How we will put things right.

Byline: FIONA SCOTT

YESTERDAY we revealed that Coventry City Council was to be named and shamed as one of the worst local authorities in the country. The city will be rated in the bottom 17 in a national league table for its overall performance in delivering services.

THE CITY'S chief executive Stella Manzie last night promised people in Coventry "excellent" services from the city council in five years.

The City Council boss outlined how the council was going to turn around its position as one of the worst 17 authorities in the first town hall league tables.

She spoke after a crunch meeting with government officials, the Audit Commission, Ofsted and the Social Services Inspectorate yesterday.

They came to Coventry to hear what the authority was going to do after being ranked "poor" in the first comprehensive performance assessment. They have powers to impose hit squads, partnership boards and even a referendum for an elected mayor on councils deemed to be sub-standard.

Ms Manzie is hopeful the council will escape draconian measures. She said they gave "absolutely no indication whatsoever of any kind of hit squad." She described the talks as "very constructive" and said the council had been asked to submit a fuller plan in January, after several new key staff arrive.

Progress on the plan will be closely watched by representatives from the office of the Deputy Prime Minister and the Audit Commission.

Fuller details of the government's requirements are likely to be made public next Thursday, when the league tables are officially published.

Ms Manzie disagrees with the commission's assessment of the council, saying it didn't fairly reflect the balance between the council's good work - in education and economic regeneration - and its poor work.

"We're not going to fight them on this - we think it's a waste of time and public money, and we think we need to be devoting our energies to getting the right things done.

"Some authorities are going to legal reviews. We're not going to waste time on that, frankly, it's pointless. We want to concentrate on plans for moving things forward."

Ms Manzie has an almost completely new management board. Director of legal services Chris Hinds arrived at almost the same time as she did. Several top bosses retired after councillors agreed her plan to reorganise departments.

She now has a new director of social services, John Bolton, a new director of finance and IT, Angie Ridgewell, a new director of city services, Stephen Pickering, and is looking for a new director of education.

Work has already begun in three areas most criticised - social services, which has a zero star rating, housing benefits, where people are waiting nine weeks for claims to be processed, and council tax collection, where arrears peaked at pounds 17 million.

PriceWaterhouseCooper has already given advice on how to tighten up council tax collection which deputy council leader Cllr John Mutton (Lab, Binley and Willenhall) is due to approve.

Consultants Kendrick Ash are looking at housing benefit - every aspect from paperwork, computer systems, training and management.

KPMG is helping with the council's child protection service which has been in special measures for the past four years.

She said: "They'll take a full, thorough look at all the processes that we apply from the very first dealing with a child who needs protection and how that works throughout the care they receive."

The Change Agent Team from the Department of Health is looking at how the council - together with the NHS - can prevent 'bed-blocking' where patients are well enough to leave hospital but cannot because there is no social support.

The council could face a bill as high as pounds 1million a year in 'fines' under new rules which make them pay the NHS pounds 100 a day for every bed blocked.

The council has also created a new post of head of human resources and is going to unify its policies on staffing and try to recruit more people from ethnic minorities.

She is heartened at the quality of the new directors, saying: "If it is nationally recognised and demonstrated we can attract in people of high quality, even people who know our difficulties, it means we have an enormously strong platform to move forward, even if some of the difficulties we've got are deep-seated."

CAPTION(S):

PROMISES: Stella Manzie (right) and (top) social services director John Bolton, and Cllr John Mutton