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Foreword

• 1. Introduction to the Department
• 2. Service Achievements/Review of Previous Plan

• 3. Service Vision, Aims and Principles
•      3.1     Aims and Objectives
•      3.2     Issues Affecting the Service
•      3.3     Equal Opportunities
•      3.4     Sustainable Development
•      3.5     Monitoring and Evaluation
•      3.6     Stakeholders

• 4.     Continuous Improvement
• 5.     Service Improvement Priorities

Cross-Divisional

• Priority 1.1     Progressing Workforce Development
• Priority 1.2     Improving Health & Safety Arrangements
• Priority 1.3     Strengthening Complaints Handling
• Priority 1.4      Improving Business Support Arrangements

Housing

• Priority 2.1      Increasing the Supply of Affordable Housing
• Priority 2.2     Tackling Homelessness
• Priority 2.3     Improving Housing Quality
• Priority 2.4     Improving the Quality of Housing Services

Community Care

• Priority 3.1     Developing Planned & Unscheduled/Emergency Care
• Priority 3.2     Strengthening the Commissioning of Services
• Priority 3.3     Promoting Care in the Community, Selfcare and Telecare
• Priority 3.4     Addressing Inequalities
• Priority 3.5     Improving Workforce, Standards and Infrastructure

Children & Families

• Priority 4.1     Reducing Out of Area Placements
• Priority 4.2     Promoting Integrated Working
• Priority 4.3     Improving Performance Management
• Priority 4.4     Strengthening Public Protection Arrangements

Contacts

Foreword

The Community Service’s Service Improvement Plan (SIP) for 2007/08 is a key document that enables the Service to communicate its priorities and performance to the Council, to employees, stakeholders and the community. The information contained in this Plan confirms the significant contribution that staff in Community Services make to enhance the lives of people in Moray by improving their quality of life, supporting them to live independently and safely in the community and managing risk.

This Service Improvement Plan is a key element of Moray Council’s corporate, financial and performance management processes. Through service improvement planning, Community Services is able to set its services, resources and personnel within the wider strategic policies and management procedures of the Council.

Towards our goal of achieving high quality, modern and accessible services, we will work with our partners and the public to address a range of cross- cutting challenges including: -

• Services that are focused on delivering improved outcomes for people;
• Service re-design towards choice and personalisation;
• Seamless service provision through effective partnership working across the Council and with our external partners
• Improving the efficiency of support services to increase investment in frontline services;
• Balancing national and local priorities; and
• Strengthening communities to enable meaningful engagement and involvement in service delivery.

Sandy Riddell                                      Cllr Percy Watt

Director of Community Services            Chairman, Community Services Committee

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1.    Introduction to the Department

The Service Improvement Plan (SIP) is a key reference document that provides the rationale and framework for the major areas of the Department’s activities in 2007/08. These areas include: -

A.    Housing

• Access to Housing , including dealing with homelessness
• Tenancy Management
• Maintenance and improvement of housing
• Housing Support
• Housing Strategy and enabling investment
• Housing Policy
• Private Sector Grants

B.      Community Care

• Home Care
• Older People
• Physical & Sensory Disabilities
• Learning Disabilities
• Mental Health
• Carers
• Community Care Strategy and Planning

C. Children, Families & Criminal Justice

• Area Services, including child protection
• Fostering & Adoption
• Youth Justice
• Throughcare & Aftercare
• Addictions
• Criminal Justice (Adult Services)

The SIP for 2007/08 seeks to create explicit links between the Community Planning process, Moray Council’s Vision Statement and Corporate Development Plan and the Community Services Department. National priorities and locally developed strategies also inform the Plan. The Community Planning Partnership, which is completing a review of the first 12 months of the current Community Plan, is developing an approach to community planning based on Local Neighbourhood Plans and theme groups. The key themes of Investing in Children and Young People, Achieving a Healthy and Caring Community, Building Stronger Communities and Achieving a Safer Community are of particular relevance to the Community Services Department.

