Inspector say little progress has been made in social services care

Inspectors have told Welsh Health Minister Jane Hutt that there has been little progress in parts of social services in Blaenau Gwent.

The Children's Commissioner for Wales said Ms Hutt should consider taking control of the department.

But the council claimed many improvements had been made since the latest review in July.

The latest report follows two highly critical reviews of child protection cases.

On Wednesday, Ms Hutt told the assembly that many children on the child protection register in Blaenau Gwent still do not have a dedicated social worker.

We are showing signs of that recovery process, we are beginning to make that turn around possible Dr Sue Ross

Her department - in conjunction with the Social Services Inspectorate for Wales - has monitored the situation in the authority since concerns were first raised in May 2003.

That report highlighted a catalogue of serious problems, including bullying, under-qualified social workers, and broken rules.

A follow-up report in April 2004 later listed a catalogue of failures, including poor management and staff bullying.

The council apologised and admitted that action needed to be taken to remedy the problems as quickly as possible.

'Significant problems'

The new report said significant problems remained, with many front line managers either having left, or in the process of leaving the authority.

It warned of unreliable information and an inconsistent approach to compliance with legislation.

It said there were still "significant number of children on the child protection register and looked-after children who do not have an allocated social worker."

It said that "the general quality of assessment and case management remains poor" and "the authority has been slow in dealing with the cases referred back for further action".

In a statement on Wednesday, Ms Hutt said the problems in Blaenau Gwent were "deep-seated and require sustained attention to resolve".

"The arrangements made provide for that sustained attention, and are the best way of achieving the long-term improvement that is necessary," she added.

The Children's Commissioner Peter Clarke said Ms Hutt should consider taking direct control of the council's social services if there were not immediate improvements.

Mr Clarke told BBC Radio Wales he found the report "shocking and disturbing".

"The assembly government has the powers, if necessary, to take over failing departments," he said.

"One of the problems is that they would deal with the same set of circumstances the current managers are facing, so I can understand why they're being cautious but there must be a point when these powers are used to the full."

Peter Clarke says he wants to be kept in touch with progress in Blaenau Gwent week by week

Mr Clarke said the report referred to circumstances in July and he wanted to be brought up to speed with the current situation.

But he said he would be meeting Ms Hutt next week to discuss Blaenau Gwent and said if he considered insufficient progress had been made he would advise that the minister use the full powers open to her.

Plaid Cymru also called for the management of the department to be taken over by the assembly government unless there were immediate improvements.

Dr Sue Ross, Blaenau Gwent's interim director of social services, was praised by inspectors for the commitment of herself and her team to bringing about changes.

'Recovery process'

She said she accepted the report's findings, adding that changes already made were beginning to take effect, but still needed time.

She said: "We have to work through the problems in a consistent and careful way.

"The council has taken these issues extremely seriously and it is because we're taking it so seriously that we're having to undertake a root and branch look at all our services, which will take time to have an impact.

"We are showing signs of that recovery process, we are beginning to make that turn around possible."

She added that no at-risk children were now without a social worker. There were still some looked-after children in that situation but that number was reducing, she said.

Dr Ross said four social workers had been recruited from Canada to help ease the authority's staffing problems.