Time to value social services says WLGA
04 September 2008
Local councils are best placed to deliver the right care and support to vulnerable people across Wales. This key message has been reinforced today by the WLGA after rejecting claims about poor social services performance by certain Assembly Members following a debate this week in Cardiff.
Cllr Meryl Gravell (Carmarthenshire), WLGA Social Services Spokesperson said:
“The latest annual report by the Care and Social Services Inspectorate Wales (CSSIW) concluded that the performance of local authority social services has shown continued improvement over the last year and that the overall baseline of performance has been raised.”
“Scrutiny plays an integral role in a local authority’s improvement journey. It is meant to be challenging and robust as it provides the constructive process for improving services. Whilst the overall social services picture across Wales is one of improvement, inevitably scrutiny reports will show variations in performance. However, this does not mean that a council does not have the overall leadership, exchange of practice or effective partnerships in place to deliver long-term overall improvements. Cardiff Council’s approach to scrutiny is award winning and recognised by the UK Centre for Public Scrutiny. It shows the council is on the right track for improving services.”
“We fully accept the media’s role in reporting publicly on any gaps in performance but some of this week’s media coverage has been a little sensational to say the least. All the hard evidence through independent regulation and inspection shows that councils are serving many people well. It’s a shame that despite many of our successes we are all too often disproportionately judged by our gaps in performance, which we are addressing through effective self-monitoring and transparent processes.”
“It has become fashionable to knock social services no matter how hard the workforce seeks to improve or deliver a difficult range of services in an increasingly tight financial environment. Perhaps national politicians should be equally forthcoming in celebrating the real improvements across Wales instead of constantly portraying this key service in a negative way. This kind of reporting does nothing for the morale of a whole range of staff who are making huge efforts to undertake this challenging job.”
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Notes to editors
Local authorities gained national recognition in the most recent Social Care Accolades in 2007: Blaenau Gwent won the ‘Offering Opportunity, Changing Changes’ category: Merthyr Tydfil won the ‘Learning about Caring, Caring about Learning’ award; and Rhondda Cynon Taf won awards for ‘Investing in the Workforce’ and the ‘Working Together’ award, whilst Ceredigion won a Special Recognition Award.