SOCIAL SERVICES NORTH WEST

MEETING ON 21 JUNE 2002 AT BURY

REPORT OF THE CO-ORDINATOR

ANNUAL REPORT 2001-02 AND WORK PROGRAMME 2002-03

1.         Matter for Consideration:

To consider a brief Annual Report on the organisation’s activities during the year 2001-02, and to finalise the Work Programme for 2002-03

2.                  Introduction:

Members have customarily received a brief Annual Report at the first meeting of each municipal year.  Two years ago, the concept of an Annual Work Programme was introduced.  This report brings these two strands together, beginning with a brief review of activity in Social Services North West during the past year, and of the changes which have taken place .  The report concludes by asking members to determine a Work Programme for 2001-02.

3.         Annual Report 2001-02:

3.1       Meetings.  The Annual General Meeting of Social Services North West was postponed from June to September 2002 because of the delayed local government elections that year: hence only three meetings of Social Services North West have been held since the last Annual Report:

                        14 September 2001 at Blackburn

                        21 December 2001 at Warrington

                        15 March 2002 at Salford

In addition, the annual joint meeting with the Social Affairs and Health Executive of the Local Government Association was held at Bolton on 23 November 2001.

3.2       Conferences.  Two major conferences were held during the year:

26 September 2001              Valuing People: a new strategy for learning         disability for the 21st century

26 April 2002                       Modernising Health and Social Care

A total of well over 200 attendances were made across the two conferences.

The Valuing People conference was held in association with the Department of Health and NHS North West, and was for the non-executive members and senior managers of health organisations throughout the North West, as well as councillors and senior staff of social services authorities. Entitled 'Valuing People', it focussed on the recent White Paper which sets out the Government's strategy for learning disability for the 21st century.  The afternoon session focused on 'No Secrets' - the Government guidance on developing and implementing multi-agency policies and procedures to protect vulnerable adults from abuse. 

The April 2002 conference provided a varied programme addressing key issues around the modernisation of health and social care.  The event proved particularly topical because the three new Strategic Health Authorities for the North West region had just been established, together with Primary Care Trusts in every locality.  The Government's commitments in the 2002 budget to increased long-term funding for both health and social care also helped to make this the beginning of a new era in these two vital public services, which need to work ever more closely together.  The keynote speakers were Peter Garland, Director of Health and Social Care - North in the Department of Health on Modernising the NHS and Hazel Blears MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary at the Department of Health, on the Government's initiatives in Involving Patients and the Public in Health Care. 

3.3       Issues addressed.  The September 2001 meeting selected the following four areas as the main priorities for the 2001-02 Work Programme. 

                        Working with the NHS

Financial Issues

Quality Protects and Children’s Issues

Learning Disability

Reports were also considered on other issues of concern to members:

Review of Constitution and Rules

Income and Expenditure and Budgets of SSNW

North West Training and Development Team (Services to People with a Learning Disability)

3.4       Lobbying of Ministers.  Social Services North West has made written representations to Ministers on the following issues during the year, which have all been acknowledged.

Financial and Service Pressures

Involving Patients and the Public in Health Care

Formation of Strategic Health Authorities

In addition, following continuing concern on the part of members concerning financial issues, a lobby of North West Members of Parliament took place on 12 March, when 24 members and officers from the North West met in Westminster with 22 of the region’s MPs for a robust and constructive discussion.

3.5       Liaison with national and regional bodies.  Close liaison has been continued or developed with the following bodies:

                        LGA Social Affairs and Health Executive

(Joint meeting 23 November 2001)

TOPSS England North West Regional Training Forum

(Member appointed, and SSNW staff team administer)

North West Development Agency

(Member appointed to North West Health Partnership)

North West Regional Assembly

(Member appointed to Economy and Society Key Priority Group)

Arrangements to meet formally with the NHS at regional level have been in abeyance during the major change in NHS structure over the past few months, but will be resumed in the form of a meeting with Chairs and Chief Executives of the new Strategic Health Authorities in the near future.

