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National Objectives for Social Work Services in the Criminal Justice System: Standards - General Issues
CHAPTER 3: ORGANISATION AND MANAGEMENT
General Principles
14. The organisation of local authority criminal justice social work services should be based on the following principles:
14.1 local authorities are responsible for the organisation and management of their staff and for the services which they provide;
14.2 the Secretary of State is responsible for setting national objectives, priorities, targets and standards for the delivery of criminal justice social work services, and is accountable to Parliament for the effective use of the central government funds paid to local authorities to provide these services:;
14.3 the courts and criminal justice agencies have a right to expect services from local authority social work departments, and those who provide services on their behalf, which meet their requirements in terms of their range, quantity and quality.
14.4 criminal justice social work services must be organised in such a way that sentencers and criminal justice agencies have confidence in their availability and effectiveness. Local authorities therefore need to take account of their views in the way services are structured. In particular they need to take account of the clear view of sentencers that the services should be provided by social workers with specialised knowledge and experience of these services organised in such a way that they can devote very much the greater part of their time to these services and can always give priority to this work without being diverted on to other work.
National Standards
15 The arrangements adopted by local authorities for organising and managing their services are critical to the achievement of a consistent quality of service throughout Scotland. The Secretary of State can only pay grant if satisfied with the standard of service and the arrangements made to provide it. The following standard are there intended to ensure that local authorities make appropriate arrangements for these services. They will also be used in judging the extent of which the arrangements made by individual authorities meet the objectives of the Secretary of State.
16 Each local authority should have a strategic plan outlining its objectives, priorities, and targets for social work services in the criminal justice system. The detailed arrangements for this are set out in paragraphs 49-70.
17 Costing Systems should exist to enable those services directly funded by Central Government to be clearly distinguishable from other social work services provided by local authorities. They should be accurately costed, and adequately resourced in accordance with national objectives, priorities and standards, within the constraints imposed by available resources. The detailed arrangements are set out in the section on finance.
18 The organisation and management of these services should be fully aligned with systems for the organisation and management of all Social Work Services provided by the local authority, including arrangements for strategic oversight and review of social work services generally.
19 Whatever organisation models are adopted, the roles and responsibilities of staff concerned with social work services in the criminal justice system must be clearly stated, in terms of service delivery, management, co-ordination, policy planning, service development, monitoring and evaluation, staff development and training, research, and quality assurance. There should be clear lines of accountability.
20 Maximum use should be made of those resources available elsewhere in the local authority on the wider community where needed to deliver effective social work services to offenders and their families.
21 Organisational arrangements for service delivery should also provide sufficient scope for social work providing centrally funded services to undertake related work in individual cases (e.g. where within an offender's family there are difficulties such as mental health or addictions problems) and for other staff dealing with a family where offending arises to participate in this area of work (e.g. SERs, accommodation, mental health and addictions).
22 Staffing arrangements should be such that staff at each level have the knowledge, experience and skills to carry out the tasks required. Their time should be safeguarded against demands from other areas of social work activity so that their criminal justice work has priority.
23 Senior posts carry responsibility for criminal justice which are created or become vacant under the new funding arrangements must be filled by open competition.
24 Recruitment, induction and in-service training strategies must be in place which ensure that staff at each level in the organisational structure who have responsibility for social work services in the criminal justice system have the knowledge and competencies needed to do the job properly.
25 Career development strategies should facilitate staff mobility across the range of social work activities in the criminal justice system, and between these and other social work service areas.
26 Good liaison arrangements should exist with the other agencies in the criminal justice system to ensure that their views are taken into account in the planning and delivery of services. This is dealt with more fully at paragraphs 140-148.
27 Publicity of this area of work should be arranged by each local authority in order to promote the general public's understanding of, and support for, these services.
The Application of National Standards
28 Given the variety of organisational structures which already exist or are developing, it will be for each authority to decide on the detailed service arrangements necessary in their area. Each local authority will also consult with SWSG about the organisational and management systems they propose to adopt under the 100% funding arrangements. They will also be further periodic reviews of these systems. Such reviews will normally form part of central government's programme of service inspections but can be undertaken at other times at the request of either the local authorities of the Secretary of State. Their purpose will be consider the suitability of the existing structures in the light of the experience, including any changes in the nature and scale of service demand.
29 The following paragraphs set out the main features of the organisation arrangements which the Government considers necessary to deliver effective services. They are intended to provide a framework for the local organisation of services, adapted to individual circumstances.
29.1 the appointment of sufficient staff at each level in the organisation to ensure that the requirements of service delivery across the whole range of social work services in the criminal justice system are met These services include diversion from prosecution, court services, supervised attendance orders, probation, Community Service, throughcare, and associated support services provided within and outwith the department.
29.2 the appointment of specialist staff devoted to criminal justice work. These services should normally be provided by specialist staff devoted full time to such work, particularly in the more urban areas. This will include some staff whose time is devoted wholly to centrally funded services and other staff whose responsibilities combine both centrally and locally funded criminal justice services. A more flexible approach will be required in smaller more rural areas but should include the allocation of criminal justice related work to the minimum number of staff in each team to achieve an efficient and effective service in the criminal justice system. In all areas workload measures should be in place to ensure that centrally funded services can be distinguished and costed. An important feature of staff organisation should be arrangements which will avoid staffing being diverted on to other work in such a way as to reduce the effectiveness of their work on criminal justice services.
29.3 the work of practitioners concerned with the delivery of the above service is organised in such a way as to achieve a coherent approach to service delivery. In the larger areas, this will frequently result in the appointment of staff experienced in this area of work to head specialist teams, one of which might be a Community Service team. In the smaller more rural areas, it is likely to lead to the amalgamation of staff concerned with various aspects of work in the criminal justice system under a single team leader, again experienced in this area of work. Specialist team leaders may not be required in the smallest areas. Judgements about whether these frontline managers should also carry a caseload would depend mainly on the extent of their management responsibilities.
29.4 where there is more than one operational management tier between team leaders and senior managers, eg. a divisional and/or district tier, it is likely that efficiency will require the appointment of staff at the middle management tier mainly devoted to this area of work. Where there is only one middle management tier, eg. at area management level, it may be that these functions can be fulfilled by specialist team leaders. When neither of these situations apply, it will be essential to ensure that sufficient resources are deployed at senior management level to give the necessary attention to criminal justice services.
29.5 responsibility for criminal justice social work services in terms of national standards and 100% funding rests with the same officer who has management responsibility within the authority for social work services overall. It is also expected that special responsibility for these services will also be vested in one member of the senior management team. This person will require sufficient time and other resources to fulfil the required functions effectively. In a number of authorities this may require a full-time appointment. In other authorities, the development of criminal justice teams headed by the responsible criminal justice service manager, typically including appointments at principal office and assistant principal officer level, with adequate administrative and clerical support, may offset the need for full-time appointments at this level.
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