The Council’s Corporate Development Plan identifies the Council’s ambition to progress in partnership with communities and other public bodies to make a positive difference to the quality of life for all. The Council is committed to supporting and encouraging measures that achieve social inclusion and enhance the quality of life for residents of Moray. It seeks to ensure the provision of good quality affordable housing, integrated health and social care services and comprehensive services for children and families that meet both statutory obligations and local needs.

The Corporate Development Plan identifies working principles that will influence the way in which the Council will work. These working principles will also influence the way in which the Community Services Department works to contribute to the achievement of the Council’s vision and the more specific priorities for Community Services. In this report, Officers from Community Services contribute to the Corporate Agenda on issues such as Efficient Government, Asset Management, the Area Office Review, Community Engagement and the funding of Voluntary Sector Activities.

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2.     Service Achievements/Review of Previous Plan

The 2006/07 Community Services Improvement Plan identified a range of priorities. The position of all these, at the time of compiling this plan, is as follows;

15 Housing priorities are complete or on target for completion : -

Particular achievements are: -

Increase supply of affordable housing

• Local Housing Strategy Update for 2005/06 completed and accepted by Communities Scotland
• Moray Housing Needs Survey commissioned with report due in April 2007
• Continuing investment in Moray via Communities Scotland in 2006/07 has been secured.
• Common Housing Register procured and to be developed for implementation in mid 2007

Tackle homelessness

• Health and Homelessness Awareness Day held in mid 2006
• Homelessness Awareness event held in June 2006
• Peer Review of Homelessness Services completed
• Private Rented Sector leasing scheme launched

Improve housing quality

• Standard Delivery Plan milestones achieved
• Investment Strategy for 2007/08 and beyond agreed
• Private Sector Housing Grant investment targets exceeded

Improve housing service quality

• Targets for performance in 2007/08 agreed and performance reported quarterly

4 Community Care priorities completed:-

Particular achievements are: -

• Robust mechanisms have been put in place for the management of both revenue and capital budgets, including revision of the eligibility criteria
• The Public Participation Forum has been established and public representation on the Planning Group continues to be an effective way of obtaining user involvement
• The Care Management Training Pilot has been reviewed in preparation for rolling out the training to all adult social work teams
• The MCH&SCP is now two years old. The Partnership continues to work effectively together in the improvement of services in Moray
• The training target to support the implementation of the Mental Health Care and Treatment (Scotland) Act has been achieved, and a rolling programme of training is in place.

9 Children and Families priorities have been completed or are on target for completion:-

Particular achievements are:-

Reduction in out of area placements

• The change in function of Forres Children’s home to manage transitions back from out of area placements and in helping to prevent such placements has been completed
• The level 4 Fostering Scheme has been established and will be fully implemented in 2007/08.

Child Protection

• There has been an expansion in the service produced by Children 1^st through its Abuse Recovery Project in supporting victims of sexual abuse.
• A proposed Grampian Child Abuse Helpline has been superseded by a national service that went live in early February.

Performance Management framework

• The framework has been completed and approved by Community Services Committee
• Self-evaluation tools have been developed for strategic leadership, operational management, service delivery and for use by service teams
• Managers have been trained in the operation of the framework
• The framework was launched for all Children and Families staff at a divisional seminar in June 2006
• The Realtime project incorporating realist evaluation has been extended to include area teams

10 Housing priorities are partially complete with aspects being carried forward to this plan, as follows;

Housing priorities partially completed: -

• The Common Housing Register is scheduled for completion in June 2007
• Homelessness targets for 2009 will be presented to Committee in June 2007
• Following the Peer Review on Homelessness Services, a temporary accommodation strategy will be developed
• Revisions to the Kitchen Improvement Policy will be presented to Committee in June 2007
• Improvement Grant policies will be developed to take account of the 2006 Act
• The Housing Management Review will be completed by June 2007
• The Depot Review will be completed and referred to the Asset Management Group by May 2007
• The Out of Hours Review will be completed in April 2007
• Quality assurance procedures will be developed for the DLO during 2007.

