The Audit Commission study assessed Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council, the local NHS and West Midlands Fire Service.
The council was rated two out of a maximum four for managing services and three for financial management. The fire authority got three for both.
The report shows the borough:
● Has ore than double the number of “black minority ethnic” people, 9.4 per cent, compared to the 2001 census.
● Enjoys a “strong economy” where “employment is high and people earn above average wages”.
● Has healthy residents, with high life expectancy.
● But there is a “big split” between rich and poor, one of the largest in the UK.
● “Relatively low” crime rates but this is still higher than similar areas.
● Average levels of concern about crime.
● Public services such as NHS and councils which “work well together and deliver good results, results the public is noticing”.
● They are “responding well to the recession” by working with businesses.
● There is “inequality in performance between the pupils from the more “disadvantaged areas of the borough compared to the more affluent areas”.
Councillor Ken Meeson, leader of the council, said in a press release: “It is a positive endorsement of all the work we are doing, and proof that we are moving in the right direction.”
Chief Fire Officer Vijith Randeniya, also said: “There have been a number of improvements in the way we work as an organisation and how we work with our partners and this is now having a positive effect.”
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