1. Workshop on social services for vulnerable groups Social Care Governance in Scotland Alexis Jay, Chief Social Work Adviser 06-07 October 2011, Ukraine

3. Scotland : Population 5.1 million Scottish Parliament/ Scottish Government since 1999 for certain powers Local Government – 32 local authorities (municipalities) Local authorities assess needs and provide social services, both directly and through the voluntary and private sectors System of 15 National Outcomes and 45 indicators agreed between national and local government for all policies and services, some of which cover social services

4. Social Services workforce Regulated by a national government organisation Nearly 200,000 people in paid employment in social services - 34% public sector - 39% private sector -27% voluntary sector 5200 qualified social workers in local authorities and in total 10,600 social workers registered to practise

5. Frontline social services staff Should have professional supervision from an experienced person, qualified in social work, for support, development and accountability This should be regular, formal and recorded Supervision should enable staff to question their practice, provide support for complex work and critically analyse their experience. Should identify learning and development needs Should encourage evidence-based practice Frontline staff should also be responsible for their own professional conduct and development even if systems and support are inadequate

6. Local Government Ensures managers and senior practitioners are trained in supervision skills Has a clearly set out supervision policy for social service workers Ensures continuous learning and development programmes are in place Has a safe ‘whistleblowing’ system Has an appraisal system for social service workers In law must have a Chief Social Work Officer at a high level of management whose principal role is professional leadership and support In law must have multi agency committees for child protection, adult protection and public protection, with an independent chair.

7. National Government Chief Social Work Adviser to Scottish Ministers Independent inspection and regulation of social services, and regulation of the workforce Sets national standards for care and support Codes of Conduct for Employers and Staff Guidance to the social services sector on -Role of the Registered Social Worker -Role of the Chief Social Work Officer -Practice Governance Framework for Accountability in Social Work Practice

8. National Government Must in law be advised about the deaths of children in the care system, and a report provided to the regulator for scrutiny May commission an independent investigation or an inspection if a vulnerable child or adult dies, or experiences serious harm, or there is concern about the supervision of serious sexual or violent offenders in the community

9. Regulation and Inspection Individual services e.g. children’s home, day centre, foster care agency must be registered with the Care Inspectorate and re-registered annually They are inspected on a frequency agreed by Parliament – for certain categories twice a year, once announced and once unannounced If the quality of service is poor and does not improve their registration is removed and they may no longer function

10. Regulation and Inspection Local authority social services are also inspected by the Care Inspectorate. Based on the EFQM model, with ten areas for evaluation e.g. Outcomes, Key Processes, Leadership Each area is graded on a six-point scale Scottish Ministers may intervene if a local authority performs poorly

11. Regulation of the workforce Set up in 2002, the Scottish Social Services Council now has substantial numbers of social service workers registered as ‘fit to practice’ All must have an enhanced police check The Council may hold hearings into serious issues of conduct and may withdraw the person’s registration.

12. Academic Centres of Excellence Funded by national government Based in the universities and cover key practice areas, such as Learning Disabilities, Dementia, criminal justice, Drugs and Alcohol, Child protection and Residential Child Care. Focus on research, training and innovation Separate centre for Research and Innovation in Social Services

13. Performance Improvement- sources of evidence Regulatory and inspection evidence Self evaluation results from National Performance data submitted by local authorities, mainly numerical Use of a longitudinal study on outcomes for children Bespoke, targeted research with children in the care system

14. Barriers to Improving Performance Differences between areas, including IT development Differences between services Fear of public benchmarking Quality of analysis Resistance to Self evaluation