Committee of Inquiry into the management of the Health and Social Services Department (P.145/2009): comments.

STATES OF JERSEY

COMMITTEE OF INQUIRY INTO THE MANAGEMENT OF THE HEALTH AND SOCIAL SERVICES DEPARTMENT (P.145/2009): COMMENTS

Presented to the States on 2nd November 2009 by the Council of Ministers

STATES GREFFE

2009   Price code: B  P.145 Com.

COMMENTS

The  Council  of  Ministers  is  aware  that  the  detail  of  any  allegations  concerning misconduct and incompetence within Management' has not been made available to the Minister for Health and Social Services, despite a formal request for disclosure to the Scrutiny Committee by the Chief Minister, the Minister for Health and Social Services and, separately, by the Chair of the Jersey Child Protection Committee. As a result, it is impossible to assess the basis for the proposition and the likely cost/benefit of any investigation.

The Minister for Health and Social Services has a responsibility under Article 42(1) of the Children (Jersey) Law 2002 to investigate any allegations in order to safeguard or promote children's welfare'. The Minister is being prevented from doing so by the failure of the Scrutiny Panel to assist the Minister with her enquiries.

In response to the Minister on the 20th October 2009, the Chairman of the Health, Social Services and Housing Scrutiny Panel stated that –

"The allegations that were presented to the HSSH Scrutiny Sub-Panel during its review of the Coordination of Services for Vulnerable Children (S.R.6/2009) were neither specific nor conclusive."

The Chairman went on to say –

"We do not have hard evidence that failures have occurred with regard to vulnerable children, which is why we have not passed on any such information to you or your colleagues."

In  light  of  this,  the  Chairman  gave  the  following  rationale  for  a  Committee  of Inquiry –

"it was simply stated that unprofessional behaviour had occurred which seemed then (as it does now) sufficient cause for proposing a Committee of Inquiry to conduct an investigation."(See attached letter at Appendix).

On reviewing the report and proposition lodged by the Scrutiny Panel, the Council of Ministers noted that although the focus of the accompanying report appeared to be on the  Children's  Service,  the  wording  used  in  part  (a)  of  the  proposition  would potentially empower the proposed Committee of Inquiry to conduct a much wider review of the management of the entire Health and Social Services Department and of all other departments or external bodies providing services to vulnerable children. Such a broad review, even if justified, would require extensive resources, considerable time and professional expertise. Moreover, there was real potential for unnecessary duplication of work.

The Minister for Health and Social Services points out that the Health and Social Services Department is currently being subjected to an ongoing independent review by Verita, that a report was anticipated in relatively early course and that the Minister was committed to reforming the management structure of her department where necessary. The Minister is in the process of recruiting a new Chief Officer and restructuring the Department  in  2010  to  include  a  New  Director  of  the  General  Hospital,  a  New Director of Community and Social Services and a new Medical Director when the

current Director retires early in 2010. The Minister is keen to move forward with these plans rather than dwell on the past.

In addition, and in response to the Williamson report, the Council noted that the Social Services Department was due to undergo a full independent inspection in 2010. On the 2nd  November  2009,  the  Minister  for  Health  and  Social  Services  will  sign  a commitment to enable the Department to engage in bi-annual external independent inspection  with  the  Social  Work  Inspection  Agency  (SWIA)  and  has  significant concerns  that  a  committee  of  inquiry  would  duplicate  such  work.  The  Minister considers it inconceivable that such concerns, if evidenced, would not come to light via inspection in 2010 and is committed to publishing inspection results into the public domain.

Arrangements to second an officer of the Social Work Inspection Agency to assist with data collation for the review are almost complete and one of her officers has recently  returned  from  working  with  SWIA  in  Renfrewshire,  participating  in  an inspection of their services.

The Minister for Health and Social Services will shortly lodge a report providing further details of these service improvements. This will include the introduction of an independent Transitional Director to oversee the implementation of the Williamson Recommendations and the development of a comprehensive Children's and Young Persons Plan that the Corporate Parent will oversee before lodging for debate in the States Assembly in the New Year. The Minister considers that this implementation has already been significantly delayed and it is vital that all key components should move forward as soon as possible. The Minister is particularly anxious to avoid any delay in implementing the senior management restructure of Children's Services and is keen to ensure managers are free to concentrate upon effective service delivery during this projected period of major change.

The Council of Ministers believe that the assessment of the validity of any allegations must take into account the source of the allegations and the quality of any supporting evidence. It should also be tested in the context of the numerous reviews and inquiries already held into Health and Social Services in recent years. These include –

1. Investigation  by  Gerald  White  FCIPD  into  the  actions  of  the  Manager  for Residential/Secure Provision – April 2008;
2. Report by Andrew Williamson entitled An Inquiry into Child Protection in Jersey' – June 2008;
3. Report by Professor Robert Upex into Circumstances surrounding the dismissal of an employee of the States of Jersey' – 15th July 2008;
4. Independent investigation by General Social Care Council into two registered Social  Work  Managers  referred  to  the  Council  by  a  third  party  individual concerning the management of children in vulnerable situations. The outcome was no action required';
5. Report by the Howard League for Penal Reform entitled Jersey Review – A review of the Jersey youth justice system' – 2008;

6. Report  by  Professor  June  Thoburn  (Independent  Chair  of  Jersey  Child Protection  Committee)  entitled  Annual  Report  to  Ministers'  –  25  October 2008;
7. A report published by the Comptroller & Auditor General – Department of Health and Social Services – Structure and Organisation – April 2009.

The Council of Ministers note that despite these extensive independent reviews carried out by impartial and professional outside bodies with no connection to the States of Jersey, no supporting evidence for the "non specific" and "non conclusive" allegations reported by the Scrutiny Panel have been produced.

It should also be noted that Health and Social Services has had 4 Ministers and 5 Assistant Ministers, all capable and competent to scrutinise any operations under their control.

The  Scrutiny  Panel  describes  two  sources  of  information,  the  second  of  which, information that has come to light following certain child protection cases that have recently come before the Royal Court'. This implies that the Panel does not consider that the Royal Court has taken this information into account or that, somehow, further information  has  come  to  light  subsequent  to  the  Court  hearings.  The  Council  of Ministers is of the understanding that all relevant information was considered by the Court and that, had the Bailiff felt it necessary, he would have raised any issues of concern with the Minister for Health and Social Services at the time. If however, the Scrutiny Panel has received new information unknown to the Court, the Panel should properly refer this information back to the Court for their consideration.

Conclusion

Given  the  high  level  of  both  internal  (by  Ministers)  and  external  (independent) scrutiny from so many diverse individuals and sources, it must be relevant that none of the above appear to have found any evidence to support the outlined allegations. No grounds for a Committee of Inquiry have been provided and the Council of Ministers can see no useful purpose being achieved by asking the taxpayer to fund another external enquiry which is estimated to cost between £200,000 and £300,000. The Council note that the Minister for Treasury and Resources considers that the cost, should this proposition be approved, should be met from the revenue cash limit of the Health and Social Services Department. The Minister for Health and Social Services has confirmed that there are no surplus funds available in the 2010 cash limit to fund an  inquiry  and  if  approved,  would  need  to  divert  funding  from  other  approved developments such as investment in nurse staffing levels or Williamson developments in children's services. Whilst the allegations referenced by the Scrutiny Panel focus on the past, the Minister is determined to focus her attention and investment on the future of services for vulnerable children. On the basis of the evidence made available by Scrutiny, the Council conclude that the case for appointing a Committee of Inquiry in addition to the ongoing work highlighted above has not been made and recommend that members reject this proposition.

APPENDIX