Community Care priority partially completed:  -

• The ecare project has not been completed due to changes in the implementation process across Grampian. This has been replaced by a Data Sharing Project Board recently established

3 Children and Families priorities are partially completed with aspects carried forward to the 2007/08 plan: -

Reduction in out of area placements

• Further work on managing crises for challenging teenagers will occur through the development of residential care services

Child Protection

• A project is being undertaken with Children 1^st to improve stakeholder participation in service development

Performance Management Framework

• A comprehensive review of service level agreements is underway with partner agencies that will incorporate requirements to ensure effective performance management

The Department sought to improve customer service through: -

• Developments on computer databases and systems
• Continuing Development of effective consultation arrangements with stakeholders
• Partnership working via the Moray Community Health & Social Care Partnership
• Continued development of policies and procedures within Housing
• Development of service standards for the Department’s activities
• Integrated arrangements for drug and alcohol services

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3.2        Issues Affecting the Service

The Department's services and its strategic and planning agendas are influenced by four primary influences:

• locally identified needs for service provision in Moray,
• community planning processes and the Council’s Corporate Development Plan,
• national priorities articulated through the Scottish Executive and Scottish Parliament,
• statutory requirements and new legislative imperatives.

This Service Improvement Plan is influenced by some overarching key factors:

• Demographic change affecting the need for services particularly for older people and those with disabilities aligned to the increasing cost of service provision and the smaller numbers of revenue contributors. These provision have been reflected in the Council’s Financial Plan;
• Geographical redistribution of and increase in population from housing developments and inward migration affecting specifically the need for child care services and generally the spread and location of services across Moray;
• The identification of service provision shortfalls for specific groups (e.g. those with disabilities and people with mental health issues) emanating from Moray and Grampian wide strategies;
• The increasing numbers of people whose behaviour challenges traditional services and who require specialist local provision and accommodation.
• The cumulative requirements of recent legislation to support those with complex needs in community settings e.g. The Mental Health Care and Treatment (Scotland) Act and The Adult Protection Bill.
• A shortage of affordable housing, particularly rented accommodation in Moray;
• Increasing levels of homelessness and the Scottish Executive’s commitment to the abolition of priority need by 2012;
• The likelihood of a Communities Scotland Inspection of Housing Services in 2008/09
• Continuing budget pressures affecting community care and children’s services and housing services through the provision of homeless accommodation
• A significant reduction (18%) in Supporting People resources available to the Council by 2007;
• The continuing negative impact on individual users, their families and communities of increasing drug and alcohol misuse;
• Increasing expectations of positive outcomes for children through Getting it Right for Every Child and the draft Children’s Services (Scotland) bill;
• A Social Work Inspection Agency (SWIA) inspection of Social Work Services in June 2007 and a thematic inspection of Child Protection Services in 2008;
• Continuing concentration on minimising the need for out of area placements for children and young people by service modernisation in Moray;
• A continued and growing emphasis on integrated working between departments and agencies in the provision of Children & Families services;
• The management of short term funding in the provision of sustainable services
• The continuing and increasing requirement to operate a risk management strategy for specific strategic and operational risks through Strategic and Operational Risk Registers.

The delivery of services over the next 3 years will also be affected by:

• The re-structure of Committees coupled with the potential integration of Children’s Services, will enable Services to re-focus resources providing a better co-ordinated and more seamless response to Children and Young People;
• Increasing guidance requiring local government and its partners to develop integrated arrangements to protect vulnerable children. Locally this will lead to the development of a joint child protection unit resourced by Moray Council and Grampian Police which will comprise of shared office premises and an interviewing suite.
• "Changing Lives" (the report on the 21^st Century Social Work Review) will incrementally generate substantial re-design and realignment of social work services and core tasks;
• External Inspection regimes for child protection, fieldwork services (community care and child care), criminal justice and housing services will generate substantial work throughout the inspection process;
• The creation of Community Justice Authorities (CJAs) and local partnership arrangements will affect the delivery of criminal justice services;
• Efficient Government initiatives will continue to exercise influence on optimal resource use while required commitments by the public sector and this Council to open and accountable public services will continue to challenge and develop our methods of community and individual engagement; and
• The continuing emphasis by the Scottish Executive on initiatives such as ecare and single shared assessment will encourage more integrated working across health and social care services. Likewise, the development of the integrated assessment framework in child care will advance and underpin multi-disciplinary operational relationships and working.

