National Social Services Conference 2002

Rhodri Morgan
Minister for Health and Social Services 

Draft speech

17^th October 2002 

I am delighted to have this opportunity to welcome ADSS to Wales (again: I know that Rhodri Morgan did this last night, but in Wales we can never say “welcome” too many times!).  The creation of the National Assembly has been a major achievement. 3 ½ years after the creation of the Welsh Assembly Government, we are already seeing real changes in Wales, developing Welsh solutions to Welsh problems.

Social Care Services within local government

Most of you will know that the structure of local government in Wales was substantially reorganised in 1996.  We therefore have 22 social services unitary authorities in Wales, serving populations ranging from Cardiff (nearly 300,000) to Merthyr (55,000). These are fairly small by comparison with very many English authorities. But each unitary authority has a distinct identity. We acknowledge that local diversity in the way we develop and implement national policies.

Within these new and often small authorities, Personal Social services has had to establish its place.  Reorganisation has meant that departments faced considerable changes in personnel, procedures, management and leadership.

Local Government Reorganisation is history now in Wales, but its legacy has shaped the way in which Social services has developed here over the past 6 years.  It has been necessary to devote attention – at all levels – to establishing a clear vision for social services as a distinct and high priority area within the local government agenda.

The Assembly Government is committed to supporting local government in reshaping structures and modernising their approach to service delivery.  Our local Government White Paper “Freedom and Responsibility” set the framework for further modernisation at the local level, removing unnecessary blocks to local discretion, while maintaining a proper regard for national standards and rigorous performance review. My own agenda for social care in local government, focuses specifically on the vital importance of maximising accessibility, equity and quality for users of social services.

In Wales the National Assembly Government stands firm in our belief in the public sector as the primary vehicle for delivering high quality and accessible public services.  The traditions of public sector provision run very deep in our Welsh communities.  The role of the local authority is widely regarded.  Our authorities expect to continue to play a fundamental role not just in the commissioning, but also in the provision of social services.

I share this commitment.  I want to see developments in service quality which will serve people well, will meet the needs of communities and are locally grounded. We must secure local ownership of the social care agenda, and we need firm commitment from local councillors to raise quality and to improve choice. Above all, we need your conviction that Social Care is a central responsibility of local government and one which deserves high quality management, highly skilled staff, and a high profile in terms of rescourcing and leadership.

My main concern, therefore, is to be sure that in each local authority in Wales there is a clear accountably for Social services which guarantees leadership, strong management, and an effective voice for SOCIAL SERVICES at the highest level in local corporate management and decision making processes.  Only that way can I be sure – and can the public be confident – that social care is receiving the priority it deserves.  An effective authority will ensure that social services is at or near the centre of the agenda when decisions are taken about resources, about supporting the broader health agenda, and about tackling the difficult issues which foster social exclusion and deprivation.

The Assembly Government has been working with the Welsh Local Government Association and the ADSS in Wales, to help local authorities identify good models of accountability and decision making.

The key element in this approach is to ensure absolute clarity about the role of the Director of Social Services.  The statutory requirement for this post was not established without good reason. The Director’s role is to provide clear professional and managerial leadership to the service, and to promote the highest standards throughout.

The Director should be also a key player in many cross-cutting issues, where social services has a major role to play.

The public sector cannot deliver social services alone. Local government must continue to set the strategic direction for social care within each authority as well as in partnership with health, education and housing together with the voluntary and private sectors. And Local Authorities must set high standards and challenge traditional assumptions about service delivery and service quality. Authorities must search for best value.

The Wales Programme for Improvement, our development of the Best Value regime, requires each Local Authorities to re-evaluate its service requirements and to challenge them against exacting, but locally relevant, standards.  We must look for the best value for money, and the highest quality of service delivery. But we must take those decisions against a balanced scorecard which acknowledges the whole of the local situation and meets the real needs of service users.

Against this background, I am very pleased at the extent to which Local Authorities in Wales are engaging with the independent and voluntary sectors to provide a range of services. The partnership between local government and the voluntary sector is generally pretty strong with compacts agreed: we have some excellent examples of partnership schemes.

