SWINDON Council's criticised social services department is getting better, according to Government inspectors.

League tables to be published later this month will rank Swindon Council 29th out of 150 Social Services departments in the country.

The ranking follows an annual review of the department carried out by the Social Services Inspectorate in March.

According to director of housing and social services Marie Seaton it shows the council is getting its house in order following last year's damning report by the Audit Commission and the Department of Health.

The full findings of that report won't be made public until June.

But the draft was discussed by the council cabinet last December and criticised the poor leadership of councillors and senior officers.

It also said there was unsatisfactory provision for elderly and vulnerable people and called for community care waiting lists to be reduced.

The new survey by the Social Services Inspectorate measures council improvement in a number of areas referred to as performance indicators.

These cover all the various aspects of social services work such as child protection, care for the elderly and general efficiency.

Mrs Seaton said: "We are on a journey and we know where we want to get to and we are very committed to achieving that.''