Social Work Service ‘Catastrophic’

{mosimage} Experts are to be drafted in to a council social work department to sort out serious problems identified by inspectors and described by an MSP yesterday as “catastrophic”. Peter Peacock, Schools and Children’s Minister, has secured agreement from Dumfries and Galloway Council it will take in outside support, after the inspection team found management and leadership to be weak.

The announcement was made at Holyrood yesterday by First Minister Jack McConnell, when questioned about last week’s damning report.

At First Minister’s question time, MSPs picked up on last week’s Social Work Inspection Agency report – the first of its kind – which found “systemic problems which severely impaired the ability to deliver a well-planned, responsive service”, and senior management who failed to give strong leadership, leading to low staff morale and “little sense of a coherent vision”.

The inspectors wrote: “We are of the opinion the capacity for improvement is weak. We have concerns about the limited capacity to deliver necessary change within the present structure and staffing.”

Despite this, Philip Jones, chief executive of the council, responded to the inspectors: “This report requires that urgent action be taken with immediate effect and…I will be leading the changes.”

Alex Fergusson, Tory MSP for Galloway and Upper Nithsdale, told Mr McConnell the report showed there was “a catastrophic situation” and pressed the executive to use powers to intervene directly, if that proved necessary.

The MSP questioned how his constituents could have any faith the report’s recommendations would be implemented efficiently, effectively and urgently when those overseeing the improvements had led to the problems in the first place.
Mr McConnell said: “I take this report very seriously. Peter Peacock met representatives of Dumfries and Galloway Council on August 28 and wrote to the convener and chief executive on September 4.

“He reinforced his concern and welcomed the council’s commitment to take the action necessary for improvement. The inspection agency will keep ministers informed about the council’s progress and conduct a follow-up inspection in about a year’s time.”

The First Minister went on: “Peter Peacock understands the concerns absolutely and has agreed with the chief executive of the council that the council will bring in experts from elsewhere to assist with the implementation of the recommendations, recognising that part of the key recommendations within this report have been about the capacity of Dumfries and Galloway to deal with change.”

Mr McConnell was also pressed by Alasdair Morgan, an SNP MSP for the South of Scotland, to find ways to ensure more high-calibre public-sector professionals were willing to work in the region.

This reflects concerns Dumfries and Galloway Council has failed to attract the quality of councillors and officials elected and recruited to other parts of Scotland, leaving it weak across several departments.

When the report was published, Tommy Sloan, council convener, said: “It is clearly time to go back to first principles and develop a clear and coherent vision of what we want social work services to be in Dumfries and Galloway.”