S OCIAL WORK P ersonal social services council J e c k Smith the
s°rgariisational recommendations of y be, eehohni Committee's report went far ond Prev. the local bringing together of tl!: arid 1°1181Y fragmented welfare, childreil that iPters°hal health services. Admitting was trespassing beyond its terms off ;;011..qice, the committee very sensibly lors:Ifered the implications of its proposals — t ery`i",,e central support of local authority tati.es and argued for substantial reor41i4l.sation of the channels of advice to attritsht,e's on national social service policy thirauning. In particular it proposed a lotraei advisory council for the personal hi services, a standing committee of theWould deal with training matters. In er_ titeedvent, pressures from a range of in f a !owl Parties resulted in the creation oftY 8eParate Council for Training and ,tatclecarh,i°4 in Social Work which is now 41inr,.7aY, but the Personal Social Services though stripped of the duty to Ntent,"1,411Power and training, remains 0 ."allY a very influential body. thanile tnust speak of its potential rather e a °f Ls performance because more than dercat art after the local social services triet..pents began work, it has still not tlireritY ':le Council, it is planned, will have f bodie,eight members. A handful o ticels—I,Mcluding the local authority associa tive the right to nominate represeni kfliiit:n'i and the Secretary of State must n ttissNotetnatiivnev1te twelve other members reof voluntary organisations, trairt,,tions of social workers, education, f titki"g and research interests, and the ealProfession. The Minister has hi8 tally consulted widely before making testic)W11 choices and a request for sugQtgah5i5ationsPs went to a wide range of relevant %s" several months ago. The ,S,s1/:16h „ave, however, not yet been called. as to the reason for the delay qtrero."IY centres on the identity of the illtlep:,Yllinth member, the as yet unnamed 11,e ent chairman. t, -„ 1;tvoilidlIkew council, Seebohmsuggested, °e the central forum for co-opera hktiai Iscussion on policy on the persona srvices, advising the appropriate ,lib'er and promoting development, '1Q1r1,1 and research over the whole laet Would be difficult to conceive of ,Ites,-;`4 When these tasks were more tie'tY than during the first months of -W departments. If the Minister has not been advised by the Personal Social Services Council, who has been advising him?
There is no simple answer: but of course the civil servants within the DHSS have exercised a good deal of influence. In particular one would have expected the Social Work Services Group — the specifically professional component has survived Fulton so far — to have taken a lead. Many of its members were recruited from local government themselves and therefore have recent experience both in the running of social services in the field and in working within the rather special political climate of the local level. The Social Work Services Group has, however, had problems of its own, formed as it was from a merger of previously separate groups which are still not even housed in the same building. An additional complication is the presence in the Department of a management review team from McKinseys. the imminence of whose report threatens further disruption, and though new people have recently been recruited the service was kept understaffed throughout last year by a prolonged haggle over salary grades. The nub of the pay dispute was the difference between the rates paid to Home Office Inspectors and Department of Health Welfare Officers, the two sets of staff who came together to form the Group. Though the ex-Home Office team predominate numerically, took most of the senior posts, and have dictated the high professional standard and general tone of the service, both Seebohm and Sir Keith have played down the inspectoral role and made light of central government sanctions in handling local authorities. At just the time when directors of social services found their statusivastly enhanced by their command of larger departments, salaries and budgets, the status of the social work service officers at the Ministry was as sharply depressed, a coincidence which has resulted in a marked change in the always ambiguous balance of power between central and local government.
With the Department's civil servants weakened and divided through Seebohm implementation, Sir Keith might have been tempted to look for more authoritative advice from the local level. The problems facing one service nationally, however, were repeated among the newly appointed directors whose previous jobs by and large were as either children's officers or chief welfare officers. The two groups had separate associations until 1970 and negotiations for the formation of the Association of Directors of Social Services were at times distinctly prickly. The new group therefore got off to a slow start and some directors have been too occupied major part in the national organisation yet.
One other body only now consolidating its strength from a recent merger is the British Association of Social Workers. BASW anticipated Seebohm by bringing together seven specialist organisations and emerged as one united association after several years of negotiations during the 'sixties. Its membership of nearly ten thousand qualified social workers gives it great potential strength and there is already talk of widening the criteria for admitting members to make the organisation more generally representative of the whole range of practitioners. With its power base not yet precisely defined BASW has concentrated much of its energy over the first two years of its life on establishing its secretariat, committees and local structure. Sadly, earlier divisions are reappearing in discussions over the future of social workers in the health service and as a result the Association finds itself frankly unable to give a clear lead on a major policy issue facing the minister right now.
For a variety of reasons then a number of groups which might have rushed to fill the gap left by the non-appearance of the Personal Social Services Council have hesitated, preoccupied temporarily with more domestic matters. Now, however, they are summoning their strength. Sir Keith has shown himself a most receptive minister to counsel on the social work front. He rarely refuses an invitation to attend a meeting and makes a point of talking with practitioners wherever he goes. He may soon find, however, that this informally gathered advice has limitations; it can be strident, confused, contradictory and unrepresentative. A working body representing interested parties and able to thrash out authoritative guidance will soon be vital. Before the summer is much more advanced the Personal Social Services Council should get into action.
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