Rayleigh and Wickford MP, Mark Francois, went out of his way to praise the local Rayleigh and Rochford Citizens Advice Bureau when he attended their AGM recently at the Council Civic Suite in Rayleigh.
The local bureau has had a difficult year financially, when Rochford District Council reduced its block grant (which is the bureau’s major source of funding) but fortunately the Cabinet Office came up with an additional grant of £59,000 to help make up for this and to maintain the CAB on a more stable financial footing.
In addition, Mark was present when Mike Dixon, the Assistant Chief Executive of the CAB, addressed the AGM and congratulated the members of the bureau for all their hard work. In particular, Mr Dixon revealed that when the CAB had gone through their annual audit process (which is similar in principle to the way that schools are inspected by Ofsted) the bureau had achieved a score of 91% which Mr Dixon explained was extremely rare for any bureau anywhere in the country.
In his speech, Mike complemented the Director of the bureau, Sue Murray, and all the members of her team, both professional staff and volunteers on their achievement in the face of a difficult financial climate.
Commenting on the AGM and the very good performance of the CAB Mark Francois said:
“The CAB have done extremely well in providing help and advice to many of my constituents in what has been a very challenging year financially. In addition, to get a score of 91% in the CAB equivalent of an Ofsted was a really remarkable achievement. If this were a school, they would almost certainly have been ranked outstanding and I think that the CAB members have certainly produced an outstanding performance in this case. I really value the work that the Citizens Advice Bureau do in and around my constituency and I am very pleased to see all of their hard work acknowledged by the ‘number two’ in the entire organisation. I wish the CAB all the very best for the future.