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Short Reviews of Social Work Services in Scottish Local Authorities

South Ayrshire Council

Overview

South Ayrshire is a medium-sized authority which provides up-to-date services over a mainly rural area with small to medium-sized towns. It has a strong local identity, but its limited size and resources mean it needs to join with other Ayrshire authorities in several areas of its work. Compared with many other authorities, a higher percentage of the population receives community care services.

The Council's achievements include:

• a seven-days-a-week, in-house home care service, aimed at extended personal care;
• consistently high rates of older people receiving over 20 hours of home care service a week;
• a high rate of people receiving community care services including older people, people with mental health problems, people with physical disabilities, people with learning disabilities and people with drug and alcohol misuse problems;
• making sure that all Children's Panel requirements are actioned within the 15 day target;
• having a very strong commitment to supporting and developing staff;
• taking a very 'hands-on' approach to managing staff absences; and
• successfully introducing Free Personal Care.

South Ayrshire Council needs to take urgent action to:

• improve the educational attainment of children and young people who are looked after;
• make sure that all looked after children and young people are receiving full-time education; and
• improve its performance in relation to the lateness of reports to children's panels (43% of reports are submitted late) so that 75% of reports meet the target.

The authority should also give priority to:

• recruiting and keeping foster carers;
• improving throughcare and aftercare services;
• making sure that the level of service it provides and support given to its staff is strong enough to withstand changes in senior management;
• continuing to deal with the funding shortfall in Free Personal Care; and
• speeding up its joint working arrangements with Health.

Community Care

Services for older people

South Ayrshire provides a community care service to more older people than in most other authorities. It also provides a relatively high rate of over 20 hours of home care a week. A relatively low rate of people receive a home care service but a high percentage receive an intensive service. A high rate of older people are in private nursing homes and the number increased from 621 in 2001 to 694 in 2002.

The Council has focused on intensive home care packages and has met the cost of respite care from within the existing budget.

In 2002-2003, the Council had a financial shortfall on Free Personal Care, but service users have benefited financially. Free Personal Care has worked smoothly and is integrated into the delivery of community care services. Everyone who applies for Free Personal Care receives an assessment. The Council informed members of the public about the change by:

• sending out leaflets;
• staging a publicity campaign;
• setting up a helpline;
• staff telling their clients; and
• holding meetings.

The shortfall in funding is serious and the Council still has to deal with it. Social Work will continue to raise this issue within the Council.

Services for people with learning disabilities

A high rate of people receive a service for learning disabilities and the numbers are increasing, having risen from 275 in 1999-2000 to 334 in 2001-2002.

An all-Ayrshire disability group is working with Ayrshire and Arran Health Board and Primary Care Trust to agree funding and the financial framework for hospital closure and investment, which also covers a community-based health infrastructure. The three Ayrshire local authorities and NHS Ayrshire and Arran have reached agreement on the recurring costs of the retraction. South Ayrshire Council has responsibility for 36 people with learning disabilities still in continuing care beds.

Of the people in hospital, 10 assessments have been carried out and eight people are moving out. There are 28 people with learning disabilities in hospital in South Ayrshire. South Ayrshire Council also has responsibility for a further 15 people who have moved out of continuing health provision as a result of the hospital closure programme across Scotland. Of this group, 11 people are settled in their own tenancies and four are in group living. So far, none of the group has been admitted to health care resources again. There are a small number of service providers (four or five in South Ayrshire) who have experience of working with people with more complex needs. In addition to local hospital discharges, 75 people have moved into their own tenancies over the past three years. Many of them have health needs and the structure of primary care services is not equipped to cope with the growing demand. Learning disability teams are managed separately but based in the same place. The learning disability strategy covers day activities, respite care and local area co-ordination. Support from the change fund is constantly moving people out of day activities resource centres and into employment and further education. A specially-commissioned Turning Point project has 24 people in activities in their own communities rather than in the traditional day centres in Ayr and Girvan.

The Council's own day services for learning disability are being re-modelled to concentrate on personalised support plans. They have developed responses in the following areas:

• Transition - 35 young people, aged from 16 to 21, are currently offered support in areas such as travel training, 'home alone' and safety packages, local familiarisation and recreation packages. This has meant that none of these young people has needed to have his or her support met in a day centre.
• College - A two-year pilot 'getting ready for work' course for 20 people was devised in partnership with the Council team. So far, direct support on work placements has been offered to a couple of young people.
• Paid employment - A small number have been successful in getting paid work opportunities.
• Voluntary work - 22 people from the day centre client base are supported to get into voluntary work in their local communities. The opportunities are wide-ranging, from care work to catering.
• Higher support needs - A senior lead team of eight day centre staff offer opportunities to eight people in their localities. Problem areas such as personal care changing facilities have been highlighted; three venues in the community have been identified and the Council has bought the necessary equipment.

