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CHAPTER 2: Context
Introduction
The inspection of Midlothian Council's social work division took place between February and May 2008. Our inspection team consisted of Social Work Inspection Agency ( SWIA) inspectors, an associate inspector, three sessional inspectors and a carer inspector.
During the inspection we read a wide selection of material about the local authority and the social work services it provided or commissioned. We analysed questionnaires received from staff, adults who use services, carers and stakeholders. Together with some staff from Midlothian social work division we spent four days examining case files. The team then spent a further two weeks in Midlothian looking at services as part of a fieldwork exercise.
During fieldwork, we spoke to people who use services, their carers and people who were responsible for delivering or arranging services. We met with representatives from a range of organisations and groups as well as elected members and other stakeholders. We also visited places providing social work services and people's homes when they received services there. As a result, we collected an extensive range of evidence that informed the content, evaluation and recommendations contained in this report.
This report is not a detailed description of all the social work services in Midlothian. It gives an overview and concentrates on the work being undertaken with people who need assistance and the areas where improvements are needed. It does not duplicate the inspection of services which are regulated by the Scottish Commission for the Regulation of Care (Care Commission) and Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education ( HMIE). In order to achieve this, the Care Commission and HMIE provided us with information about their inspection reports from Midlothian Council.
Area Profile
Midlothian has a population of 79,510 and covers 354 square kilometres. The population density is 225 people per square kilometre.
The population of Midlothian has decreased by 1.78% since 2001, while overall, Scotland's population has increased by 1.58% 1. In Midlothian, 61.2% of the population are of working age. This compares with a national figure of 62.7%. In Midlothian, 19.4% of the population are of pensionable age (Scotland's figure is 19.45%), while 19.4% are under the age of 16 (Scotland's figure is 17.8%).
From the 2006-based population projections 2, the population of Midlothian is projected to decrease by 1% by 2016 and decrease by 3% by 2026. The equivalent national projections are an increase of 3% by 2016 and an increase of 5% by 2026.
Midlothian's under 16 population is projected to decrease by 9.0% by 2016 and decrease by 10.3% by 2026. The equivalent national figures are a decrease of 2.8% by 2016 and a decrease of 3.8% by 2026.
The working age population of Midlothian is projected to decrease by 1.3% by 2016 and decrease by 6.09% by 2026. The equivalent figures for Scotland are an increase of 2.81% by 2016 and a increase of 3.1% by 2026.
Midlothian's population of pensionable age is projected to increase by 10.7% by 2016 and increase by 16.4% by 2026. The equivalent figures for Scotland are an increase of 9.08% by 2016 and an increase of 18.39% by 2026. More specifically, Midlothian's 75+ population is projected to increase by 26.13% by 2016 and increase by 73.75% by 2026. The equivalent national figures are an increase of 21.4% by 2016 and an increase of 62.7% by 2026.
According to 2001 national census report, those from a minority ethnic background make up 0.8% of Midlothian's population, less than the Scotland figure of 2%.
The main towns in Midlothian are Dalkeith (38,230) 3, Penicuik (15,680) Loanhead (6,290) and Gorebridge (5,510). The south of Midlothian is predominantly rural with a low population density that is spread amongst a number of small villages and hamlets.
The number of data zones in Midlothian that belonged to the most deprived 15% of all Scottish data zones, as measured by Scottish index of multiple deprivation, increased from 1 in 2004 to 5 in 2006. The population in Midlothian living in these deprived areas increased from 809 to 3,832 - a four-fold increase compared with a national decrease of 4%. Midlothian's share of the 15% most deprived data zones increased from 0.1% in 2004 to 0.5% in 2006 4.
The employment rate in Midlothian is 82% compared to the Scottish rate of 76%. The claimant count unemployment rate in Midlothian is 1.6%. This is lower than the Scotland rate of 2.6%. The claimant count unemployment rate in Midlothian has decreased by only 1.2 percentage points since 1999 - much slower than the fall for Scotland as a whole. Claimant count unemployment amongst 18-24s in Midlothian has risen by 4% in the last year compared to a fall in Scotland as a whole. The long term claimant count unemployment in Midlothian has fallen faster than Scotland as a whole in the last year. 5
Organisation of social work services
Midlothian Council was formed in 1996 as a result of local government reorganisation. Social work became a stand-alone division within the council in October 2004 and details of the current structure of the division: children and families, community care and criminal justice services are shown in the chart at Appendix 4.
Dalkeith is the administrative centre for Midlothian Council. There are two Social Work offices in Midlothian, one in Dalkeith and one in Loanhead.
In March 2007, following an HMIE report into the council's child protection services 6, the director of social work, and the responsible elected member, stood down. Since that time an acting director has been in place and a business management approach adopted to progress the necessary improvements. The current elected member with the social work brief is appraised of, and engaged in, the business of the division.
Political structure
Midlothian Council operated a cabinet based decision making model working collaboratively with the council and performance review committee. Each of the seven cabinet members has a portfolio of responsibilities. There is one cabinet member with responsibility for both social work and health.
The council was made up of 18 elected members:
9 Labour
3 Liberal Democrats
6 SNP7
Inspection methodology and process
The structure of this report is based on the SWIA performance inspection model, which asks six key questions.
1. What key outcomes have we achieved?
2. What impact have we had on people who use services and other stakeholders?
3. How good is our delivery of key processes?
4. How good is our management?
5. How good is our leadership?
6. What is our capacity for improvement?
The following chapters address each of these questions in turn.
A more detailed description of the inspection methodology and the way in which we carried out our inspection are included in Appendix 2.
We did not look at criminal justice services as SWIA had completed an inspection of criminal justice services in Midlothian as part of the Lothian and Borders Consortium in 2005 8.
It should be noted that, unless we say otherwise, survey results for Midlothian are comparable with other authorities inspected to date.
Apart from this SWIA performance inspection, there are references in this report to other inspections of social work services in Midlothian:
HM inspectorate of education joint inspection of services to protect children and young people in the Midlothian Council area February 2007.
Social work inspection agency inspection of case files in the Midlothian Council social work division March 2007. This inspection was undertaken at the request of Scottish Government ministers to assess the work being done with service users other than child protection.
HM inspectorate of education joint interim follow-through inspection of services to protect children and young people in the Midlothian Council area March 2008.
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