Action plan for leadership in Scotland’s social services launched today

The Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) and Scotland’s four Social Service Learning Networks today (27 April) launched the Changing Lives: Leadership business plan 2010-2011, setting out a new strategic approach to developing effective leadership for social services.

Attended by Adam Ingram, Minster for Children and Early years, the launch event took place at Carnegie Conference Centre, Dunfermline.

Anna Fowlie, SSSC Chief Executive said:”Effective leadership in social services is vital to delivering excellent services which make a real difference to the lives of vulnerable people across our communities. Leadership comes in all shapes and sizes, from the strategic direction that a senior manager brings to the day to day influence a worker has on an individual service user.

“There has been some great work done already to nurture leadership amongst practitioners and we want to build on that over the next year to support the leaders of today and grow the leaders of tomorrow. The SSSC will work in partnership with the Learning Networks to reach all parts of the social service workforce and build on what’s already been achieved through Changing Lives. This is an exciting development for us which places the SSSC at the centre of creating a workforce fit for the future.”

Sandy Riddell, Director of Community Services, Moray Council and Chair of the Learning Network North said: “We very much welcome working with the SSSC to build on and take forward this important work. In partnership with the SSSC, Scotland’s four learning networks have a unique contribution to make in supporting workforce learning and development.

“The action plan drawn up by the SSSC and the learning networks represents an important milestone in the journey which allows us to take stock of, evaluate and build on what has happened to date. Crucially, this framework will major on consultation and engagement with sector leaders to ensure that individually and collectively we are the architects of the changes required.”

Minister for Children and Early Years, Adam Ingram said: “Scotland’s social services workforce – and the people who rely on care from that workforce – need and deserve strong leadership. The importance of this was underlined in the recent Social Work Inspection Agency report summarising its inspections of all 32 local authorities in Scotland.

“This action plan, jointly produced by the Scottish Social Services Council and the four Social Services Learning Networks across Scotland, builds on the work already taken forward through the Leadership and Management change programme for social services – Changing Lives. This will ensure that we continue to create a confident, competent and valued social services workforce which is well equipped to deal with the challenges of protecting and caring for our most vulnerable people and keeping our communities safe.”

The strategic statement is available to download:

The future of leadership in Scotland’s social services (43.92 kB)