20/11/03 - Cumbria County Council Leader Statement

Today, Cumbria County Council Leader, Rex Toft made the following statement at a meeting of the Full Council in Kendal.   

“Performance ratings of Social Services Departments were published on 13 November 2003.

Disappointingly Cumbria Social Services received a performance rating of no stars.  The judgement of Social Services Inspectorate in relation to Children’s Services was that people were not being served well and the capacity for improvement was poor. 

Cumbria Social Services was one of 8 authorities given a zero star rating. This assessment of Cumbria Social Services came as a shock to Members and came about as a result of a recent review of Children’s Services conducted by the SSI as part of their inspection process.  

Members had been given no warning that the situation was as serious as we are now told that it is.  On the contrary, Members were advised that the situation was being managed and was under control.

Interestingly, within the last few days the Audit Commission has just issued a report on Social Services of Cumbria County Council for 2002/03 which does not state that the system in place is unsafe.  On the contrary, there are a number of references to good progress being made and to many of our weaknesses being addressed.   There are also encouraging references to the Directorate working hard to develop arrangements for delivering services in partnership with NHS colleagues and there are other encouraging comments as well as a recognition that financial and management information systems are not well developed and not capable of supporting resources utilisation effectively.  The clear thrust of the Audit Commission Report is that progress is being made.

The inspection report from the SSI will not be available for publication until early February.  Nevertheless, Headline Feedback has been shared with Officers and Members of the Authority and serious concerns on some key issues have been raised.

The key concerns raised relate to:

• Lack of systematic implementation of the obligatory National Assessment Framework.
  
  
• Lack of cohesive strategic planning.
  
  
• Poor data collection and performance management systems.
  
  
• Development of multi-agency working is patchy rather than part of a cohesive policy and strategy.
  
  
• Assessment, care planning and care recording is poor.
  
  
• Poor administrative and managerial systems, which failed to ensure practice issues, are addressed.  

The most worrying concern raised was that the Council could not guarantee its systems were effective in safeguarding children.

The Council had commissioned an independent review of Children’s Services, which reported in the summer of 2003, and this identified many of the concerns raised by the Social Services Inspectorate but did not report that the system was unsafe.  This review resulted in a performance improvement plan, which was brought forward to Cabinet for approval in September 2003.  Whilst work was underway in respect of this action plan when the SSI inspectors visited in October, there was insufficient evidence of progress against the action plan to affect the judgement of the SSI.

It should be recognised that the problems have a long history as identified in previous SSI reports and assessments.  This relates to the long-term under-funding of Social Services and the lack of investment in the infrastructure of the Department.

This has been partly addressed by the present Administration which has tackled the serious under funding of our Children’s Services by increasing resources by 8% in our first year, by 13% in our second year – that is to say we have increased the budget by 21% in the two year period of the present Administration.

Our priority is to prepare an action plan and that has now been drafted and is being progressed vigorously.

Meetings will be held with the SSI to ensure that any action plan and timescale is agreed, and endorsed, and negotiations will be held to determine whether any additional support and resources can be made available from the Department of Health to ensure that Cumbria moves forward rapidly.

Steps to appoint a new Director of Social Services are in hand, and a meeting of the Chief Officers Panel is being called at an early date.

It is important for me to assure the people of Cumbria that Cumbria County Council is determined to improve Children’s Services and to do our utmost to guarantee that children will be safeguarded throughout the county. 

I want to acknowledge that much excellent work is being undertaken by Social Workers across the county, working under extreme pressure.  Social Workers are highly qualified and dedicated.  Working with abandoned children, disadvantaged families, people plagued by drug dependency and other problems is not easy. I pay tribute to them and will do what I can to ensure that they have the support which they need.  The biggest problem identified by this inspection is that the systems and procedures are not in place to enable the Social Workers to carry out their demanding role efficiently and effectively.

When an action plan is agreed with the SSI to address these key concerns, this will be monitored and reviewed by Cabinet on a regular basis until the service meets the required standard.”