Social Work Services Strategic Forum
Note of Meeting
Thursday 11 December 2014, Parliament House Hotel
Attendees
Alan Baird (Chair)
Robert Peat
Anna Fowlie
Trish Hall
Beth Hall
Stephen Smellie
Ranald Mair
Andy Kendrick
Michelle Miller
Jane Devine
Mike Foulis
Kathleen Bessos
Christina Naismith
Jane Mackenzie
Shona MacPherson
Sarah Gledhill
Apologies
Annie Gunner Logan
Harry Stevenson
Geoff Huggins
Neil Rennick
Jacqui Lunday
Johnstone
OCSWA, Scottish Government
(Chair in place of Minister CYP)
Care Inspectorate
SSSC
Scottish Association of Social Work (SASW)
COSLA
Unison
Scottish Care
HEI Rep (Strathclyde University)
SOLACE
Social Work Scotland
Children & Families Directorate, SG
Integration & Reshaping Care Division, SG
Joint Improvement Team, SG
OCSWA, SG
OCSWA, SG
OCSWA, SG
CCPS
Social Work Scotland
Health & Social Care Integration, SG
Justice Directorate, SG
Chief Health Professions Officer, SG
1. Welcome
Alan outlined that the purpose of the meeting was to work towards finalisation of the
Vision and Strategy with a view to publication on World Social Work Day, 17 March
2015. Aim of the meeting was to prioritise the proposed actions and consider any
additional ones for inclusion following feedback received by stakeholders.
2. Vision
Alan invited members to confirm agreement with the vision or provide further
comment.
Points made in discussion:
 Anna suggested that the word “safe” or “trusted” should be added in to the
proposed Vision, in reference to the workforce. General agreement to this.
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
Michelle noted that the current vision was quite wordy and not particularly
readable given the length of the sentence. General agreement that it would
be worth rewording it to be shorter, perhaps with bullet points underneath to
give more detail. For example – “a socially just Scotland with excellent social
services”.

Less jargon in the Vision would also be helpful. Mike suggested we consider
some kind of “infographic” which might better explain what we want from
social services.

Andy noted that the different elements of social services need to be
acknowledged somewhere – though perhaps not in the vision – to clarify, for
example, that social care is not just about support, it is also therapeutic in
some contexts.
ACTION: OCSWA to revise vision to reflect comments
3. Feedback from consultation/engagement on draft Strategy
A variety of comments were received from members and their wider stakeholder
groups, both verbally and in writing. Key points are summarised in the following
paragraphs:
The context - Austerity/Welfare issues
 More reference should be made to welfare and austerity issues. Need to reflect
feedback from frontline staff that resource restrictions are affecting the services
they deliver.
 Many social workers feel compromised, increasingly feel they are becoming “risk
managers”.
 Need to try and demonstrate the reality in the context and highlight the gap
between this and the vision we are seeking to achieve –what is the Strategy
going to do to attempt to address this gap between reality and vision.
 Need to emphasise the commitment that this group has to taking action to
improve things even within the current challenging context and not let some of
the “wicked issues” get in the way of focussing on doing what we can do to
mitigate the worst impacts.
 Recognise the challenges around different views on whether there is enough
money in the system and where it should come but also need to focis on what we
can do rather than solely on the “deficit” position.
Political Context
 Recognise that social work has a political component, but not sure if this is the
document to reinforce this. Might be an option for organisations to issue a
statement in response to the Strategy should they wish to make more of a
political statement or reference to current austerity measures and the impact this
can halve on public services.
 Some of the high level statements do not reflect the reality of delivering social
services,
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
Need to demonstrate the difficult realities that exist and what social services can
do to tackle some of these issues. Social work is there to mitigate against the
worst effects of austerity and to campaign on behalf of those most affected.
Principles/Values
 Practitioners are not abandoning their principles or the values of social care, but
are having to operate with these values within the current context.
Policy Context
 Could highlight that the different policies and strategies that exist and which are
described in the strategy (SDS, integration etc) are, as a whole package,
intended to help practitioners work better to improve outcomes for their clients
within this current challenging environment.
 Policy context is intended to help practitioners become part of the wider
integrated environment, not to make life more difficult. The range of policies are
intended to facilitate the integrated multi-disciplinary approach needed to improve
service delivery in a challenging environment.
 Focus of the document should be on the actions rather than getting too embroiled
in the wording of the context section.
 Merit in sharpening up on the context section. Need to link better the vision and
the context with the proposed actions – does not feel like a complete strategy at
the moment.
 Context section is crucial, particularly the integration point. This has massive
implications for how things are done in social services. What does this mean for
social workers? Could have links in these bullets to information which explains
policy changes rather than trying to describe all the policy changes in detail.
 Community empowerment context is important
Workforce
 Who is the document aimed at? In part it is the workforce but are we also using it
to increase public knowledge. Could be merit in having more in the document
from people who use services, to demonstrate good practice.
 Strategy needs to build trust in the workforce that senior people are committed to
supporting them and their development and that the strategy is intended to help
them to do the job in the way that they know it needs to be done
 Opportunity to say that this sector and the people that work in it have an
important contribution to make. Strategy should be an attempt to mobilise these
skills.
 Suggestion that if publishing electronically then video clips could be used to hear
the voice of practitioners.
 Good practice could be highlighted more.
Commissioning
 Alan noted the comments received that morning from Annie Gunner Logan and
ensured everyone had received a copy. Will try to include more in the context
around joint strategic commissioning and the opportunities this brings.
 Commissioning and procurement is now a core task within social work, is a
fundamental shift in how services are being delivered. Relates also to strategic
planning and wider resource allocation.
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


