A Welsh Assembly minister has warned the administration will take over the running of social services in Cardiff unless significant improvements are made by the city's council.

Social Services Minister Jane Hutt has made it clear that the buck stops with Cardiff's Lord Mayor Russell Goodway.

The pair met on Thursday to discuss the problems highlighted in a scathing report which said a "bullying" and "macho" management culture at the council had caused a backlog which placed vulnerable children and the elderly at risk.

He (Russell Goodway) has to take responsibility as the leader

Jane Hutt AM

On Friday, in an interview on BBC Radio Wales, Ms Hutt said the council would now have to bring in specialist external advice to manage the change to protect people who needed social services support.

The review by the Audit Commission and the Welsh Assembly Government was published last month.

Russell Goodway brushed off resignation calls

Collated between November 2001 and January 2002, it found Cardiff was "in default of its statutory obligations to screen, assess and review all children at risk and those who are looked after".

The "pervading culture ... is widely perceived to be both secretive and overbearing", it said.

Some social services employees who blew the whistle on the council's performance have been sacked on unrelated grounds, but they claim they have been punished for speaking out.

Ms Hutt has now given Mr Goodway a six-month deadline for improvement, otherwise the assembly government will consider taking over management of his council's social services.

"Change is non-negotiable ... [he] has got to bring in specialist external advice to enable this change to take place - they need help," she said.

"He has to take responsibility as the leader for ensuring this cultural turns things around."

"Russell has to demonstrate his leadership. He has to form a task group to take things forward with all of the groups who have an interest in the most vulnerable people."

When asked if the buck stops with Mr Goodway, she said: "Quite clearly, it stops with the leader."

Jane Hutt wants improvement from the council

She said she would consider taking over the council's social services work if there are insufficient improvements.

Mr Goodway, who has brushed off calls for his resignation, has already agreed to make changes.

He demanded his senior managers "make that leap between the old culture to the new culture necessary to deliver services".

But he also called for help from the assembly as he tries to turn around his department.

"Jane Hutt will know the situation in Cardiff - she was vice chairman of social services when we were on South Glamorgan County Council," Mr Goodway said.

Access

"Lots of the problems identified in this report go back to that period.

Cardiff Central MP Jon Owen Jones said the problems arose because the modernising, Westminster-like cabinet system introduced by the local authority had not worked.

Mr Jones said somebody should take responsibility, but identifying who, was problematic because "responsibility is somewhat diffuse".