« Previous | Contents | Next »
Listen
Short Reviews of Social Work Services in Scottish Local Authorities
Introduction
The Local Reports
Progress with Complexity - The Chief Social Work Inspector's 3rd Annual Report includes a national overview of social work services and short reviews of services in each of the 32 councils. This report contains the reviews of social work services in each of the 32 local authorities with the national overview contained in a separate document. The individual reports are based on an analysis of demographic information, statistical returns to the Scottish Executive and Accounts Commission (Audit Scotland), information provided on visits to the local authorities and other written information provided by them. Visits to local authorities took place between March and June 2003 and statistical information used was the latest available at the time of writing the report.
The Overview section of each report includes some information on issues related to service delivery, the challenges, achievements and action points. The Overview section is followed by subsequent sections on:
- Community Care
- Children and Young People
- Criminal Justice
- Human Resource
- Use of Information and Communications Technology; and
- Background Profile
The 32 local authorities in Scotland range from large cities such as Glasgow through to small island authorities such as Eilean Siar. Differences between authorities in terms of geography and demographic, social and economic characteristics and their effects on service provision are highlighted throughout the report.
The individual local authorities were given an opportunity to comment on their particular section of the report. Many commented on the statistics included in the reports. Appendix 1 details the source of all the statistics used and includes explanatory notes relating to them.
In many instances, the local authorities offered us more up-to-date figures than the ones we have used or provided data that they use locally. For the sake of comparison, the latest available figures from local authority returns to the Scottish Executive or Accounts Commission have been used in the reports but it is acknowledged these statistics do not necessarily present the most up-to-date or accurate account of social work activity and that more informative figures may be available locally. Additionally, in checking these figures, a number of authorities have discovered that the figures provided to the Scottish Executive and Accounts Commission (Audit Scotland) are inaccurate. This exercise has further reinforced the need to improve the social work information systems.
A further appendix on national statistical information is also included.
« Previous | Contents | Next »