Cooperation vital to protect children as local government cuts bite

Safeguarding children must be a shared responsibility or performance could suffer warn the Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA) and the Association of Directors of Social Services Cymru (ADSS).

The WLGA and ADSS Cymru is today warning that unless the public sector in Wales embraces a shared responsibility for safeguarding children, with all partners equally committed to working collaboratively then performance could suffer.

Responding to the publication of today’s report into children’s services by the Care and Social Services Inspectorate Wales (CSSIW), Cllr Meryl Gravell (Carmarthenshire), WLGA Spokesperson for Social Services said:

"Safeguarding children must become everyone’s business not just local authority social services and we urge our public sector partners across the NHS, Welsh Assembly Government, Police and Youth Justice to make it equally their business. If collectively we fail to do this then performance could suffer as a consequence.

"Today’s report by the CSSIW confirms the good work of all agencies in responding to the initial risks of harm faced by children and young people and once again highlights the measures and improved processes being put in place by Welsh local authority Social Services to safeguard children and improve their experience of care.

"This year’s performance indicators for local government (2008-09) support this fact and depict a service that has taken hold of the challenge to improve with significant improvements seen over the last year in children’s services.

Highlighting the key challenges for social services over the next five years she said:

"We have much to be proud of in this report and must pay tribute to our social workers who continue to work diligently with families to protect children. Every year, many children are protected, families supported, lives restored to safety and independence by the early intervention of social workers. However, this does not negate the need to strive for future improvement and the Social Services Improvement Agency continues to support authorities in areas identified as needing ongoing improvement.

"For some time, local authorities have been emphasising the need for better collaborative working to cope with growing service and financial pressures. Indeed, local authorities are already working more collaboratively with one another to exchange good practice and to drive up performance standards by addressing issues of performance variability. Over recent months the WLGA has held several discussions with both ADSS Cymru and the CSSIW and work has now started to exchange performance information at a national and local level.

"We call upon the Welsh Assembly Government to demonstrate a more robust partnership approach when it comes to the safeguarding agenda by ensuring that the Local Safeguarding Boards are included in the terms of reference for its forthcoming Commission for social care.

"Last week’s provisional local government settlement is the precursor of much worse to come for local authorities over the next few years. The last few years have already been very tough but by becoming more efficient, working more closely together and by prioritising our resources we have managed to protect vital front line services such as children’s services. However, the stark reality is that we will not be able to maintain this given the predictions for future settlements, growing pressures across most social care areas and with social care funding already running on empty."

Responding to the report, Neelam Bhardwaja, President of ADSS Cymru said:

"ADSS Cymru welcomes today’s CSSIW Safeguarding Report. I am very pleased the report highlights that social workers and social services are responding well at the front door of child protection, and children and young people in Wales who are at risk of harm are being safeguarded effectively when risk of abuse comes to light.

“We recognise that one of the central messages of the report is the need for all agencies within and outside local authorities to place safeguarding as their on going first priority in order to ensure the best results for the most vulnerable children in our society. We are committed to continuing this improvement in joint working in the interests of children and young people and recognise the need for this to be evidenced not only in practical performance but also in cohesive central policy."

For more information on today’s reports click here

Factfile:

Key improvements highlighted within the Performance Indicators for 2008-09 include:

• 95%, almost all referrals to children’s services were processed within one working day, an improvement on the figure of 93% for 2007-08, and consolidation of the overall trend of improvement in recent years.

• 92% of children entering care had a care plan in place at the time of their first placement; this is on a par with 2007-08 and remains higher than in the 2 previous years.

• 91.4% of reviews of children in care were also carried out as required compared to 89.8% in 2007-08.

• The percentage of children in care experiencing 3 or more placements during the year fell from 10.3% to 9.7% in 2008-09.

• Similarly, 13.5% of children in care experienced one or more changes of school compared to 14.4% in the previous year.

• The number of children that are looked after by a local authority who leave school with no qualification has fallen to 12.1% from 14% in 2006-07 and 18.1% in 2005-06, thus demonstrating local government’s continuing commitment to its corporate parenting role.