This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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New Chief Social Work Inspector
09/02/2005
The first head of the new independent Social Work
Inspection Agency (SWIA) has been appointed.
Alexis Jay, currently Director of Social
Work Services at West Dunbartonshire Council, starts work
as Chief Social Work Inspector on April 1. The appointment
is a secondment and runs for an initial period of 18
months.
Ms Jay, who is also President of the Association of
Directors of Social Work (ADSW), said:
"I'm delighted to be have been appointed. I look
forward to working with councils to drive up standards and
identify best practice so that people throughout Scotland
can rely on excellent social work services that improve the
quality of their lives"
Alexis Jay has spent most of her social work career in
Central Scotland, working in Edinburgh, Lothian,
Strathclyde and North Lanarkshire Councils before moving to
West Dunbartonshire Council in 2000. In addition she is:
this year's President of ADSW; Vice-Chair of the National
Homecare Council; a member of the 21st Century Review Group
on Social Work; a professional adviser to the Convention of
Scottish Local Authorities (CoSLA); and a member of the
National Framework Group for Service Change in the NHS in
Scotland. She also played a leading role on the
implementation group on free personal care for the elderly
and co-chaired the group which produced a report on joint
services for older people.
Ministers announced their intention to establish a new
Social Work Inspection Agency, which would operate
independently and impartially, in November 2004. It is
currently operating as a shadow agency and formally begins
work on April 1, 2005.