2008 Report Slams Cyngor Gwynedd Social Services..

Six years after the creation of the new unitary Cyngor Gwynedd council - formed to replace the local authority that failed children during the North Wales child abuse scandal - the adult SS department had concerns flagged in a 2001 review of its services. This Daily Post article from 2008 reports on a 'damning' review of social services in Gwynedd, undertaken in 2007, showing much needed improvement had still not been implemented by the department seven years later. https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/local-news/report-slams-gwynedd-social-services-2809357 15:35, 16 OCT 2008 Updated 05:01, 19 APR 2013 By Alex Hickey

GWYNEDD Council’s social services provision has been criticised in a damning report. A joint review report conducted by Wales Audit Office and the care inspectorate for Wales (CSSIW) has uncovered a catalogue of concerns including a failure to develop modern social services to allow vulnerable people to live full and independent lives and "inconsistent" levels of care and support across the county as a whole.

Reviewers were "particularly concerned" that in adult services, many improvements, planned since the last review in 2001, had not been implemented. They also identified an "urgent need" to change the way services were delivered.

Efforts had been made since the last joint review to increase spending on social services but reviewers found that it had not been used to best effect and the council needed to focus more on making the best use of the resources available.

In one of the few plus points the report praised the hard work of social services staff, who were being let down by the system they were working under. In children’s services, the review found that more had been done to improve aspects of practice and service following concerns about performance.

The council said it was "determined" to meet the challenges laid out in the report.

CSSIW chief inspector Rob Pickford said: "The review team has judged that social services in Gwynedd are inconsistent and improvements need to be made urgently in order to bring them up to the required standard. The council has not moved in the right direction to address its shortfalls, and it now needs to clearly demonstrate that it can address an increasingly challenging agenda and develop an effective response to the concerns raised in this joint review".

Auditor General for Wales, Jeremy Colman added: "Gwynedd is failing to provide social services which consistently meet the needs of all service users and is unable to demonstrate that investment in services has been used to best effect. The council needs to focus on developing a broad range of modern services, which provide better all round value for the resources expended."

The council’s strategic director of social services, Dafydd P Lewis, said that since the joint review was completed in 2007, a great deal of time and effort had been invested in modernising the sector.

"As a council we recognise that there is an extremely challenging improvement journey ahead. The fact that the report confirms that Gwynedd provides safe services for vulnerable people, that council staff are hard-working and committed to their work, and that councillors and staff in key positions have expressed a determination to achieve the change now required means that we are confident that we can deliver the necessary changes quickly and efficiently," he added.

Council leader Dyfed Edwards said: "This report confirms that the ‘traditional’ Gwynedd way of delivering social services is no longer an acceptable option and that we must modernise these services as a matter of urgency." https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/local-news/report-slams-gwynedd-social-services-2809357