Agenda item

To submit a joint report by the Director of Social Services and the Head of Children and Families Services.

The report of the Director of Social Services outlining the progress of improvements to date within Social Services was presented for the Executive’s consideration.

The Head of Children and Families’ Services reported that there are four elements to the update as follows –

•           Care Inspectorate Wales (CIW) Local Authority Performance Review – the Council received its Annual CIW Local Authority Performance Review Letter during late October, 2019; the letter provided feedback on inspection and performance evaluation activity completed during the year as well as on progress the local authority has made in implementing recommendations from inspections and/or child and adult practice reviews and it also outlined the Inspectorate’s forward work programme. The report sets out the key messages from the review letter across both Adults and Children’s Services under the four principles of the Social Services and Wellbeing (Wales) Act 2014 – Wellbeing; People - Voices and Choice; Prevention, and Partnerships along with the Service’s response to the issues raised.

•           Care Inspectorate Wales feedback on 2 days monitoring in IoACC Children’s Services Letter dated 25 October, 2019 which included evaluating case files and interviewing  Operational Team Managers and Independent Reviewing Officers – the feedback letter states that CIW’s findings indicate a service on a positive journey of improvement underpinned by leaders and managers who are taking responsibility for driving improvements. The letter further highlights good pieces of work as well as areas requiring improvement which are detailed in the report.

•           Collaboration with Voices from Care Wales (an all Wales voluntary agency which works with looked after children on promoting their rights and improving services provided for them) – the report provides an update on the progress made with Voices from Care Wales in establishing a monthly participation group for looked after children and young people aged 14 to 22 to support Ynys Môn in developing a Looked After Children and Care Leavers’ Strategy.

•           Quality Assurance – the report provides an update on the work of the Safeguarding and Improvement Unit including the implementation of the Quality Improvement Framework.

Councillor Aled Morris Jones, Chair of the Corporate Scrutiny Committee reported that the Committee in considering the progress report at its meeting on 9 March, 2020 had confirmed that it was satisfied with the pace of progress and improvements to date in Social Services and had acknowledged the work being done.

The Executive in considering the information presented noted that it makes reference to the Improvement Cycle being strengthened and it sought clarification of how this is evidenced and whether the Service is satisfied with the progress being made in this respect. The Head of Children and Families’ Services said that the Service has consolidated the informal quality assurance arrangements that were in place three years ago into a formal framework which sets out the approach to improvement and to evidencing that in practice. The improvement cycle has been further strengthened by learning from complaints, by increased involvement of social care workers as well as managers in quality assurance with quality assurance activity e.g. audits undertaken “with” rather than “to” staff. The involvement of partners also makes quality assurance more holistic. The Quality Assurance document is not fixed – it evolves as the service moves forwards and is regularly adapted to ensure that it continues to drive service improvement. Many of the Services’ practice standards are assessed against the Quality Assurance document.

The Executive accepted the clarification further noting that lessons learnt from the findings of audit work need to be captured in an action plan and supported by appropriate mitigation measures which then become an integral part of future work. It would be helpful if the Executive was to be provided on a half yearly or yearly basis with an update to show what has been learnt and how the learning has then been embedded and evidenced in social work practice. 

It was resolved to confirm that the Executive is satisfied with the pace of progress and improvements made to date within both Adults’ Services and the Children and Families’ Services.