CHAPTER 7
Leadership and direction
We rated performance in this area to be good, having important strengths with some areas for improvement.
At the time of our inspection, the council as a whole was emerging from a difficult period, brought about by a highly critical audit of best value and community planning. The more telling criticisms in the Audit Scotland report had not been directed at the social work service. Across the council, there were signs of improvement at service, corporate and community planning levels, although political tensions, and until recently, a lack of capacity at senior management level both corporately and within the service, had contrived to obstruct recovery. Despite this, signs of greater political stability were beginning to emerge.
Managers and front line staff had worked hard in this difficult and challenging context and had managed to provide good social work services.
We found a coherent set of values and aims and saw that Social Work and Health contributed well to the corporate and community planning agendas. Strategic partnerships were characterised by shared purpose and positive working relationships.
We found evidence of effective political scrutiny, but there was the potential for this to be undermined by a high degree of political conflict.
The role of the Chief Social Work Officer was effectively undertaken by the executive director of Social Work and Health. He intended to make aspects of the role more distinct and visible. He was well supported by senior managers.
Vision, values and aims
Promotion of vision and values
The stated vision of Social Work and Health in West Dunbartonshire reflected those statements made on behalf of the community planning partnership and local authority as a whole. This vision, set out in the social work service plan was 'to support individuals in communities, to be healthier, wealthier, fairer, safer, more tolerant and more inclusive'. Service plans also included a statement of values, derived from that developed by the British Association of Social Workers. These values included human dignity and worth, social justice, service to humanity, integrity and competence.
The single outcome agreement, including both national and local outcomes, reflected a number of key social work priorities and objectives included in the corporate plan - these in turn having being accepted as corporate priorities. These included:
- shifting the balance of care provision for older people towards care at home; and
- improving services to vulnerable children.
To varying degrees, all elected members and senior managers we spoke to were able to articulate and reflect key elements of this vision. In particular, the leader of the council saw people wanting to come and live in West Dunbartonshire as central to this. He regarded it as an important part of his role to improve how others perceived both the area and the council. He was well aware of West Dunbartonshire's poor health and social deprivation indicators and wanted the council to do all that it could, along with community planning partners, to make a real difference to people's quality of life. In that sense, he had a good grasp of delivering outcomes, and the important role and contribution of Social Work and Health in achieving this.
The chief executive expressed satisfaction with the contribution Social Work and Health made in identifying corporate priorities for the local authority. He was particularly positive in relation to the social work contribution to child protection. As chair of the chief officers group in West Dunbartonshire he was appreciative of the help and advice received from the head of children's services and criminal justice, who also chaired the child protection committee.
The establishment of the new corporate management team had signalled a move away from a group of managers primarily focused on their own services, to a team of directors taking on a more corporate level of responsibility within the local authority. This was regarded by a number of senior managers that we spoke to as facilitating an enhanced level of involvement by Social Work and Health across the corporate agenda. For example, we learned about the development of a series of elected member seminars, and were given the example of the executive director providing an input to a recently held seminar on the corporate debt policy. This provided the executive director with an opportunity to highlight the impact and potential consequences of corporate debt policy on vulnerable groups and, by implication, on social work services.
The links between the single outcome agreement and community planning partnership were still to be established. Progress in community planning had been hindered due to difficulties in recruiting a community planning manager (an appointment was subsequently made after the fieldwork stage of the inspection). All partners we spoke to expressed some optimism that previous difficulties were now being overcome.
The council and the service were at an early stage in developing their response to recent national policy on corporate parenting. This was acknowledged by the leader of the council, the chief executive and the executive director. This said, senior social work managers had started introducing the concept across the council, both amongst senior colleagues and elected members. Both elected members and senior managers in other services we spoke to were aware of their responsibilities to looked after children and young people. The council's generally strong performance in relation to the educational attainment of looked after and accommodated young people, and the positive outcomes being achieved by the throughcare and aftercare service with its partners provided evidence of actual good practice consistent with corporate parenting.
Leadership of people
Positive leadership culture
In what had been a very difficult period following the Audit Scotland report, we saw that senior managers, operational managers and front line staff in the social work service had worked hard and managed to maintain a good level of service to the public. The political instability during this period and the uncertainty that came with it had not always been conducive to effective planning and decision making around social work services.
The service's SMT had recently been bolstered and its capacity increased by the establishment of three new posts at head of service level. Prior to this, much of senior management responsibilities for the service rested with the current executive director and head of children and families and criminal justice services who had both worked in the service for a considerable time. We heard numerous positive comments from a range of staff and partners and stakeholder organisations about their key role in promoting, sustaining and supporting the social work services in difficult circumstances. The executive director was described as being very visible and approachable. Other organisations and agencies, and most notably the local ones commented on his commitment to partnership working. We heard nothing but very positive comments about the head of children and families and criminal justice services.
The executive director carried out the role of Chief Social Work Officer in West Dunbartonshire. The chief executive displayed a good understanding of the significance of this position within the council. He considered the fact that the director held the CSWO role helped in maintaining its profile. He had regular meetings with the executive director/Chief Social Work Officer every 4-6 weeks. In the course of the meetings, there was no differentiation between matters relating to the Chief Social Work Officer and those relating to the role of executive director.
At the corporate level it was evident that the two main political groups in the council were continuing to experience some significant difficulties in their working relationships. During the two weeks we spent in the authority, the administration survived a vote of no confidence. Many we spoke to - elected members, senior managers and front line staff - expressed guarded optimism that this vote would lead to a greater degree of stability and co-operation at elected member level for the remainder of the term of this council.