Services for people with physical disabilities

The number of people receiving a service for a physical disability reduced from 1,885 in 1999-2000 to 1,250 in 2001-2002. However, the overall rate is still high compared with other authorities.

The Council says that the only barriers to Direct Payments are budget limits. There are 28 people using Direct Payments - eight older people, eight people with learning disabilities and 12 people with physical disabilities. The Council has had a mixed economy for a number of years and is happy to sell its own services.

The Council has employed extra occupational therapists to improve the delivery of equipment and adaptation services, including one in Housing to speed up the process for adaptations. It is also reviewing the priority system for adaptations. There is a small equipment store in the disability resource centre where people can come and be assessed, and receive the equipment they need. The senior occupational therapist has the budget and makes decisions about spending throughout the year. Staff show people how to use all the equipment.

Community nursing equipment and social care equipment can be provided across organisational boundaries. For example, assessments from social work can lead to people getting health equipment and staff. There is a draft partnership agreement between the three Ayrshire local authorities and two health trusts to set up a joint service, with a single manager.

People with sensory impairment

There are 875 registered visually impaired people, and 300 of them have some form of hearing impairment. Fewer than five sign language users are visually impaired. The Council plans services in consultation with service users and voluntary organisations, as well as the sensory impairment group.

Services for people with mental health difficulties

A relatively high rate of people receive a service for mental health problems, and the number increased in 2001-2002.

The Council has begun to plan redesigning mental health services. Initial proposals include identifying developments to the workforce, management structures and increasing input from the Community Mental Health Team (CMHT). South Ayrshire Council is also involved in the NHS-led mental health redesign project, which aims to re-shape mental health services across Ayrshire.

The Council's community care teams have links with primary care, while the mental health team has links with CMHT, where social workers are based.

Protocols for jointly assessing and managing risk will be developed through the multi-agency risk protocol group. This group has arranged training events, which were being evaluated, and issued a risk assessment form and a guidance leaflet.

Tackling substance misuse

The number of people receiving a service for substance misuse problems increased five-fold from 75 in 2000-2001 to 394 in 2001-2002. The overall rate is now high compared with other authorities.

The Council buys in services for substance misuse from the Bridge and Ayrshire Council on Alcohol. Its funding to both has doubled in the last three years. The Bridge includes rehabilitation and treatment, including children and families. Community drugs workers are based with the Bridge but are jointly funded. Support worker posts have been created to help long-term methadone users, and this frees up other staff. Ayrshire Council on Alcohol has changed its focus to older people, pregnant women, children, people leaving hospital, carers and family members. At the moment, agencies are jointly developing a strategy for children, young people and families.

Health services are based in the community and provide home detoxification, a community team, a harm reduction team, outreach and needle exchanges and special clinics for young women. They also provide a methadone prescription service which increased in 2002. Budget limits prevent more people being put on methadone.

Policies and protocols are in place for voluntary organisations and Council staff work with families who misuse substances. Services have development significantly, but staff need to be trained in relation to child protection.

DTTOs are due to start in October 2003, but the limit on methadone prescriptions may affect progress.

Joining up community care services with health

Progress in improved joint working is measured through the Joint Performance Information and Assessment Framework (JPIAF), which has been agreed by SWSI, Audit Scotland and NHS Scotland. Annual evaluation statements were issued by the Scottish Executive and Audit Scotland to each local partnership in June 2003 and covered progress in 5 areas: joint management, joint governance, human resources, joint resourcing and Single Shared Assessment. The joint arrangements for these 5 areas, as documented in the Local Partnership Agreement can be summarised as still being progressed. It was recommended that the local partners:

• address the details of the membership, remit, and delegated powers of the South Ayrshire Joint Health Partnership;
• address the details of the membership, remit and delegated powers of the Joint Futures (Senior Management) Group;
• develop an integrated concept of community care services;
• address joint governance and accountability arrangements for the South Ayrshire Joint Health Partnership (high level joint group) including delegated powers;
• address joint governance and accountability arrangements for the Joint Future (Senior Management) Groups including delegated powers;
• address service/clinical governance arrangements for joint working and/or joint services as appropriate;
• develop a joint OD/training plan;
• develop financial management arrangements (both strategic and operational);
• develop financial protocols (both strategic and operational);
• develop an agreed statement of a joint resourcing operational budget for older people's services;
• involve housing staff in training; and
• address access to health resources by other agencies.