The challenges and opportunities identified above will be reflected across our strategic and operational activities. The Department's ability and capacity to embrace and implement change will be rigorously tested during the life of this Service Improvement Plan.

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3.3     Equal Opportunities

The Community Services Department sees Equality and Diversity as a cornerstone of its service planning and strategic agendas.

Ensuring services are planned, developed and delivered in ways that promote equality and diversity and remove discrimination requires vigilance and commitment from service providers, planners and managers at all levels.

Every single service provision needs to be alert to the causes and effects of barriers that may prevent or deny people from full participation in community life, employment and leisure and to accessing services. Every single service needs to ensure that they take responsibility for ensuring that their service is open, accessible and available for every person whose needs demonstrate a requirement for the service. The need therefore to carry out equality impact assessments will be programmed for 2007/08 by divisions.

The Department will ensure during 2007/08 that: -

• Our own directly provided services are operating to the required policies, practices and standards in relation to equality and diversity;
• Commissioning and contractual arrangements with our partners, contractors and others delivering services on our behalf specifically include reference to meeting equal opportunities legislation, obligations and commitments. The review of contracts with the independent sector during 2007/08 will address this issue;
• Recipients of grant aid support from Community Services will require to demonstrate as a condition of funding that they are operating in line with equal opportunities legislation and in the spirit of a commitment to promote equality of opportunity;
• Every opportunity will be taken to promote and raise awareness of equality of opportunity and the unacceptability of discrimination with staff, partners, stakeholders and the community during all training, consultation and information events; and
• Performance management frameworks and systems will routinely be examined to incorporate race, equality and diversity guidance into their review mechanisms.

We will ensure that policy and procedure reviews address these issues.

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3.4     Sustainable Development

The Department is committed to developing and delivering services that contribute to sustainable development - to this end we will progress a number of initiatives which will demonstrate long term positive commitments consistent with the development of a sustainable approach:

• We will develop the model of localised service delivery within child care services around and consistent with the communities served by Area School Groups.
• Emanating from the review of residential provision for children and young people carried out during 2006, we will redefine the nature of residential care including an integration of educational arrangements so that a wider range of need presented by young people can be addressed locally.
• Through the development of our three year Workforce Development Strategy incorporating the Annual Training Plan, we will ensure that our social service workforce, both present and future is equipped to respond positively to the rapidly changing environment and to the significant challenges that lie ahead.
• We will incrementally implement the outcome of the Best Value Review of Day Care Services for Older People leading to a re-focusing of resources which will have significant impact on unnecessary admission to hospital and premature admission to nursing home care. This is a key factor in the modernisation of community based services.
• We will develop a Range and Capacity Plan to support the commissioning of services to vulnerable people.
• Through the Homelessness Strategy and Supporting People Strategy, we will seek housing solutions with support where this will enhance the sustainability of accommodation and living arrangements.
• We will continue to pilot and monitor alternative energy sources for heating and work to improve energy efficiency, energy conservation and tackle fuel poverty across all tenures in Moray.

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3.5     Monitoring and Evaluation

The Local Government (Scotland) Act 2003 places a duty upon all Local Authorities to ensure Best Value and Community Planning are at the heart of Council practice. The Council has adopted a performance management framework to ensure that Service Improvement Plans are monitored.

The Community Services Service Improvement Plan has been developed through the Departmental Strategy and Performance Group, comprising senior managers across the three service areas within the Department. The Service Improvement Plan will be underpinned by Divisional Improvement Plans in each of three service areas within the Department – Housing, Children and Families & Criminal Justice and Community Care. The Divisional Plans will link explicitly to the Service Plan. Team Plans (at operational team level) will link to both Divisional Plans and the Service Improvement Plan.

Within the Housing Service, a robust approach to performance management has developed over a number of years. This seeks to ensure that there is a link between high level priorities (evidenced in the Community Plan) and the work of the Service. It is supported by a strong commitment to ensuring that teams and individuals within teams can identify the role that they play in the achievement of these priorities. The Housing Services Performance Management Framework also recognises that there are a range of action plans developed in response to strategies and other initiatives eg. the three yearly Tenant Survey, Peer Reviews etc.

