SURREY County Council's Conservative administration hit back at comments from Liberal Democrats this week, criticising the council for its three-star rating in a national league table. The annual comprehensive performance assessment (CPA) carried out by the Audit Commission showed Surrey to have dropped a star when it published is report last week. Lib Dems were quick to criticise the council's upbeat reaction to the news, calling them "complacent" and blaming the drop from the previous fou- star rating on last year's controversial Business Delivery Review. Hazel Watson, leader of the Liberal Democrat Group, said: The swathe of cuts brought about by last year's BDR was supposed to wipe the slate clean, reduce the council's debt and give a platform for future stronger growth. The Liberal Democrat Group did not support the BDR as the solution to the council's problems and it looks like we're being proved right." She went on to say that dropping a star shows services provided to Surrey residents are "not the required standard" and well below that of other counties. "Some of the other councils in this region, like Hampshire and Essex, achieved four stars and their progress during the last year is either improving well or improving strongly. "Out of the 19 councils in the South East only three have a direction of travel under review and one of those is Surrey." She called the low score "concerning" and said that it implies problems with internal management. She also highlighted cuts in resources and staff under the BDR process as having left areas of activity stretched. A spokesman for the council described the debate as a political one but gave the reason for the rating drop as a result of the way the Fire and Rescue Service was assessed. "Fire and Rescue was marked down because it sent vehicles out to a high number of incidents for which there was no fire," he said. "The fact that they are getting there isn't their fault though and we think it's far better that they are going out and answering these calls. You can bet your bottom dollar that if they didn't then there would be a fatality. "We're very supportive of the Fire and Rescue Service and the BDR isn't an issue for us because it's not taken into account in the CPA rating." Surrey Conservatives echoed these comments, calling the Lib Dem response "ill-informed". A spokesman for the Conservatives said: "We are, of course, disappointed that our CPA score wasn't as good as we had hoped, but this is due to a change in the way that the Fire and Rescue Service are assessed, rather than any other factors." The spokesman went on to say that the new assessment is unfair, but that the Conservatives agree with the Audit Commission's comments that the service is performing well and is committed to delivering an effective and efficient service. It was also highlighted that by looking at the Audit Commission's website, Surrey's scores can be seen as being the same as or better than the previous year's, except for the Fire and Rescue Service.
