Harrow Council has been ranked tenth in the country in a demonstration league table of 119 social services departments.

The Government is planning to rank the departments according to 46 areas of service provision, one of which it chose to illustrate the draft league tables.

In this case it looked at children in care who had been moved three or more times and found that Harrow social services offered "a supportive environment for users, carers and staff and the voluntary and independent sectors".

The chairman of Harrow Council's social services, housing and health committee, Councillor Paul Fox, said: "This is only one of 46 areas, but it is encouraging to find we are inside the top 10."

Other areas assessed will include day care for the elderly, child health and communication between care and workers and their clients.

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