Yorkshire and Humber’s performance at the Local Government Chronicle Awards has been met with approval by local figures in the public sector.

The ceremony, which saw 17 national awards handed out at the Grosvenor House Hotel, London, proved to be a positive night for the public sector in Yorkshire and Humber, with a range of councils in the area performing well alongside Kirklees Council’s top award for being the best local authority in the country.

Five awards went to councils in the Yorkshire and Humber region, including Barnsley MBC: Leadership to Place Shape Award; Calderdale: Forward Local Strategic Partnership Award; East Riding of Yorkshire Council: Community Involvement Award and Rotherham MBC: Children’s Services Award.

In addition a number of councils from the region were named finalists, with Yorkshire and Humber proving the top performing region after securing almost one-third of the awards.
Councillor Roger Stone, leader of Rotherham MBC and deputy chair of Local Government Yorkshire and Humber, offered his congratulations to all the winners "especially those from Yorkshire and Humber".

"We are delighted with these awards which recognise the hard work that councils are doing in the region to improve things for the people and deliver for Yorkshire and the Humber," he added.

Councillor Robert Light, Leader of the Kirklees Council, was proud of the performance, saying it was a "credit to our workforce, partners, and other organisations who work with us to provide services to local people".

Earlier this week another council in Yorkshire and Humber, Bradford, welcomed regional minister Rosie Winterton to celebrate ten years of success for the ground-breaking YouthBuild project.

The minister used a keynote address to urge public, voluntary and community sector partners to get more people - especially the young - into jobs.