Ofsted has praised Cumbria's local education authority for the effective leadership of its Early Excellence Network. The Cumbria Early Excellence Network report, published last week, said the LEA's leadership had enabled it to identify and tackle problems of ineffective communication and a lack of shared understanding between Network partners. The report found the Network to be functioning satisfactorily overall and said that its strengths lay in the strategy the LEA has put in place to lead, manage, monitor, evaluate and develop it.