Bradford Council's Children's Services have been given a clean bill of health following a national assessment.

Children's Services - which includes education, social services for children, youth services and the Youth Offending Team - has been rated as good' overall.

In a separate assessment, children's social services have been rated as outstanding' and among the highest achievers in the country.

The Annual Performance Assessment (APA), carried out by Ofsted, concluded that the Council's Children's Services has made year-on-year improvements in its services for children and young people and in its capacity to improve further.

Among the strengths the report highlights: l Greater teenage pregnancy reductions, giving Bradford lower rates than other councils l Effective family support and preventative services leading to fewer children on the child protection register l More stability for looked-after children, with children's homes graded as good and some exceeding national standards l Highest number of pupils getting five or more A* to C GCSE passes for 2005, with significant improvement for looked- after children l Getting young people more involved in decision-making with Bradford and Keighley Youth Parliament and the Young People's Scrutiny Commission l A reduction in the number of young people not in education, employment or training.

Councillor Dale Smith, executive member for children's services, said: "This a great result and a fantastic tribute to all those who work in Children's Services.

"I know we will all eagerly strive to build upon this success and make further improvements in the service for the benefit of our children young people."

Councillor Martin Smith, executive member for social care, said: "I congratulate the staff and thank them for building up such a firm base to enable us to move ahead."

A small number of areas identified as needing improvement included the educational achievement of boys, further development of Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services and more work to increase the numbers of young people in post-16 education.

The APA is a new kind of assessment under the Children's Act which replaces the Local Education Authority and Commission for Social Care Inspectorate inspections.

It will help Children's Services prepare ahead for its Joint Area Review in early 2008, a detailed inspection which will be carried out every three years.

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