Social Work And Health Committee - 22/03/2010

At a MEETING of the SOCIAL WORK AND HEALTH COMMITTEE held at Dundee on 22nd March, 2010.

Present:-

BAILIES

COUNCILLORS

Councillor Jim BARRIE, Convener, in the Chair.

The minute of meeting of this Committee of 22nd February, 2010 was held as read.

Unless marked thus * all items stand delegated.

I CASES SUB-COMMITTEE - MINUTE OF MEETING

The minute of meeting of the Cases Sub-Committee held on 17th February, 2010 was submitted and noted for information and record purposes, a copy of which is attached to this minute as an Appendix.

II SOCIAL WORK DEPARTMENT HEALTHY WORKING LIVES AWARD - GOLD

There was submitted Agenda Note AN44-2010 reporting that Scotland's Health at Work (SHAW) was set up in September, 1996. The Social Work Department achieved their Bronze SHAW Award in June, 2004 and their Silver SHAW Award in April, 2006. The scheme (SHAW) was re-launched as Healthy Working Lives (HWL) in April, 2007. The HWL programme supported employers and employees in health promotion and safety themes in the workplace. The changes to the scheme required the Social Work Department to consolidate their previously achieved awards before progressing further.

In the first half of 2009, work was focused on consolidating both the Bronze and Silver Healthy Working Lives Awards under the new scheme. The Department was again awarded the Bronze award on 25th March, 2009 and secured the Silver Healthy Working Lives Award on 16th June, 2009.

The focus then shifted to achieving the Gold Award.

In order to achieve this, along with continuing to promote health supports and information already available, the Social Work Department chose to look at specific areas including employability, mental health and wellbeing, and health and the environment. All these activities were developed into a three year strategy with annual action plans and progress reporting.

The Gold Award was achieved on 2nd December, 2009.

The Social Work Department Staff Support Service Health Strategy 2009/2012, and accompanying Action plans would be presented at the Social Work and Health Committee for approval in April, 2010.

The Committee noted the content of the note and made their congratulations known to the Director.

III CHILD PROTECTION - IMPROVING IMMEDIATE RESPONSES TO CONCERNS

Reference was made to Article XVII of the minute of meeting of the Policy and Resources Committee held on 1st July, 2009.

There was submitted Report No 150-2010 by the Director of Social Work advising that in June 2009, HMIe published the report of the Joint Inspection of Services to Protect Children and Young People in the Dundee City Council area. The report identified seven main points for action to improve child protection services in Dundee. A Child Protection Improvement Plan, with specific actions to address the concerns raised in the report, was developed by the partners in Dundee.

In response to the inspection, a number of task groups were created to progress the agreed Improvement Plan. A specific task group was established to deal with the recommendations around improving immediate responses to concerns. The task group was chaired by Social Work with representation from health, police, education, housing and the voluntary sector. This report provided an update on the actions undertaken thus far and contained proposals for further improvements.

The Committee agreed:-

(i) to note the actions taken thus far to improve immediate responses to concern; and

(ii) to endorse proposals to establish a multi-agency assessment team and combine the functions of the Access and Child Protection Teams to establish a care and protection service.

IV EMBEDDING SELF-EVALUATION IN THE ORGANISATION

There was submitted Report No 154-2010 by the Director of Social Work providing details of plans to ensure that self-evaluation was embedded within the day-to-day work of the Department. It contained details of the background to self-evaluation in Dundee City Council Social Work Department. It also contained recommendations for actions to be taken to further enhance departmental practice in relation to self-evaluation.

The Committee agreed:-

(i) to note and endorse the contents of the report;

(ii) to the continued use of the Social Work Inspection Agency (SWIA) Performance Improvement Model (PIM) as the preferred performance improvement model for use by the department;

(iii) to the use of the SWIA "Guide to Supported Self-Evaluation" as the model for self‑evaluation within the Social Work Department;

(iv) that the Director of Social Work established the self-evaluation framework set out in this report; and

(v) that the Director of Social Work provided regular reports on the outcomes of self‑evaluation activities, and resultant improvement plans, to the Committee.

V CASE FILE AUDITING - PERFORMANCE REPORT

There was submitted Report No 155-2010 by the Director of Social Work on the outcome of the first annual Performance Report on Case File Auditing within the Social Work Department.

The Committee agreed:-

(i) to note the overall positive findings from the Department's Case File Auditing activities and acknowledge the continuous improvements being achieved;

(ii) to remit the Director of Social Work to take appropriate action to address the areas identified for improvement; and

(iii) to remit the Director of Social Work to present a further annual report on Case File Auditing activities to the Committee in February 2011.

