Staffordshire County Council has dramatically risen through the performance ratings.

Staffordshire breaks into the elite of local authorities

The authority is now rated 35^th out of 388 councils in England and Wales. This compares to 111^th last year.

The improvement uses Government figures comparing Performance Indicators (PIs), which measure how public bodies perform against key targets. These are used for a detailed analysis called the Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA).

John Taylor became Leader of Staffordshire County Council in May 2008 and was responsible for the appointment of Ron Hilton as Chief Executive. Together they have formed a winning team.

John said: "Ron has worked wonders. We gave him the vision and mandate to improve our services and deliver more for less. Together with his senior team and staff throughout the county, they have worked hard to turn this organisation around."

Ron responded: "This improvement is fantastic news, I am very proud. I knew that our employees were capable of delivering huge improvements and they have matched my high expectations. We now encourage our staff to shout about their successes and the difference they make to the lives of Staffordshire people."

John Taylor told today's meeting of the full county council: "Our reputation is transforming - Staffordshire County Council is now spoken about and held up as best practice across all of our services.  People are now visiting Staffordshire to learn from how we do things here. The innovative and creative approach to our service delivery is being recognised by the many external awards that we have received over the last year."

The county council's 2006 CPA showed performance was below the national average. Last year performance was within the average band, before this year's leap.

Cllr Taylor added: "We have seen improvements in performance across the range of our key performance indicators.  This improvement is a result of a real determination to succeed, and do the best we can for the people of Staffordshire."

Recent highlights have included:

• Successful bid for a £100 million Building Schools for the Future programme in Tamworth
• The MJ Award for Best Achievement in Children's Services
• The Changing Lives programme is allowing many more elderly people to live independently
• The County Council has been classed as a 4 star Environment service
• £22 million of efficiency savings identified. From this £3million has been invested in more police community safety officers and detached youth workers and £2 million into improving our highways. Issues residents are most concerned about.
• A new pay structure adopted, reducing the chance of incurring huge legal costs
• A county council social worker, Jacqui Knight, has been recognised as national social worker of the year.

County Cllr Taylor added: "We are not complacent. We face huge challenges, like caring for an increasingly ageing population and the high price of fuel, but this latest assessment shows we are in a good position to meet these challenges.

"The days when Staffordshire was content to run with the crowd are over. We are now a front-running authority and we intend to stay there."