MORE social services departments in the region are getting their act together after a third round of assessments.

Three years after the Government introduced star ratings to measure the effectiveness of social service departments, more North-East councils have attained a respectable two-star rating.

The updated ratings are based on regular evaluation and form part of an overall assessment of local councils.

In North Yorkshire there were celebrations after social services were awarded a two-star rating, one more than they were given last year.

The county's executive member for adult social care, Murray Naylor, described the rating as good news.

"It shows that not only are we using scarce resources more profitably and hence giving the public a better service, but also because it shows that staff are focused on what really matters when it comes to deciding difficult priorities."

Director of social services Rosemary Archer said: "This is especially good news for our customers in that it reflects the real improvement we have made to our services over recent years."

In York the social services directorate was also given a two-star rating - the same as the year before.

Director of community services Jim Crook said: "Our objective now is to focus on those areas of improvement that will eventually earn us the top three star rating for the department as a whole."