TWO social services departments covering East Lancashire have received contrasting marks in new government ratings out today.

Blackburn with Darwen social services has been named as one of the highest-performing departments in the country after it rose from two-star last year to the maximum three-stars.

But Lancashire County Council's social services department has stayed at one star.

Blackburn with Darwen was rated by inspectors as 'excellent' and is only one of three authorities in the North West and 16 out of 150 across the country to achieve the top score.

Seventy-four authorities achieved two stars, 52 one star and eight the lowest no star rating.

Coun Maureen Bateson, executive member for social services, said: "We are delighted. We have continually sought to improve and develop our services. We have listened and worked with those who use our services, and this has helped give us a clear vision and direction. This success is a credit to our staff in social services and it recognises all their hard work over the last five years.

"I also want to acknowledge the commitment and support of councillors in ensuring our priorities and resources are targeted to those, who are often the most vulnerable in the borough."

Particularly praised were the council's social care work, early years services, Children's Trust Pathfinder status and its close working relationship with the local primary care health trust.

Despite no improvement in their overall rating, Lancashire Social Services bosses said they had made 'considerable progress' in the past year, improving or maintaining performance in 44 out of 49 areas.

The main improvements were in services for disabled adults and older people.

County Coun Chris Cheetham, cabinet member for adult services, said: "Our ambition for adults in Lancashire is to support them in retaining their independence by ensuring we have services in place that enable them to lead the kind of lives they want.

"I'm very pleased to see that our performance in adult services has been maintained or has improved against every single performance indicator."

Improvements for children included young people leaving care finding work, education or training which has risen from 25 per cent to 41 per cent by the end of 2002/2003 and is now approaching 60 per cent.

And the number of younger children (aged 10 or under) looked after by social services who are placed in residential establishments continues to fall.

The star ratings, based on how well councils are delivering adult and children's services, were first published in May 2002, and were 'refreshed' with additional information in November 2002.

They are formulated independently by the Social Services Inspectorate using inspections, reviews and measuring performance.