There was agreement that political differences had not normally spilt over into dealings on social work matters. At the meeting of the Social Work and Health committee we attended, we witnessed proper scrutiny, thoughtful debate and a level of agreement and understanding across the political groupings.
Involvement of staff
From staff focus groups, but less so from our survey, we found a largely positive view of senior managers amongst front line staff. The trade union representatives we met were a significant exception.
Staff views of elected members and the council's corporate leadership compared with managers in Social Work and Health were generally not positive. Views of elected members tended to be more positive amongst senior officers. Despite the fact that nearly all the elected members we met were highly complimentary and appreciative of the efforts of social work staff, most front line staff did not feel valued.
We also came across a perception from a number of sources that elected members continued to exercise undue interference in operational matters - resulting in some professional decisions being overturned. For example, one group of staff spoke of intervention by elected members leading to alterations to care packages, which did not match the assessment of need. This was considered by them to be unfair. Another group of front line staff gave examples of elected members overriding management decisions. They found this demoralising and added that the new administration was no improvement on the previous one.
Senior managers we spoke to, both within the service and corporately, told us that they were not aware of this as an issue. It was accepted practice that elected members could contact front line managers in the event of concerns they had on behalf of a constituent. However, both senior managers and elected members considered that the majority of elected member enquiries were made via the executive director or head of service. Indeed a number of elected members said they preferred this arrangement because they were concerned that contacting operational services direct might be misinterpreted by staff as an attempt at elected member interference.
Representing their constituent's is an essential part of the role of elected members. However, we were concerned to note that a number of staff voiced feelings of vulnerability to what they perceived as undue or inappropriate interference in operational matters. Senior managers should address this apparent discrepancy and, if necessary, consider the introduction of more formal arrangements in dealing with officer - elected member dealings.
Leadership of change and improvement
Political leadership and capacity
In order to carry out scrutiny and political decision making in Social Work and Health matters, responsibilities were split between the Education and Lifelong Learning and Social Work and Health committees. This was generally regarded as a satisfactory arrangement, although we heard some elected member comment that social work items rarely featured near the top of the Education and Lifelong Learning agenda.
The respective convenors of the two committees had been in office for less than two years and were candid in acknowledging that in the early stages, their relative inexperience meant that they had tended to follow the lead provided by officers. However, they both expressed confidence that their respective committees were less affected by political differences, and had developed in providing appropriate levels of scrutiny and confidence in making policy decisions. Most elected members we met stated that the standard of Social Work and Health reports, both in terms of detail and balance, were generally better than those submitted from some other council services. The ability of senior social work managers to explain complex issues in person to committee members was positively commented on.
Opposition members complained about a lack of transparency and willingness on the part of the administration to share information in the run up to formal council meetings. They considered this to have a detrimental effect on their ability to scrutinise council decisions and performance. For their part, members of the administration, considering the current political climate, held that providing this information at an early stage might compromise their ability to carry out the business of the council effectively, due to the possibility of unconstructive use of information provided in advance of meetings.
However, from our direct observation of the Social Work and Health committee, as well as our meetings with the leader of the council and committee convenors, we were satisfied that senior elected members were committed to the improvement in Social Work and Health, and that the means for political scrutiny were in place. However, we considered that more constructive engagement with opposition members would both strengthen the levels of scrutiny and lead to greater efficiency in conducting the business of the council.
Leadership of change
As stated above, we found evidence of improvement across social work services. This was supported by the views of some stakeholders. We were particularly encouraged, especially given the previous history, by the positive comments from West Dunbartonshire CHP and NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, both of whom now accepted and shared the council's desire to move towards more integrated services in an incremental way.
Significant increases in management capacity at both corporate and service levels had, in our view, led to some improvement in the ability of managers to lead the necessary changes in West Dunbartonshire. In Social Work and Health, this had allowed the establishment of three additional senior management posts and increased the senior management team from three to six people. As stated earlier in this report, there had been concerns in the past that the pace of change had not always been sustained, leading to delays in improvement. There was evidence that this desired increase in momentum was yet to be fully achieved. For example, we looked at the minutes of the social work departmental management team for the period January to May 2008. These were characterised by some reports and papers not being brought to future meetings within the timescales set out in the minutes. This had sometimes been down to lack of capacity; other times due to political instability (for example, delays in introducing single status). We considered it important that the recent improvements shown in both these areas are built on and sustained.
Generally, local authority leadership in a number of partnership arrangements, including child protection, was held in high regard. These views were expressed by a range of stakeholders, from large organisations such as the NHS, police and Reporter's Administration, through to smaller voluntary organisations, and independent providers of services. There was recognition that that the service had largely been able to sustain, and in some instances improve, its performance against statutory performance indicators in difficult circumstances within the council.
However, we had concerns about partnership working in criminal justice. There was no clear link between the Community Justice Authority area plan and the community plan for West Dunbartonshire. The operational plan for criminal justice services in West Dunbartonshire lacked sufficient detail. We concluded that operational planning of criminal justice services in West Dunbartonshire needed significant attention.
In addition, although there was a positive relationship and shared purpose in relation to the partnership with the NHS, we had some significant concerns regarding the establishment of suitable governance and joint financial systems in support of integrated working arrangements, as covered in chapter 6.
The role of the Chief Social Work Officer ( CSWO)
The executive director had recently given thought to making the lines of accountability and certain other aspects of the CSWO role clearer and more explicit, and had prepared a committee report, based on the council's response to a recent consultation exercise undertaken by the Scottish Government. The report contained details of the consultation response, as well as a draft framework aimed at defining and delivering accountability on the part of the CSWO. This envisaged a number of reporting mechanisms, including an annual CSWO report to the council. We considered this to be a positive development.