The majority of local authorities are providing good services for children and young people, according to new figures from the education watchdog Ofsted.
The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills said the 2011 Children's Services Assessment showed the majority of authorities are providing good or better children's services, with 28 authorities providing excellent services for children in their area, eight more than last year.
This year 25 authorities have improved their overall performance, with 11 improving from performing adequately to performing well.
The annual children's services assessment this year found that overall 71 authorities are performing well, 33 are providing adequate services and, similar to the previous year, 15 authorities are performing poorly.
The outcomes for five authorities are not being published as further inspections are due to take place.
Her Majesty's Chief Inspector, Miriam Rosen, said: "It is encouraging to see that more authorities continue to provide excellent services for children and young people in their local area. These authorities are a beacon for others and must be congratulated for their achievement in supporting and helping to ensure that children are safe, happy and get the best possible start in life.
"This year's children's services assessments have shown that more authorities have improved their children's services than declined, and a large majority have sustained their strong performance. However, the pattern of improvement is still too variable. The challenge now is for all authorities to aspire to provide the highest level of services for all children and young people in their community."
An analysis of the results indicates that local authorities that have improved their services to performing well have been able to tackle identified weaknesses and underperformance.
The quality of universal services, such as childcare, primary and secondary schools and post-16 education provision, has improved for these authorities in almost all cases. Some local authorities have also achieved considerable improvement in social care services including adoption and fostering, and in keeping children safe from harm.
However, in authorities that have declined and are now judged as performing adequately, the quality of services is mixed. Seven authorities have declined in their performance since last year.