The Council has strong partnerships with NHS Ayrshire and Arran and with private service providers. It is tackling the problem of delayed discharge from hospital through a well-established rapid response team, an intermediate care scheme, and a 'preventing admissions team' to support people so that they do not have to go into hospital. These projects have single managers and the next step is to make them part of mainline services. These projects have shown that the best way to keep people out of hospital is to improve how they manage at home, by providing good quality rehabilitation with home care services. The intermediate care project, North Ayrshire Speedy Action (NASA), helps keep people out of care homes by getting services for them on the day they are referred. The independent sector provides home care. The Council's community alarm service provides an out-of-hours home care service, linked to the out-of-hours doctor and nursing services provided by Health. Together they provide an integrated care response 24 hours a day.

Joint training between social work and health is provided to prepare for Single Shared Assessment (SSA). Healthcare staff are still catching up with Single Shared Assessment, for example, in terms of issuing bills and recording cases. According to the Council, the benefits of SSA include:

• improving relationships among staff working with older people;
• giving people a better service;
• involving health staff more in the assessment process; and
• reviewing care packages at least every six months.

There are problems in developing individual packages of care based on people's assessed care needs.

Working with carers

The main support for carers is through the Princess Royal Trust which has a care centre currently funded with Health. A Carers Action Network contributed to the community care plan. The carers' strategy budget has funded a number of initiatives, including:

• a welfare rights officer for carers;
• respite care across care groups, provided by Crossroads;
• an outreach service for rural areas; and
• a young carers' development worker.

A self-assessment form is available for carers and staff in the carers' centre promote this. Although carers are offered the chance to have their needs assessed, not many of them take it up. The Council thinks the reason is that carers' needs are being met, and so they are reluctant to go through a formal process.

Children and Young People

Looked after children

The number of children and young people who are looked after has risen consistently since 1998-1999 and has increased by a third (from 133 to 182) since 2000-2001. The latest figures provided by the authority, are that there are now 191 children and young people looked after. The rise is said to be due to an increase in the number of statutory cases, reflecting in turn an increase in parents who misuse drugs.

The number of children in residential schools increased from eight in 2000 to 16 in 2002. There are now 21 young people in residential schools. This is said to be due to young people presenting with more difficulties. The Council has funded five support workers as part of a preventive strategy to work with education workers and seven to nine year olds who are moving towards residential school.

The number of children and young people who are looked after and living in kinship care placements increased from 12 in 2000 to 27 in 2002. This is also said to be due to an increase in parents who misuse substances.

Fostering and adoption

The Council has bought three placements from Foster Plus, outside South Ayrshire, so no children are currently waiting for a foster placement. However, more children would be fostered if the Council had more placements. The Council pays carers one and a half times the COSLA rate.

Seven children were placed through the West of Scotland consortium in 2002-2003, but some of these placements were disrupted. A number of children are linked for adoption or are in foster care are waiting for adoption.

Educational attainment

In South Ayrshire, 42% of 16 to 17 year olds who stopped being looked after in 2001-2002 had attained Maths and English standard grade. Although this is better than average, it is well below the 100% target set by the Scottish Executive in 1999 and compares poorly with 94% of the full S4 cohort in the authority achieving these grades. A number of initiatives have been taken to improve educational attainment, including:

• providing computers in the residential unit, as well as a homework study room and an art room (the Council provides a tutor one night a week and the home link worker works with young people in the residential units and in schools);
• monitoring educational attainment and attendance from a young age for all children in need, including all children and young people who are looked after (as soon as looked after children are referred, they are entered onto a Looked After Children (LAC) database - information is taken from SEEMIS each month to see if the children are achieving their targets and the co-ordinator in a school, as well as social work services, is contacted if a child is not achieving);
• arranging multi-agency meetings for all children who were allocated Learning with Care funds to decide how to spend the money; and
• aiming to provide all looked after children, including those at home, with a personal education plan or individual education plans linked in with care plans (all looked after children in primary school now have personal education plans and most in secondary schools).

