Social Work And Health Committee - 23/08/2010

At a MEETING of the SOCIAL WORK AND HEALTH COMMITTEE held at Dundee on 23rd August, 2010.

Present:-

BAILIES

COUNCILLORS

Councillor Jim BARRIE, Convener, in the Chair.

The minute of meeting of this Committee of 28th June, 2010 was held as read.

Unless marked thus * all items stand delegated.

I CUSTOMER RESULTS: HOW WELL ARE WE DOING? - FINDINGS FROM SERVICE USERS AND CARERS SURVEYS

There was submitted Report No 415-2010 by the Director of Social Work summarising the findings from two recently conducted customer surveys. The surveys were carried out to determine service users' and carers' perceptions of Social Work services in Dundee. Full survey reports had been sent to the Lord Provost, Depute Lord Provost and each of the Group Leaders.

The Committee agreed:-

(i) to note the high levels of customer satisfaction with Social Work services;

(ii) to note the improvements compared to the 2007 results;

(iii) to note the favourable comparisons with the Social Work Inspection Agency's nationally reported findings;

(iv) to remit the Director of Social Work to determine the approaches necessary for continuous improvement;

(v) to remit the Director of Social Work to consider alternative methodologies to determine customer results in relation to Children's Services; and

(vi) to remit the Director of Social Work to make these customer results available to the Social Work Inspection Agency (SWIA) at the Initial Scrutiny Level Assessment (ISLA) stage of their performance improvement process. This was the stage at which SWIA assesses the required amount of external scrutiny of Social Work services.

II SOCIAL WORK - A STRATEGY FOR LEARNING AND WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT 2009/2014

There was submitted Report No 356-2010 by the Director of Social Work presenting Dundee City Council Social Work Department's Learning and Workforce Development Strategy 2009/2014 and to seek approval for the implementation of the strategy. A copy of the Strategy had been given to the Lord Provost, Depute Lord Provost and each of the Group Leaders.

The Committee agreed:-

(i) to the implementation of the strategy;

(ii) the strategic direction of the Learning and Workforce Development Service in Social Work;

(iii) to support the priorities outlined in the strategy;

(iv) the implementation of the proposed projects outlined in the strategy; and

(v) the development of the performance indicators and the establishment of baseline information relating to Learning and Workforce Development.

III THE CHILDRENS RIGHTS SERVICE ANNUAL REPORT

There was submitted Report No 354-2010 by the Director of Social Work informing of the work undertaken by the Children's Rights Officer for Children and Young People Looked After by Dundee City Council for the year 2009/2010.

The Committee agreed to note and approve the annual report on the work of the Children's Rights Officer for the period 1st April, 2009 to 31st March, 2010.

Jim BARRIE, Convener.