Agenda item

Consideration was given to the report of the Corporate Director of Social Services which presented the Care Inspectorate Wales (CIW) Assurance check summary as identified in their letter dated the 11th June 2021 (Appendix 1). The purpose of the assurance check was to review how well the local authority’s social services continue to help and support adults and children with a focus on safety and well-being. This letter summarises the findings of CIW assurance check on 17 May to 21 May 2021.

The Lead Inspector (CIW) gave an overview of the CIW Assurance check in their letter of 11th June, 2021 which summarised how well the Authority’s Social Services Directorate continued to support vulnerable adults and children throughout the pandemic.

The Chair commented that it was a fantastic report highlighting how well Blaenau Gwent had performed during the pandemic.  Another Member said it was a major accolade as other Authorities could look to Blaenau Gwent to see how well they had performed and hoped that the press would report on this positive message.

In relation to paragraph 6.6 of the report - ‘most practitioners who responded to our survey felt supported by colleagues and managers and regarded their workload as manageable’, a Member enquired regarding the word ‘most’.  The Lead Inspector explained it was usually the case with surveys that some issues arise in relation to change as not all practitioners were happy to embrace change.  The Inspector had spoken with management regarding the issue and felt it was not of major importance.

In response to a Member’s question regarding issues with the Welsh Community Care Information System (WCCIS), the Inspector said there were major problems with the system.  The Corporate Director of Social Services commented that WCCIS was the Health & Social Care computer system that was promoted by the Welsh Government for all 22 Local Authorities and 7 Health Boards to sign up to and implement.  Some Authorities and Health Boards had implemented the system but there were major issues regarding reliability and functionality of the system, the Director was aware of plans to upgrade and make improvements to the system and hoped this would be progressed within the next few months.

A Member commented on the excellent report and praised staff on how they dealt with the difficult period of the pandemic and the measures that had been put in place by the Authority to enable placements to stay together and to allow children to see their families and siblings at such a very difficult time and also the support put in place for Social Workers, Foster carers and everyone else involved, he felt this was excellent news for the Authority.

Another Member commented that it was a glowing report from an external agency and felt that it showed that staff were in touch with the clients they supported and showed that the whole of the Council took their Corporate Parenting role seriously.

Other Members echoed their colleagues’ comments on the excellent report and felt that safeguarding procedures in Blaenau Gwent were excellent and felt that staff and officers should be very proud of their performance during the pandemic.

In response to a Member’s question regarding how the 25 files that were reviewed were selected, the Inspector explained the files were randomly selected from four categories set out in the guidance sent to Local Authorities.  The 25 files reviewed included 5 files from Children’s Services and 5 from Adults Services.  The Local Authority were only given a few days notice as to which files were going to be reviewed in order to arrange interviews with social workers, team managers and when appropriate the person the file belonged to. 

At the invitation of the Chair the Executive Member for Social Services commented that the report was excellent news for the Authority and especially the Social Services Directorate.  He expressed appreciation for the complexity of the work undertaken by the Social Services Directorate in supporting vulnerable adults and children and their dedication and commitment to their work was outstanding especially throughout the pandemic, they had faced many challenges with different ways of working and he was proud of the officers and staff in Blaenau Gwent’s Social Services Directorate.  He expressed thanks to the Director of Social Services, the Head of Children’s Services, the Head of Adult Services and all staff for their commitment and endurance during this challenging period. He also thanked the Social Services Scrutiny Committee for the support they gave him as their Executive Member for Social Services.

The Chair thanked the Executive Member for his heartfelt comments and thanked the Care Inspectorate Wales and the Lead Inspector for her comments and delivering the report.

The Committee AGREED to recommend that the report be accepted and endorse Option 2; namely that the report and letter from CIW be accepted as provided.