Vasey looks at the findings

A HIGH-powered team which put Bradford Council under the microscope has awarded both bouquets and brickbats after a week-long inspection.

It concludes that Britain's fourth biggest metropolitan authority has got it right in many ways. But the challenge is to keep going and involve as wide a range of people as possible in a continuous push for improvement.

On the plus side, the Improvement and Development Agency has praised the authority's dynamic leadership.

It says: "Change is being strongly driven by the new Chief Executive and leader of the Council, both of whom are fully committed to a radical and progressive agenda."

But it has stressed the need for the Council to put services at the heart of its planning and called for more openness in information to members.

The report concludes: "Bradford is not a problem council - it is a council in transition. There is a need to understand the massive needs of the district and an understanding of the scale of the issues to be addressed.

"A good start has been made in pulling together much of the excellent work that has been going on.

"The aim of this report is to provide pointers that will help the change agenda move faster while identifying the pitfalls along the way."

The Council invited the Improvement and Development Agency - which has been set up to help local authorities to improve the way in which they work - to make a detailed inspection.

The team was made up of leading officers and councillors from other authorities and headed by Bill Murphy, head of the IDA, which is backed by the Local Government Association. The team attended more than 70 events and talked to about 500 people at its inspection last month. Services which went under the microscope included housing and libraries.

The main points in an action plan which it recommends are:

REVIEW the scheme of delegation to strategic directors and associated reporting arrangements to the Executive Committee;

SET UP a Council-wide management programme, involving all staff to drive forward the Council's modernisation.

Council leader Councillor Ian Greenwood said: "This is a milestone report for Bradford Council because it shows that we are already doing a lot of things well and are moving in the right direction in those things where we need to improve."

Chief Executive Ian Stewart said: "The challenge for us is to drive up the standards we provide. The report will help us a great deal as we move forward to modernise the Council and ensure it meets the needs of the district.

"As well as highlighting areas where we need to make improvements, it has also made specific recommendations which we are happy to accept and will certainly take on board.

"It covers issues which we were aware of and are being addressed as part of the radical restructure now under way."

But leader of the Council's Tory group Councillor Margaret Eaton said: "The IDA review team has been very cautious in presenting its findings. In many ways it has concentrated not on how things are, but on how it hopes things will be in the future.''

Liberal Democrat leader Councillor Jeanette Sunderland said: "It hasn't uncovered any skeletons we weren't already rattling. For example, the inability to manage large projects, access to information and the huge deficit of information."

Rights and wrongs of City Hall

The strengths

The Council is tackling modernisation head-on with initiatives including management restructuring, school reorganisation and its status as a Best Value Authority.

The new leadership is providing energy and dynamism and the chief executive's 20:20 vision, taking the district into the new century is positive.

The Council's ambition to bid for the European of Culture also shows its desire to increase confidence in the district.

The Council has shown excellent practice in its modernisation plans with a multi-party executive, opposition members chairing two scrutiny committees and its all-party standards committee, chaired by the Bishop of Bradford, the Right Reverend David Smith.

A strong focus on regeneration has resulted in an estimated £250m being drawn into the district in recent years from various sources.

Areas of concern

Insufficient attention is given to criticism from the Audit Commission or the public about poorly performing services such as educational achievement and housing repairs.

The Council has a lot of work to do to gain support from residents, mainly because of the quality of service it supplies. Staff loyalty is also patchy.

Members from all parties complain that getting information from officers is difficult and they do not have enough to make significant policy and resource decisions.

The Council's attempt to modernise needs to be matched by radical changes to its services.

There is still concern from external partners that "deals are done" before the Council comes to the negotiating table.

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