Learning the lessons and Building on Experience

I have mentioned the legacy of Local Government Reorganisation.   That has not only played out in terms of formal structures and management arrangements. We have also had to face a different kind of legacy.

Most of you will have heard the presentation (yesterday) by the Joint Review team on their overview report.  This – and the individual Joint Reviews we have had published in Wales in the past year – had some fairly hard messages for all of us.

While there is a range of findings, with good features as well as bad, there are some serious weaknesses in some services and some authorities.  The overall picture is somewhat weaker in Wales than it is in England.  We have, however, approached learning the lessons in rather different ways.

My belief is that we – in the Assembly Government and in Local Government - have to work together to address the messages coming from Joint Reviews.  The first line responsibility for bringing services up to speed rests, of course, with the local authority.  But the Assembly Government also has a role to play – in supporting authorities to identify appropriate routes for change, in offering central guidance and developmental support where that is required, and in monitoring progress and providing objective assessment as authorities work through their action plans.

I am not persuaded that piling criticism on top of criticism is an effective way to deal with services in difficulty.  The key thing I can do, and will do, is to take a close interest, give clear directions, challenge and support the local authority leadership in implementing change, and monitor their progress.

I will celebrate success and quality where it is achieved; and I will be clear in the expectation I make of authorities where significant change is required. I expect positive and prompt responses and I expect authorities to work across boundaries – with staff, service users and carers, and with partner organisations – to raise standards and to respond to specific challenges.

So far this approach has been the right one for us in Wales.  We have seen some authorities make huge strides in raising service quality in the face of critical Joint Review findings.  I expect other Welsh authorities to be able to follow their lead, in addressing serious concerns quickly, imaginatively, and professionally.  Above all, I am sure that authorities must provide strong support and positive leadership for the staff who are at the front line in delivering social services.

In both Joint Review and Social Services Inspectorate for Wales - SSIW inspection reports, I am frequently heartened by the very positive comments made by service users and review teams, about the contributions which individual staff are making to service delivery.  Most social services and social care workers are highly motivated, and committed to serving people to the best of their ability, and even in the most critical reports there are examples of good practice.  When high profile reports draw attention to service failings, it is essential that staff get the support they need to review provision, to enhance their skills where necessary, and to implement effective action. Staff need to know that the politicians at local and national level are giving clear leadership to put things right. I will continue to work with authorities in Wales to deliver this leadership and in developing successor arrangements to the Joint Review when the current round is completed next year.

USER AND CARERS EMPOWERMENT

Social Services, link positively to individuals and families. It is essential that the voices of service users, carers and families are at the centre of the policy agenda. We have a carers strategy in Wales which is a helping to make this a reality in policy making.

More generally, the users voice must have a role in service planning, and inspection. The new Local Health Boards in Wales will include members drawn from service users and carers, and the Voluntary Sector. In Social services planning, too, authorities are working to ensure that the user voice, with advocacy and support where necessary, has a real influence on service design and delivery.

Raising Standards of service

Quality is high on all our agendas now and properly so we have a collective duty to protect the vulnerable and to provide proper safeguards for all service users.

In Wales we have taken the regulation of social care services directly into the Assembly following the Care Standards Act.  The Care Standards Inspectorate for Wales - CSIW is an integral part of the Assembly, although it operates at arms length from both policy and politicians.  This first year is proving testing for the CSIW, and – like colleagues in England – we are introducing the new national standards gradually.

We have also established the new Care Council for Wales, as an independent body outside the Assembly. The Council will be a critical force in shaping the future workforce we need.  Alongside this we are working in partnership with SCIE (the Social Care Institute for Excellence) to promote effective and soundly based practice.

In addition, the SSIW continues to play a vital role in assessing the performance of services across Wales, and in supporting authorities through professional development, practice guidance and review.

I am confident that these arrangements are right for Wales and I do not propose to make changes to inspection and regulation systems or structures.

I hope conference delegates will find time to visit the Assembly’s stand in the Exhibition Hall, where you can get much more information on both CSIW, SSIW and Care Council.