All accommodated children receive full-time education. No young people from the residential unit were excluded in the last school year, but there have been a few young people excluded this term who have ended up in residential school. Unlike many other authorities, the Council has good information on the educational placements of all 109 looked after children who are living at home. Information for May 2003 showed that:

• 51 were in full-time mainstream education;
• 12 were in part-time mainstream education;
• fewer than five were in full-time alternative education;
• five were in full-time education outside the authority;
• seven were in a nursery placement;
• 13 were pre-school age (and had no nursery placement);
• fewer than five were on a flexible curriculum project 3;
• fewer than five were in a college placement;
• fewer than five were on the Skills Through Employment Project (STEP); and
• 11 had left school.

Throughcare and aftercare

The throughcare team is working with 79 young people. When young people leave care, they go onto a throughcare database. The Council has less information about young people who were living at home, and it needs to deal with this.

Quarriers provide youth housing support. The number of supported carer placements has increased from three to five and one supported carer is being assessed.

The Council has developed training opportunities for young people involved in throughcare, especially those who were previously accommodated through the STEP project. There are workshops in secondary schools for fourth-year pupils, which are designed to be preventative. A series of information workshops are aimed at vulnerable young people.

Mental health

Difficulties in obtaining mental health services are said to be due to staffing problems in the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service. Only one out of four adolescent psychiatrists is currently in post and there is a shortage of psychologists.

Services include:

• consultations with the adolescent psychiatrist;
• support for young people aged 15 and over in the children's unit from a throughcare nurse who is a member of the CAMHS team;
• 'Young Minds' training for frontline staff, residential staff and school staff; and
• primary prevention in schools.

Child protection

In 2002, South Ayrshire's rate of registration was the lowest in Scotland, with fewer than five children on the register. There are now 22 children on the register (including a couple of larger families). Traditionally, low rates of registration are said to be due to working practices in the area. There is a high level of voluntary work, including intensive support for families. An increase in neglect cases reflects an increase in drug misuse.

More than a third of children on the register in 2002 had been on it for more than 18 months. A large family of children who are now in foster care distorted the figures. No children have now been on the register for more than 18 months.

The Council has taken a number of child protection initiatives, including:

• appointing a child protection co-ordinator;
• drawing up a proposal for an independent audit, in response to the recommendations of the child Protection Review;
• reviewing organisations' own procedures and the inter-agency procedures;
• training criminal justice staff in child protection; and
• using an intensive family support team to work with children in families that misuse substances.

Children with disabilities

121 children with disabilities receive residential respite care, respite care at home, and other forms of respite care. There are 13 children who are affected by disability receiving a service. The balance of care has changed towards more home support and more after-school support, as:

• the Council offers short breaks, an after-school service, playschemes, a day care link service, leisure schemes and a sitter service;
• some children receive 'Shared Care';
• the Council's own home care service has developed workers with specific skills in working with children with complex needs; and
• the Council's own home care service has developed in partnership with health services.

Working of children's hearings

All referrals were made within five working days of the case conference in 2001-2002 (standard 2).

57% of reports were submitted within 20 working days of the date of request (Standard 3). The number of requests has increased - there used to be 40 to 70 requests a month, but there were over 100 requests each month in the last three months of 2002.

All supervision requirements with no condition of residence were given effect within 15 working days of the date of issue by the children's hearing (standard 15).

Youth Justice

South Ayrshire is part of a fast-track pilot scheme for the children's hearings, and new resources have been used to deal with serious, persistent youth crime.

The NCH Crossover project is for serious and persistent offenders who are at risk of custody, a secure unit or residential care.

An all-Ayrshire restorative justice service is bought in from SACRO. The restorative justice scheme includes mediation and reparation, face-to-face work, victim awareness and restorative conferencing. There have been 120 referrals over the year. There is a young person's consent form and, where the young person consents, the Reporter will provide information about re-referrals. 80% of young offenders are not re-offending.

Groupwork programmes are provided by the youth support team.

Criminal Justice

Structure

North, South and East Ayrshire operate as a partnership for delivery of criminal justice social work services. Strategic direction for the partnership is provided by a partnership management group, comprising elected members from each authority, Directors/Chief social work officers and criminal justice managers.

