However, as well as making clear the performance of individualauthorities, the data uncovers some thought-provoking trends. Forinstance, the commission's rankings show that more councils haveimproved their star ratings this year than last, but also that more havedropped a star. In addition, three local authorities still have nostars.
Unsurprisingly, these three - Sandwell, Plymouth and the Isles of Scilly- also figure in the bottom four Annual Performance Assessmentauthorities, along with the Isle of Wight, while only eight per cent ofcouncils achieved the assessment's top grade in children's services.
However, dig a bit deeper and, of the four councils that achieved topmarks in their annual assessments, only one is a pathfinder children'strust. Marry this with the Commission for Social Care Inspection's chiefinspector's comments last week that structural change is affectingoverall performance (see Analysis, p12) and a worrying picture begins toemerge.
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