In Wales we are keen to build quality into everything we do – and to ensure that responsibility for the quality agenda lies at the right level. That is why we have developed a unique approach to performance management and review of local authorities social services. This is another “Made in Wales” approach, tailored to reflect the Assembly Government’s broader relationship with local government, and our generally closer working patterns in Wales.

SSIW, under the leadership of the Chief Inspector Graham Williams, has been working with Welsh authorities to devise an approach to performance management which rests on authorities’ self-evaluation against a relatively simple but effective basket of performance indicators.  Directors, Chief Executives, and the WLGA, have all welcomed this new approach.   We will review and build on this for future years. We will also aim to integrate this with other sources of performance data, such as Children First indicators.

Alongside this, we have also developed a protocol setting out how we will respond to authorities when there appears to be cause for concern about services. We will be clear about the appropriate level of intervention, whether by officials, or by me as Minister in serious cases.

Raising quality must be achieved against clear standards and expectations – for councillors, for service managers and most importantly of all, for service users.  In Wales we are approaching standard setting through a range of measures.  Some will be familiar to English colleagues, such as the programme of National Service Frameworks.  In other areas, we have developed distinctive Welsh standards and Welsh initiatives, such as the unified Cymorth fund to support early preventive interventions for children and young people.

Individual authorities also need challenging targets to raise performance locally.  In Wales we have agreed a set of improvement goals for each authority through the Policy Agreement framework.  These are linked to overall authority performance and carry financial incentives.

A MORI Social Research Institute poll of 1002 adults released by the NSPCC last week reveals that most people believe ending child abuse killings is now one of the most important issues for the government to act on. In Wales 73% of those questioned thought that ending child abuse killings was the most important issue for the government to act on.

I welcome the comments of the NSPCC, which is a valued partner in our child protection work.

The Welsh Assembly Government places children’s issues high on its agenda.  As Minister for Children and Youth Justice, I chair a Cabinet Sub-Committee that drives forward the Assembly’s strategic approach to children and young people.  Core members of the Sub-Committee include the First Minister, and partners outside the Assembly are frequently invited to discuss key issues.

Amongst other ground-breaking work for children and young people, the Assembly has appointed the UK’s first Children’s Commissioner.  This was welcomed in the response of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, to the evidence given by the UK last month.

Turning to the specific issue of child protection, the fact that most child killings are perpetrated by family members is familiar to those working in the area.  That is why our statutory guidance ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children’ has the family as its prime focus.  But the NSPCC is performing a valuable role in making this more widely known.

The vital need for co-operation among professionals in this area has long been a central theme.  Earlier this year I launched all-Wales child protection procedures, produced by Area Child Protection Committees and funded by the Assembly.  These complement ‘Working Together’ to make clear how agencies should co-operate consistently.

Shortly I shall also be publishing a review of lessons to be learned from cases that have resulted in the death or serious harm of a child.

As the NSPCC remark, the Victoria Climbie inquiry is likely to be a significant event for child protection.  The Assembly will be producing its own response to Lord Laming’s report following publication.  But, in advance I have agreed to set up a task group to strengthen guidance in ‘Working Together’ for black and ethnic minority children.

The thought of a parent killing their child is horrific but has to be faced.  I am determined that children in Wales should have the best protection we can give them.

Supporting a professionally trained and managed workforce

Delivering the Quality agenda requires commitment and contribution from all those involved.  And we cannot expect the highest quality services, unless we aim for the highest quality staff.    A well-trained workforce, with modern skills and forward looking career choices, is the bedrock on which we will deliver real quality for service users and carers.   In Wales we are working hard – with employers and with training providers – to support social care and social services staff in acquiring and updating the skills they need if we are to see sustainable improvements in service quality. We now have in place a clear pathway for development across Wales, and one which I am confident will deliver the skills profile we need for the future.

We are also working to enhance social work and social care as career options in Wales. Social Care is now among the largest employment sectors in Wales, employing around 70,000 people.  This is on a par with the NHS in Wales, and draws many people from similar parts of the labour market. As Minister for both Health and Social Care, I am very keen to see a social care workforce which values caring skills, but which is also flexible, responsive to the needs of both employers and employees, and which offers attractive career prospects for long-term commitment.  Equally, we need to find ways to identify and to support people able to move into management roles in social services and social care. These are complex and challenging jobs, but ones where we must invest now in order to provide effective and experienced leadership for the future.