In 2007/08 the Children & Families Division will bring into operation a Performance Management Framework based on self-assessment methodology advocated by the national Social Work Inspection Agency (SWIA). This will allow such inspections to become an extension and check on a performance model embedded within divisional activity. The Community Services Committee in February 2007 agreed a new set of performance indicators and standards to form a key element of the self-assessment approach.

This plan will be monitored as follows: -

Monitoring of specific items will also be carried out by Project Management Teams with departmental, corporate or partnership responsibilities.

As part of Moray Council’s evolving performance framework, measurable service standards have been established across Community Service’s three divisions which will be subject to scrutiny by Audit and Performance Committee. Furthermore, our performance in relation to these service standards will be reported to Community Services Committee at each cycle.

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Public sector service providers are required by the Scottish Executive to work together and to engage proactively with the communities they serve in order to plan and deliver coherent and co-ordinated services that meet agreed local priorities. Consultation with stakeholders and the development of a customer and citizen approach are key requirements of the Best Value regime.

The Department engages with a wide range of stakeholders about how services are designed and delivered locally. In 2006 we endeavoured to ensure that partners, stakeholders and local communities were genuinely involved in the decisions made about the services that supported them. During 2007 we will continue to plan, organise, deliver and review our services with the active engagement of those individuals, families, stakeholders and communities involved.

Review of 2006/07

• As part of consultation and implementation of the Integrated Children’s Services Plan, a conference ‘Getting it Together’ took place in May 2006 with a parallel stakeholders’ conference for young people.
• Through the Children 1^st organisation we are in the process of developing a more sophisticated and systematic framework for consulting with families so that their role in the design of services can be extended. This will continue into 2007/08.
• An evaluation, involving local foster carers, of the newly implemented Moray Fostering Scheme has been carried out during 2006 with positive results.
• Continuing development and implementation of the Realtime project that promotes casework evaluation through systematic service user feedback.
• A baseline survey was undertaken on a multi-agency basis to consider the current effectiveness of integrated working to inform the implementation of Getting it Right for Every Child.
• Ongoing surveys of the single shared assessment process were undertaken with service users and their carers. These surveys, completed on a six monthly basis, identify issues in relation to the quality of the assessment processes for community care services.
• The MCHSCP continued during 2006 to involve users and carers in the planning of services through representation on care group Planning Groups.
• The Public Participation Forum (as required by the Scottish Executive) has been implemented. This forum provides a focus for patient/citizen involvement and is concerned with formal consultation with the public on services provided by the Moray Community Health and Social Care Partnership.

• A review of the Tenant Participation Strategy was initiated in 2006/07; we anticipate that the final strategy will be formally agreed during the coming year.
• The 3^rd annual Tenants Conference was held in September 2006.
• Our approach to partnership working within the Homelessness Strategy Group has been revitalised following the Mid Term Review of the Homelessness Strategy. The development of focused Theme Groups to develop initiatives for young people, vulnerable adults, temporary accommodation, advice & information and health and homelessness has been welcomed.

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Developments for 2007/2008

• We will continue to progress the Children 1^st project, assess its validity and, if appropriate, seek to role out the framework across Moray during 2007.
• Realist evaluation will be incorporated into the integrated assessment framework that promotes collaborative working between agencies
• The evaluation of the Moray Fostering Scheme will be completed
• The third annual Getting it Together conference will consider the implementation of Getting it Right for Every Child along with key stakeholders.
• The MCHSCP will survey the Citizens Panel as part of its role as a theme group for Community Planning. The aim is to ascertain public view of health and social care services in Moray.
• A Commissioning Strategy will be developed in collaboration with local stakeholders including the independent sector, setting out the future demand for health and social care services in Moray.
• As part of the "Changing Lives" agenda, a local Practitioners Forum will be established that will ensure that staff at the front line have a real influence over the future direction of local social work service delivery.
• We will finalise the Tenant Participation Strategy during 2007.
• The Annual Tenants Conference will be held during 2007.A Tenant Satisfaction Survey seeking views on various aspects of housing service provision investment priorities etc. will be carried out in 2007.
• The Housing Customer Feedback Policy will be rolled out to encompass a new tenant survey.