3.6       Raising the profile.  Action has been taken to raise the profile of Social Services North West in the following additional ways:

                        Quarterly editions of SSNW News (on paper)

                        Quarterly editions of SSNW eNews (email)

Website launched October 2000 (www.ssnw.org.uk) and updated weekly since: nearly 2000 visits were made to the site in its first year but a further 3000 visits have been made in the last nine months.

Press publicity – to further Social Services North West’s campaign for adequate government funding, a media campaign was conducted in January 2002 with the support of Salford’s media team.  This resulted in articles in the Manchester Evening News, Oldham Chronicle and Warrington Guardian, and interviews to three radio stations.  The lobby of MPs was the subject of a further press release, and articles appeared in the Manchester Evening News, Liverpool Echo and Warrington Guardian.

3.7              Staffing of Social Services North West.  The staffing arrangements have remained as follows during the past year:

             Co-ordinator                                  Peter Hewitt      15 hours per week                          Professional Assistant                     Peter Viggers     full time
                         Administrative Assistant                  Elaine Trotter     half time

David McNeice of the Finance Section of Lancashire Social Services has very effectively absorbed the duties of Treasurer from Oldham.

3.8       Administrative support to TOPSS England North West Regional Training Forum.  This was established in November 2000 with Vic Citarella, former Director of Social Services, Liverpool as Chair.  Social Services North West was asked to undertake the administrative support to the Forum, and financial terms were agreed initially and then extended for a further 12 months.  Funding has now been made available to TOPSS England to establish their own regional offices and it is expected that Social Services North West’s role will have ceased by the end of 2002.  Additional duties beyond the initial contract have been undertaken, and charged for on an at-cost basis.

4.         Work Programme 2002-03

4.1       Work Programme Priorities.  As stated above, the September 2001 meeting selected the following four areas as the main priorities for the 2001-02 Work Programme: Working with the NHS, Financial Issues, Quality Protects and Children’s Issues and Learning Disability.  It has appeared that these issues remain the most pressing priorities of members, and there have been no proposals to include additional topics or to abandon any of the existing priorities.  The following paragraph, however, suggests the need to modify the fourth topic.

4.2       The White Paper on the Regions.  The publication in May 2002 of Your region, your choice: revitalising the English regions heralds a period of lively debate about the future roles of central, regional and local government in the North West.  The issue is likely to be a contentious one amongst member authorities, who  will each be forming their own views and pursuing these.  However, the LGA has however proposed six key tests of regional democracy which should be met before regional devolution can take place:

1. Will regional assemblies have genuinely devolved powers and enough resources to make a difference?

2. Will local people be able to decide on the new regional and local structures?

3. Will the new arrangements be flexible?

4. Will they build on existing strengths?

5. Will the decision making process be transparent?

6. Will there be in all regions the capacity to scrutinise the workings of government offices, agencies and other non-elected bodies?

It is not for Social Services North West to take its own position on the future of regional government, but as the existing member-level body for social services in the region, it can help to ensure that the key issues are given a high profile at regional level.  This means playing a full part in existing regional activity on relevant issues, such as the Economy and Society Key Priority Group of the North West Regional Assembly.  They have set up a Health and Social Care Task Group to pursue some of the issues arising from a research report on disability issues ‘Committed to Inclusion, Accepting the Challenge'.  It seems appropriate that we should provide the social services perspective at officer level in this group, demonstrating to the Regional Assembly our willingness to contribute our expertise in relevant areas.  Since the group will be addressing disability issues in their broadest sense, it would make sense to realign our own work programme to fit.  If this is accepted, the fourth area for our work programme would appropriately be entitled ‘Disability Issues’ rather than ‘Learning Disability’.

4.3       Dates and Venues for meetings.  The following venues are proposed for the forthcoming year, based on the usual principle of rotation between member authorities:

                        20 September 2002  – Sefton
                        13 December 2002 - Wigan
                        21 March 2003  -  Lancashire
                        20 June 2003  -  Cumbria

5             Recommendations:

5.1       That the Annual Report for 2001-02 be noted

5.2       That the four Work Programme Priorities for the forthcoming year be identified as:

Working with the NHS

Financial Issues

Quality Protects and Children’s Issues

Learning Disability

5.3       That the dates and venues for the meetings be determined.