Hansard

Neil Findlay needs to consider his tone during this debate, which is about trying to work constructively together on this important issue.

Improvement of corporate parenting is a crucial element of the bill because it encompasses all areas of our work, demanding that we get things right for those who are in our care. Our putting getting it right for every child on a statutory footing will provide a mechanism for early and effective intervention. GIRFEC’s principles underpin everything that we do and they place children at the heart of the design and delivery of services, aid improvement in permanence planning and delivery and, importantly, value the voice of the child.

There are encouraging signs that outcomes are improving gradually across almost all indicators. The main findings in the most recent publication on Scotland’s looked-after children show that looked-after young people who leave school are increasingly entering positive destinations. Some 75 per cent of looked-after young people who left school during 2011-12 were in a positive destination three months after they left school. The children’s social work statistics show that the rate of increase in the total number of looked-after children continues to slow, but that earlier and more frequent interventions can result in more children coming into care and, in particular, to their becoming looked after at home. The challenges around improving outcomes for that group are well known. Therefore, the partner policy aim here is early permanence.

Both early intervention and early permanence are needed if we are to meet our aims of reducing the number of children on long-term supervision requirements and increasing the numbers who find secure legal permanence. A focus on those two areas in the years ahead will enable us to achieve an effective, affordable and swift system of intervention and substitute care that wraps around the child. The benefits of investing in early intervention are fully realised when quality services are provided. We know all about the positive societal, emotional, educational and health impacts of early intervention, and there is economic evidence that every £1 that is invested in cause can save £9 in cure.

We are seeing a trend of children becoming looked after younger, which shows that social workers are acting more quickly to assess and intervene. We believe that social workers are right to take early decisions about children becoming looked after. We know from our work with the sector, including through the practice exchange workshops that the centre for excellence for looked-after children in Scotland has held, that social workers are feeling increasingly confident about using relevant evidence from previous interventions with families to hasten timescales for subsequent children. We support that approach; we want families to thrive, not just survive.

We are also making progress on permanence, with the number of children who are adopted from care increasing and the number of permanence orders rising year on year since their introduction.

However, too many children still remain on supervision for far too long, with all the uncertainty and distress that go with that. To reflect our commitment to permanence, we will in the coming months publish a care and permanence strategy that will set out the strategic framework for our work. It will recognise that far-reaching improvements in delivering early permanence for children can be made only by taking a whole-system approach that involves all those who contribute to the permanence process, including social work, wider community planning partnerships, children’s hearings and the courts. It will also include the voice of the child.

In addition, we will launch a permanence and care excellence—PACE—programme, which will work in two geographical areas and will use improvement science to develop improvement projects that look at all aspects of a child’s journey to permanence. It will focus on the child’s experience and will bring together local authorities, children’s hearings and the courts to identify barriers and delays, and to develop and test solutions. Those programmes will provide a powerful opportunity to deliver real improvement on the ground. By bringing the relevant partners together, the projects will address the interactions between systems in delivering permanence and will enable us to share learning across Scotland.

I turn my focus to the workforce. The Scottish Government’s approach to improving the quality of children’s social services centres on the needs of the child and the support that is given to professionals to make good judgments, and on continuously learning from what works. The Scottish Government fully realises the importance of developing a competent, confident and valued workforce, as is evidenced through the work of the Scottish Social Services Council and the investment that we make in other organisations, such as the Institute for Research and Innovation in Social Services and CELCIS.

The SSSC provides various means of support to the sector and is, in partnership with a range of stakeholders, taking forward two further strands of activity to progress and support workforce development. That work will see the development of a national learning strategy for all practitioners, which will provide a framework for learning at qualifying and post-qualifying levels, and a career development pathway to support learning and skills throughout a career. In addition, a review will be carried out of the social work degree to ensure that it continues to meet the needs of students and employers now and in the future.

Furthermore, along with the chief social work adviser, I have established a social work strategic forum, which brings together partners from academia, the unions, the regulators and the Association of Directors of Social Work. It will allow us to move the sector forward strategically, and its work will include workforce support and continued engagement with front-line practitioners, among other things.

The inquiry also highlighted the need for more detailed information to be collected in order to provide a fuller picture of looked-after children’s outcomes, and to allow judgments to be made on whether interventions have been successful. The Scottish Government is currently working to review CLAS—children looked after statistics—data so that we can ensure that the data that we collect can be analysed to inform practitioners and policy making. The review is to be completed by the end of the year and should contribute to our understanding of service delivery and help us to articulate and anticipate financial implications for service providers.

The committee’s attention and report have been incredibly useful in ensuring that we do not take the foot off the gas when it comes to ensuring the very best for our looked-after children and young people. The committee has indicated—as the convener has done—that the systems and policies that we have should not be abolished. However, I believe that we must allow our approaches time to gain ground and to achieve the desired culture change and associated improvements. The challenge is about mobilising our combined efforts and resources more effectively, and directing more of them at families earlier to make it easier for practitioners to deliver involved family support.

GIRFEC is the policy and strategic framework that overlays our approach to all children who are in need or at risk. A range of interactions take place between concerned agencies, but what should unite them is the fundamental belief that every child has the right to expect the best start in life.

This is a difficult and complex subject area, but I do not doubt the passion and commitment of everyone in the chamber and across the relevant sectors to do our utmost to inculcate change and demand improvement. The issue is too important to get wrong, and we cannot be content with mediocrity. I look forward to the debate and to continuing to work with the committee on the journey to do our very best for our looked-after children.

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