Workload

Demand for core services has risen in 2002-2003 with a 7% increase in social enquiry reports, a 22% increase in probation orders, and a 14% increase in Community Service Orders. There are variations between constituent authorities with East Ayrshire experiencing a 13% rise in social enquiry reports, South Ayrshire a 69% rise in community service orders and North Ayrshire a 30% increase in probation orders. Whilst the overall trend is upward, particularly in probation, there has been some fluctuation in the demand for services over the past four years with some significant dips. Managers report staff to be working under considerable pressure to meet current demands, a situation not helped by some long term sickness and staff vacancies. This has, in particular, led to the "stacking" of community service orders in North Ayrshire Council, with delayed starts, and to an acknowledgement that other national standards are not always being met. The three authorities have performed well in relation to prompt submission of social enquiry reports.

Effective practice

The partnership uses the tool LSI-R to assess risk of re-offending and criminogenic need. The YLS/CMI version is used for 16-18 year olds. Other risk assessment tools used include the Scottish Executive risk assessment framework, the 'Change' domestic violence assessment, the Dunscore risk of custody scale, and Tayprep 30 and Matrix 2000 for sex offenders.

The partnership recently reviewed aspects of its core services. Probation is well targeted though there are inconsistencies in service provision and in the way orders are enforced and performance monitored. Similar inconsistencies were uncovered in respect of Supervised Attendance Orders. The review recommends a 'pan Ayrshire' approach to the development of core services. In addition, a review of Court services addresses the current anomaly of two local authorities providing a service at one sheriff court. A review of Community Service is not yet complete.

There are a number of new initiatives. Already up and running are an intensive probation project for young offenders and an Ayrshire wide bail service. An Ayrshire wide Drug Treatment and Testing Order scheme will be introduced later in the year. Criminal Justice and Children and Family teams are co-operating in developing youth justice services, including implementing the Fast Track Children's hearing pilot project and introducing the Intensive Probation Project for young offenders. The 'Change' domestic violence programme is scheduled to commence early next year within South Ayrshire Council with a view to subsequent roll out across the partnership. A post has been funded to help create a pathway for a joint health/social work forensic team. The Progress 2 Work service (for those with drug problems) is now in place across Ayrshire, complementing the existing employment initiative commissioned from Apex.

All these initiatives show that the partnership is putting significant effort into service development. The evidence suggests, however, that that there is still some way to go in developing both a consistent and comprehensive set of services across the partnership and a consistent approach to monitoring standards and effectiveness. There have been some difficulties with staff sickness and recruitment but it is concerning that there have been delays in allocating offenders to community service and problems in meeting other national standards.

Public protection

The partnership is developing a service for sex offenders. The so-called Ayrshire 'Change' initiative (not to be confused with the domestic violence initiative) has commissioned a State Hospital psychologist to develop a 2-1 programme for use with sex offenders. The programme is intended to meet the particular needs of staff working with sex offenders in rural areas and the plan is to submit it for accreditation during 2004.

Quality assurance

Some work has begun across the partnership in developing systems to evaluate outcomes. The introduction of practitioner based management information systems will assist in this.

Human Resource

Structure of the workforce

During 2000 to 2002, South Ayrshire had a very low vacancy rate - two out of 102 social workers-in spite of increasing its establishment by 30 whole time equivalent. It has very little problem in recruiting staff, even among children and families which are pressure points for most authorities. However, there are problems in keeping staff in community care, particularly those working with older people.

Social work is structured by four service functions - adult care, older people's services, criminal justice and children and families. Partly as a policy to keep staff, the Council has created an enhanced post of senior practitioner to support complex cases, staff development and practice learning.

The latest figures provided by the Council but not yet confirmed suggest that, between October 2002 and the end of June 2003, vacancy levels increased slightly from two to six. In 2002, the Council lost nine social workers but recruited 17. The Council tries to recruit local people, often from speculative applications, on the basis that they are more likely to stay in the area than outsiders.

No age profile of staff is available.

The Council has adopted a new centralised, more active approach to absence management (in 2002, the absence rate was 7.12% for APT&C-grade staff). This involves developing a centralised data base, reporting to managers every fortnight and involving occupational health at an earlier stage. The system is supported by a dedicated member of staff. In 2003, the absence rate has dropped to 5.8% for APT&C staff, but has risen from 6.5% to 8.1% for manual staff.

Support for staff

The Council places great emphasis on making sure that staff are properly supported and given the opportunity to develop. It does this in a number of ways.