VI REVIEW OF THROUGHCARE AND AFTERCARE SERVICES FOR LOOKED AFTER YOUNG PEOPLE

There was submitted Report No 156-2010 by the Director of Social Work informing of developments in the service provided by the Social Work Department's Throughcare and Aftercare Team and the changes in the Throughcare and Aftercare service commissioned from Carolina House Trust following a comprehensive review of the service. These developments were underpinned by the recommendations in the Social Work Inspection Agency Inspection Report in 2007. The review was in response to the need to provide a service which met more effectively and flexibly the changing demands and the differing needs of young people who had been looked after and accommodated by Dundee City Council. The developments were to improve outcomes for these young people and improve life choices through corporate parenting and partnership working.

The Committee agreed:-

(i) to note the contents of this report and to support the developments as outlined in the report; and

(ii) to endorse the full implementation of the changes to the commissioned service.

VII NATIONAL CARE HOME FEE SETTLEMENT AND QUALITY AWARD 2010/2011

There was submitted Report No 157-2010 by the Director of Social Work informing of the renegotiated fee settlement between COSLA, the Scottish Government and care home providers in relation to the ongoing development of a national care home contract.

This report also recommended payment rates for 2010/2011 for independent sector care homes as outlined in the National Care Home Contract negotiations.

The Committee agreed:-

(i) to note the outcome of negotiations between COSLA and care home providers to reduce the cost of the National Care Home Contract settlement for 2010/2011;

(ii) to endorse the proposal that care providers and Council Officers should work constructively together to manage funding pressures over the next spending period; and

(iii) that payments to independent sector care homes were increased in line with the detailed recommendations attached as Appendix 1 of the report.

VIII REVIEW OF OUT OF HOURS SOCIAL WORK SERVICE

There was submitted Report No 166-2010 by the Director of Social Work advising that the Out of Hours Social Work service covered the geographical area of Tayside providing access to essential Social Work services outwith normal working hours, including evenings, night-time, public holidays and weekends.

This report provided an update on the review of the Out of Hours Service, advised of changes to the geographical area covered by the service from 1st April, 2010, and the implications of these in terms of the pattern of service delivery.

The Committee agreed:-

(i) to note the withdrawal of Perth and Kinross Council from the current, Tayside-wide, Out of Hours arrangements from 1st April, 2010;

(ii) to note the range of options which have been considered in relation to a redesign of the Out of Hours service;

(iii) to endorse the proposal to modify the current level of service in line with identified service needs and the Working Time Regulations;

(iv) to note the establishment of an Implementation Group and that the Director of Social Work ensured that the Group addressed the proposals outlined in Section 4 of this report; and

(v) to seek a further report from the Director of Social Work following conclusion of the Implementation Group's work.

IX ANNUAL REPORT OF ADOPTION AND FOSTERING SERVICES

There was submitted Report No 174-2010 by the Director of Social Work informing members of the work of the Adoption Service and the Fostering Service during 2009, including the business of the Adoption and Permanence Panel and the Fostering Panel. Additionally, the Social Work and Health Committee was asked to approve the amended Constitutions for the Adoption and Performance Panel and the Fostering Panel.

The Committee agreed:-

(i) to note the Annual Reports of the Adoption Service and the Adoption and Permanence Panel and to the Fostering Service and the Fostering Panel; and

(ii) to approve the amendments to the Constitutions of the Adoption and Permanence Panel and Fostering Panel, contained within Appendices 1 and 2 of the report respectively.

X DEVELOPMENT OF FOSTERING AND ADOPTION SERVICES

There was submitted Report No 146-2010 by the Director of Social Work advising of key issues during this last year within the Family Placement and Adoption Services and to make proposals as a response to these.

The Committee agreed:-

(i) to note the ongoing pressures on the fostering service and the projected overspend for 2009/2010;

(ii) to approve the expansion of Dundee's internal fostering service to provide placements and support for an additional ten children in order to reduce the number of external family placements;

(iii) to note the proposal to increase the capacity of the Family Placement Team by 1.41 full-time equivalent Resource Worker posts to adequately support new and existing foster carers;

(iv) to note the new requirement for an adoption support service and the proposed creation of one full-time Social Worker post for this purpose; and

(v) to approve the annual fostering and adoption fee rates as noted in Appendix 2 of the report.

Jim BARRIE, Convener.