This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Agencies ordered to improve child services
30/10/2001
An urgent need for better integrated children's services
is being urgently addressed because too many vulnerable
children have been found to be falling through the gaps
between service providers.
A special Ministerial Task Force has been set up to
drive forward improvements following the report of an
Action Team from the Local Government, Health and Voluntary
sectors which has identified failings within the
system.
Education Minister Jack McConnell said all agencies
covering education, social work and health must now work
together more effectively to raise the quality of
children's services.
"We need to do better in the delivery of children's
services to ensure the most vulnerable children get the
best start in life," he said. "Every child in Scotland,
regardless of their background, should be able to achieve
their potential."
The Action Team's key findings in For Scotland's
Children, Better Integrated Children's Services, delivered
to the Executive today, were:
- services and assessment of need can be poorly
co-ordinated and often exclude vulnerable children
- some children are effectively 'invisible' to
services
- there continue to be problems in sharing
information
- providers do not use their knowledge on the ground
to act soon enough or predict the need for
interventions
An Action Plan has been produced with six concrete
points for action for service providers at the local level.
This is supported by examples of existing good practice
across Scotland.
Mr McConnell continued:
"I want the best for all our children. We need to close
the gap between those children who succeed in life and
those who fall behind. That means providing a positive
start in the very early years and ensuring that universal
services really do reach out to all of our children -
especially the most vulnerable and deprived.
"To achieve this we need to find better ways of working
effectively together. The Action Team has highlighted the
issues and their Plan provides concrete and immediate steps
to take for those who deliver services for children and
also the Executive."
He announced a number of immediate steps to improve
delivery of services; the establishment of a Ministerial
Task Force to ensure a top-level, cross-cutting response to
the findings and recommendations in the report, the
publication of guidance which makes clear that the Changing
Children's Services Fund should be used to deliver better
outcomes for vulnerable and deprived children by supporting
sustainable solutions, and the issue of guidance on taking
a more integrated approach to planning children's
services.
The Changing Children's Services Fund was announced by
the First Minister last November. It totals £81.5m and
falls into two parts. The guidance issued today concerns
the bulk of the Fund (£63.5m) which will be made available
in 2002/03 and 2003/04. The remaining £18m has already been
made available from this year to 2003/04 specifically to
develop and extend anti-drugs programmes aimed at children
and young people. Guidance for that part was issued in
February this year.
Minister for Social Justice, Jackie
Baillie said:
"Delivering services to all children in need is key to
combating child poverty in Scotland. We want to ensure that
we give the best possible start in life to every child with
the necessary support to widen their opportunities for the
future. We want to ensure that regardless of changing life
circumstances, children continue to receive appropriate
services and don't slip out of sight. This is why homeless
children and children at risk of eviction are a key
priority for integrating children's services.
"To achieve this, the action plan makes clear that we
need to involve the voluntary sector as equal partners with
all the other statutory organisations to work together to
develop better integrated services for children in
Scotland."
Health and Community Care Minister Susan
Deacon added:
"The health and well-being of our children is a litmus
test for the sort of society we are working to create.
Better child health and better children's health services
are a top priority for NHSScotland. That means providing
the right level of support to parents before, during and
after a child's birth to ensure that they get the best
possible start in life. Health services must be based
around the needs of the child, every child, and not around
the needs of the service - whether that is the NHS, a local
authority, or the voluntary sector.
"Good progress has already been made. We are encouraging
childhood immunisation and screening by investing £3m in
the Glasgow-based Child Health Demonstration project
'Starting Well' which involves a range of partner
organisations as well as the NHS. We have established
Scotland's first Child Health Support Group to promote
excellence in child health services across Scotland, and we
have launched a 'checklist' of key services against which
NHS Boards will benchmark the range of support for children
which they provide. It stresses the importance of working
together with local partners to deliver the integrated care
children need. And through our new, robust performance
assessment framework we shall ensure a more consistent
approach to children's services across Scotland.
"There is more still that we can do. The package of
measures we are announcing today will provide new impetus
to these and other measures, and ensure that our children -
the future of this nation - are supported through a healthy
childhood into a life of real and realisable
opportunity."
The Action Team Membership was:
Douglas Bulloch Formerly Director of Social Work, east
Ayrshire Council
Andrea Batchelor Head of Integrated Lifelong Learning,
South Lanarkshire Council
Dawn Corbett Head of Corporate Policy, Glasgow City
Council
Jean Herbison Consultant Paediatrician, Yorkhill
Hospital
Colin Morrison The TASC Agency, Edinburgh
The Ministerial Task Force membership is:
Minister for Education, Jack McConnell (Chair)
Minister for Health, Susan Deacon
Minister for Social Justice, Jackie Baillie
Minister for Finance, Angus MacKay
Deputy Minister for Justice Iain Gray
Deputy Minister for Environment and Rural Development
Rhona Brankin