design and access statements - how are they working for you?

I want to know if there is a feeling that the quality of submitted Design and Access Statements that are registered by planning authorities are up to the mark. My experience is that if a piece of paper is titled 'Design and Access Statement' then this suffices to register the application, but in practice these submissions generally fail to explain the proposal or its relation to context. Is this view shared? If not how are other authorities vetting applications prior to registration?