• Each service team has a senior practitioner who works with new staff and makes sure they have a limited workload and an agreed personal development plan.
• Development plans are evaluated each year and reviewed every six months.
• A staff appraisal system is being introduced throughout the Council, although it will take some time to reach Social Work.
• Supervision of staff is mandatory, takes place at least monthly and is recorded in writing. Senior social workers and functional managers are also supervised.
• Considerable emphasis is put on team-working, and staff receive further support through a 'buddying system'.
• Social Workers are treated as key staff, with enhanced conditions such as car leasing.
• Mental Health Officers receive 750 a year and practice teachers receive 750 for each placement.
• Staff have access to occupational health and corporate training on managing stress.

Working towards a more highly qualified workforce

Lack of time within a very tight management structure has meant that there is no formal social work training plan, but despite limited resources, senior management give staff training and development a high priority. One of the reasons for South Ayrshire's unusually low vacancy rate is its emphasis on training unskilled staff. Since 2000, the Council has supported 16 trainees on the DipSW course and expects 12 to qualify in 18 months. This has meant providing a lot of support to some of the less qualified trainees. Unlike other authorities, the Council now has more qualified social workers than social work assistants, and so is in danger of running out of staff to train as social workers. The Council is also particularly committed to providing good quality practice placements which are supported by senior practitioners and their teams.

Preparing for Registration

The Council has made sure that the Codes of Conduct for Employers have been discussed at different levels in the Council. They expect that some issues will need to be settled, such as the disciplinary effects of the code which are being taken forward by Human Resources. The Council has carried out an audit of staff qualifications and will need to bring 700 staff, mainly residential staff, up to standard for registration with the Scottish Social Services Council. The Council already has a strong emphasis on SVQ accreditation and is confident it can meet the qualification requirements of registration. However, the Council is concerned about those staff who will not want to register and who will need to be found new jobs, which is difficult in a relatively small authority.

Race Equality

In South Ayrshire, 0.7% of the local population are from a minority ethnic group, compared with 2% for Scotland as a whole.

Under a corporate Race Equality Scheme, departmental action plans will be monitored through the Council's performance monitoring and planning system.

A new programme of Race and Equality training has been put in place by the South Ayrshire Community Safety Partnership. They launched the programme in December 2002, and it has provided training from the Council and partner organisations in the statutory and voluntary sector. Funding is in place for partners (South Ayrshire Council, NHS Ayrshire and Arran, Strathclyde Police and Strathclyde Fire Brigade) to continue training throughout 2003.

Discussions have taken place with other Ayrshire councils and community planning partners, with a view to developing an Ayrshire Race Equality Partnership.

Use of Information Communications Technology (ICT)

Social Services Department

Social workers have full access to computers and to the Intranet. Access to the Internet depends on approval by senior officers. The corporate ICT strategy covers Social Work. The Council is to introduce the Oracle system for finance, human resources, workflow and call centres. Meantime, Social Work is upgrading its social work information system (SWIS), starting with criminal justice and extending to other services by summer 2004.

Partnerships

There is a protocol between Social Work and the NHS for sharing information which relates to older people. The partners also use a standard consent form. The Single Shared Assessment (SSA) shares information manually at the moment and confidentiality issues have been difficult to overcome. South Ayrshire does not have a secure electronic system, but through MGF2 funding the Council is exploring a secure electronic process for SSA. Training in SSA has been used to cover information-sharing. Moving to the electronic system will mean more training for health and social work staff.

Other uses of ICT include the 'smart homes technologies initiative'. This was a relatively small pilot scheme, involving 22 service users, and was aimed at older people. However, it quickly developed towards supplying services for people with disabilities, including learning disabilities, from a much wider age group. The pilot was a success and the results were published in February 2003.

Background Profile

South Ayrshire is a mainly rural area and most of its population live in coastal towns, with the rest spread over a number of smaller towns and villages inland. The number of jobs in the production and construction industries fell by 26% between 1995 and 2001.

South Ayrshire contains a mix of urban and rural communities and of advantaged and deprived areas. The number of recorded crimes is below the Scottish average. South Ayrshire has one of the lowest rates of drug misuse.

Spending for every person on social work in 2001-2002 was 253, compared to 267 for Scotland as a whole.

Expected population change

Community Care

In the period 1999-2002 expenditure on community care services rose gradually.

Children and Young People

Expenditure on children's services almost doubled in the period 1999-2002.

Criminal Justice

Human Resources

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