The Scottish Government

« Previous | Contents |

Listen

What is a performance inspection?

The Social Work Inspection Agency ( SWIA) is carrying out performance inspections of all local authority social work services in Scotland.

SWIA gathers and analyses a wide selection of information about a local authority and the social work services it provides or is responsible for. The inspection findings are published in a report that identifies strengths as well as areas for improvement.

This leaflet summarises some key findings of the inspection of East Lothian Council's social work services, which are set out in the full report published in February 2008.

East Lothian Council will produce an action plan in response to the inspection report. The plan will set out how any necessary changes are to be made. Once the plan is agreed, SWIA and the council will monitor the implementation of the plan together.

If you would like a copy of the full report, or would like to know more about SWIA, please contact:

Corporate Manager
Social Work Inspection Agency

0131 244 4885
Fax: 0131 244 5496
E-mail:info@swia.gsi.gov.uk
Website:www.swia.gov.uk

Inspection findings

East Lothian Council's children's services and adult social care delivered good outcomes for many people who used services. East Lothian's performance on the educational attainment of looked after children and some of the outcomes for adults with learning disabilities, were amongst the best in Scotland. Adult social care had a made a commendable effort to improve the numbers of separate carers assessments they did. Overall service users reported they had had a good experience using social work services.

We found the workforce was committed and motivated. Children's services and adult social care needed to develop a clear overarching vision that all of their staff could own. We found there had been significant issues with corporate leadership and support for social work and social care in East Lothian. There were hopeful signs that the position was improving. An example of this was the drive and commitment of the new elected administration.

Children's services was ahead of adult social care on performance management. Adult social care acknowledged they needed to catch up.

Children's services and adult social care needed to write a joint commissioning strategy. Adult social care and its NHS partners were working with the Scottish Government's Joint Improvement Team to develop a commissioning strategy for older people.

Seven of our nineteen recommendations are in the key processes section. There were a number of areas for improvement such as:

• The application of the eligibility criteria for children's services and adult social care needed to be reviewed
• The deployment of staff and establishment for adult social care social workers needed to be reviewed so that the service could meet the terms of the national care home contract
• When children were in need of protection, children services and substance misuse services needed to always communicate together and share information effectively
• East Lothian's adult protection procedure needed to be used appropriately.

Some examples of good services delivered by social work services and partner agencies

The children's services integration team supported children and families. Vulnerable families got support at an early stage to deal with their problems.

The looked after children education project helped to raise the educational attainment of looked after children (especially looked after and accommodated children) through five key areas:

• Identifying children who were not attaining their expected literacy levels and providing enhanced opportunities to help meet their expected levels
• Supporting children who were at risk of exclusion by contributing to robust packages of support in schools
• Book token scheme
• Multi-agency training programme for staff
• Training for carers in approaches to promote literacy.

We thought the child and adolescent mental health service was a good example of effective interagency working. This service supported children who had mental health problems and their families.

A member of children's services staff had put together a monthly digest of key performance information for children's services. They used an Excel spreadsheet. The monthly digest had information about trends, i.e. were things getting better or worse. Balanced scorecard information was included. This monthly digest was widely circulated. Key performance information was also given to the public.

Some people with learning disabilities had been involved in staff selection processes, and interviewed candidates for jobs. One had been involved in selection of their own care staff.

« Previous | Contents |