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4.       Continuous Improvement

As part of the environment of continuous improvement, self-assessment through the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) will be carried out across the three Service areas. The outcomes from this self-assessment process may lead to the identification of future improvement priorities or for proposals for future Best Value Reviews of specific service activities.

All three divisions will progress a range of developments during 2007/08 in relation to continuous improvement. As part of the Corporate Performance Management Framework, the Department will report quarterly to Community Services committee and Audit & Performance Committee in relation to service standards and performance indicators.

Housing Services:

• In the light of the changes to the Corporate Performance Management Framework, the Housing Performance Management Framework for all housing staff will be completed and distributed to staff at the annual Service Planning Days in May/June 2007. This will enable all staff to identify their role in the provision of a quality service.
• Targets for performance in 2007/08 will be set with performance monitored in relation to these targets
• The current approach to reporting of performance will be further developed where appropriate, recognising that the current performance reports provide a robust examination of performance.
• Specific policies and procedures will be reviewed during the course of 2007/08 to ensure adherence to good practice.
• Approaches to Quality Assurance will be developed across the service.
• The potential for external accreditation of services will be examined.

Community Care:

• Moray’s Health and Social Care Partnership, as part of its governance function, has established a system of considering quarterly performance reports. Using a traffic light reporting system, the Executive Committee is able to map progress in relation to agreed community planning priorities and nationally driven health priorities.
• The Interagency Procedures for Protecting Vulnerable Adults have been revised in the light of forthcoming legislation and launched during 2006. This will ensure a consistently high quality response to cases of suspected abuse. A Shadow Adult Protection Committee will be established to oversee and drive forward crucial developments in relation to this area of practice. A training course for staff is being delivered to raise awareness, clarify roles and improve practice.
• Moray Council’s Social Work Complaints process for both community care and children and families services will be strengthened through the review of the complaints procedure, the development of more robust monitoring systems at office level, the introduction of reporting arrangements and staff briefings.

Children and families:

• The Children & Families Performance Management Framework based on new key performance indicators and service standards will be fully operational in 2007/08 to provide a more inclusive and systematic approach to performance management.
• The Real Time approach to casework evaluation will be developed further in area teams social work practice with the aim of aggregated data being used in performance management.
• A performance self-assessment will be completed early in 2007/08 as part of the Social Work Inspection Agency’s inspection of social work services in Moray. The resulting performance report from SWIA will be used to guide further service improvements.

The following Best Value Reviews for Community Services are scheduled in accordance with the Corporate Best Value Programme for 2007/08;

• Housing Repairs – Partnership Agreement – currently underway and to report early 2007
• A Best Value Review of Voluntary sector funding and service activity is underway and is due to report at the end of 2007.
• Efficient Government Review on Out of Area Placements in conjunction with Educational Services will be completed and actions taken forward in 2007/08

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5.       Service Improvement Plan Priorities 2006/07

The following pages of the Service Improvement Plan identify the Service Priorities for 2007/08. The priorities will identify what needs to be done, the source of funding, what the outcomes will be and who the lead officer is.

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Service/Department Area – Cross-Divisional

Service Priority – 1.1 Progressing Workforce Development

What will we do to address this priority Links to other Plans

Expected Outcomes/Success Criteria Timescale

Resources

Scottish Executive Funding for Social Work Training; the Moray Council

Staff Implications

Some refocusing of existing staff time

Lead Officers

Sandy Riddell – Director of Community Services

John Carney – Acting Head of Children & Families Service

Joyce Lorimer –Training Manager

Evelyn Cairns – Policy Officer (Performance & Modernisation)

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Service/Department Area – Cross-Divisional

Service Priority – 1.2 Improving Health & Safety Arrangements

What will we do to address this priority Links to other Plans

Expected Outcomes/Success Criteria Timescale