I hope that some of you will have joined us in the reception which the Care Council and the Assembly put on jointly on Tuesday night, here at the CIA, at which we launched the recruitment and careers resource pack for the social care sector in Wales. This is an impressive development, embracing the needs of all parts of the care sector.  I hope we will succeed in bringing fresh talent into these vital areas of employment across Wales.

Working across boundaries, especially with health

My plan for the new NHS in Wales will see the creation of 22 Local Health Boards - LHBs, coterminous with local authorities. Each will include 4embers from local government, both elected members and officers.  In each area, there will be a statutory Strategy for Health, Social Care and Well-being which must be developed and implemented jointly by the LHB and the Local Authority, working together with local partners. We have worked closely with the WLGA on developing the plan for the new NHS in Wales, and I am confident that local authorities will be very active in supporting the new LHBs and in shaping strong health and social care services for the future.

Our commitment to partnership is a strong thread throughout the Assembly.   I am convinced that the most effective way forward is to bring partners together from all service sectors to address common issues.

Wales is a relatively small nation and it is important that we work together to pool expertise and ideas. Many Social Services Directors have played a significant role in Social Services policy development in recent years, and I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge with gratitude the extensive work they have put into helping shape our distinctive Welsh approach.

Our commitment to partnership extends, of course, to the voluntary and independent sectors, too.  At national level, as well as locally, we constantly see the benefits of close working together, to shape strategic direction and to offer responsive and flexible services at the community level.   In social care in particular, the contribution of both the voluntary sector, and private sector providers, is an essential part of the fabric of service provision.  We need to maintain good relationships with all parts of the care sector to work together on both quality, and service diversity to achieve improved outcomes.

Furthermore, the voluntary sector plays an important role in representing the voices of service users and careers, and ensures that their often very special needs are recognised, and addressed.  I have a special Ministerial responsibility for ensuring that the Assembly as a whole honours the statutory commitment to work with the Voluntary sector which is enshrined in the Government of Wales Act.  I meet the health and social care network as Minister twice a year.  It is especially important that we work closely together in social care, where so often it is the voluntary sector which can assist authorities in meeting the challenges of service delivery.

Role of social services in supporting community development and tackling social exclusion

Social services have a distinct role to play in working with families and individuals in the community.  That may mean families facing disability or long-term illness. It may mean families coping with mental health, or with substance abuse.  It may mean helping families cope with the impact of poverty and unemployment, and the ways in which that can affect the welfare of individual family members, especially children.

But social services cannot and should not be expected to shoulder the problems of old age, or social isolation, disability, deprivation or the consequences of unemployment alone. We have to locate social services in the broader policy agenda.  That means two things.  At the local level, it is essential that social services are right in the centre of local thinking about tackling the issues which impact on community and individual health: crime and disorder, substance misuse, dealing with social exclusion in all its manifestations.

Social services should have a place at the centre of local government thinking about these cross- cutting issues of community development and personal empowerment.  And at the national level, too, social services should be there, alongside housing, education, transport and health, in helping to shape policy to deal with the root causes of poverty, inequality and vulnerability.

I am proud to say that in the Welsh Assembly Government we are committed to looking at policy development in the round, making connections between social services, health, education and employment wherever possible.  We are doing this at Ministerial level: I chair, for example, a cabinet sub-committee which joins up policy on Children and Young People. Social services are a strong voice in that agenda.  Similarly there are Ministerially led groups, including external partners from all the relevant agencies in Wales, looking at policy on substance misuses, on domestic violence, on sexual health, on youth offending, on community regeneration.  Our programme to tackle social exclusion – Communities First – is now established in some of the most deprived communities in Wales.  Social services must play a part in these initiatives locally.

While high quality social services should be – and remain – our goal, I am sure we must also work to ensure the voice of professionally led social services is heard across policy making, and is seen to be a major contributor to working against poverty and social exclusion.  That is our commitment in Wales.  I hope you will find examples and inspiration in some of the events and debates here at conference in Cardiff.