Inspector finds wide performance variation in Wales

Wide variations in performance among Wales’ 22 social
services departments are confirmed in the annual report of the
chief inspector of social services, writes Alex
Dobson.

Graham Williams said that both leadership and performance in
social services needs to be improved to help protect vulnerable
people and promote independence.

“Throughout the report I point to the need for improvement and
to see more evidence that authorities are learning from each other
in a systematic way,’’ he said at the launch of the
report.

The report describes considerable variation in social services
budgets with those in the higher spending authorities almost double
that of the lower spending authorities

It also warned that the quality of services varies across Wales:
“Inspections of child protection services reflected continuing
problems in managing situations where the need was less urgent or
obvious.”

There was a significant variation in performance in a number of
areas, including family placement, adoption and child
protection, according to the report.

There was also an increase in the number of staff with
qualifications from 19 to 28 per cent.