Local authorities now have to take responsibility to shape the market.
Commissioning provides an opportunity for providers and purchasers to be one
alliance who collectively decide how best to spend the limited resources
available. Need to be collectively responsible for delivering outcomes.
Need to restructure the model which delivers social care. Need to move away
from the commissioner/provider split. Also not just about social work money, is
about the whole “pot” and how society decides to use the resources available in
order to have a socially just society.
Commissioning and procurement have to be seen as social services activities,
part of the core task now. Can’t be adversarial.
ACTION: OCSWA to revise context and strand introductory sections to reflect
comments
4. Actions – Prioritisation
Attendees scored the proposed actions using the stars provided. In discussion
about the exercise and in written feedback the following points were raised:

General agreement that there were too many actions and that where any had
received only a few “bronze” scores there was an opportunity rationalise ior
drop some. .

Stephen noted that it will be important to have some quick wins for the
workforce. Practitioners under constant threat of change, creating insecurity.
Need to develop clarity and guidance to support people through this process,
and invest in the current workforce.

Anna noted that the community empowerment agenda is fundamental to
social services, many of the changes will be happening at the locality planning
level.

Beth noted that who leads on what action will be crucial from a Cosla
perspective for their endorsement – both from perspective of resource
implications and around the lead organisations for actions which need to be
appropriate e.g. Care Inspectorate leading on performance management.
Timescales are also tight to get Cosla sign off before the launch date in
March.

It was noted that a number of the actions can be cross referenced to existing
activity which is already underway, for example work on the Living Wage
which is being taken forward through the Residential Care Task Force
Implementation Group. Where this is possible the actions in the Strategy will
make reference to other work. There may also be some cross-cutting
actions which could join up across all workstrands and the Implementation
Plan will seek to do this.

Noted that the Integration team in the SG use smartsheets to help project
manage the recommendations which might be helpful to monitor our the
Implementation Plan. Noted that this needs to available externally as this is
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not an SG Implementation Plan, needs to be useable by all partners to the
Strategy.

In terms of finance it was noted that we should not be constrained by costs,
however we need to recognise that given current and likely future financial
circumstances timescales may need to be adjusted. Some priorities will have
financial implications e.g. the suggested probationary year for newly qualified
social workers. We will need to work through the cost implications and
consider how to progress this through the system given the financial
restrictions in place.

The context may also change in the future with the Smith Commission so
opportunities might arise as we go forward.

Some questions about timescales and ownership of the actions. Jane
outlined that the purpose of prioritising the actions was to form the basis of an
Implementation Plan which would follow the launch of the Strategy. This will
include lead organisations and timescales. At this stage actions are
deliberately “broadbrush” as further work on the detail and potential costings
is required and it had been agreed that the Strategy itself was not the place to
outline this.
Points specific to workstrands are as follows:
Workstrands – Public Understanding
 Jane D noted she had met with Steven Webb from Strathclyde University who
had offered to help develop more deliverable actions. She will therefore
reconvene the workstream in January to reconsider their proposed actions.

Noted that the public often do not understand the social service sector
because of the variety of workers in the sector. Different issues affect
different sectors of the workforce
Workstrand - Performance
 Robert noted he felt this section was good and actions helpful. Agreed
development of Implementation Plan is good and noted importance of trying
to link it to clear outcomes.
Workstrand – Evidence
 Andy noted that he had not received a great deal of feedback on this. Also
noted the links between the various workstrands and their actions, for
example the role of leadership in promoting research and evidence and links
between performance and use of evidence. May be an opportunity to remove
some of the duplication in the actions.
Workstrand – Workforce
 Anna noted need to add something on the Learning Strategy and need to
reduce further the number of actions.
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
Christina suggested we think about what kind of workforce will we need in the
future? We need to help staff prepare for this and support them going forward.
Use Strategy as a platform for change.

Stephen noted the importance of values in leadership. Need to reinforce the
values of social work and ensure they are reinforce throughout a person’s
career. Critically important that people retain these values – not just
something we prepare people for at the recruitment phase.
ACTION: OCSWA to redraft and prioritise the actions based on the “star”
exercise and the discussions and to use the amended set to draft an indicative
“Implementation Plan” for discussion with Forum members.
5. Launch Event
Agreed to use World Social Work Day, 17 March for launch with a Venue in Central
Edinburgh. Hopeful that Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning will
be able to launch but will need to confirm nearer the time. Likely to be an afternoon
event. Trish volunteered to help develop a plan for the day so that it ties in with the
SASW awards that evening.
ACTION: OCSWA to organise
6. Summing Up – Next Steps
Alan summarised next steps:

OCSWA will send out a note of the meeting and will include a word version of
the strategy. If people feel there are any crucial areas to be added or to be
reworded Forum members are asked to send a version back with tracked
changes with their suggestions or comments.

OCSWA will aim to have revised Vision, Strategy and outline Implementation
Plan by end January. Will try to “plain English” as much as possible.

Alan will arrange some small meetings with workstrand leads and key
stakeholders in January to progress the prioritisation of actions.

OCSWA will work with others on the Forum to develop the launch event.
Members are invited to offer ideas for the event – particularly if it includes
involvement of people who use services.
Next Forum meeting, to be chaired by the Minister for Children and Young
People, is 3 February 2015, 10am-12noon, St Andrews House.
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