Report of the Committee on Children and Young Persons.

  • Great Britain. Committee on Children and Young Persons.
Date:
1960
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report of the Committee on Children and Young Persons. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    25/192 (page 15)
    circular(*) was issued from the Home Office and the Ministries of Health and Education to local authorities in England and Wales, asking them to ensure that the most effective use was made of existing resources. The circular advocated the appointment by each local authority of a “ designated officer” who should be responsible for improving the co-ordination of existing local services both statutory and voluntary concerned with the welfare of the family, and for holding regular meetings of the officers of these services at which cases of child neglect and ill-treatment coming to the notice of any statutory or voluntary service in the area could be considered and agreement reached as to how the local services could best be applied to meet the need. 34. A further joint circular(*) from the Home Office, Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education was issued to local authorities in August, 1956, asking for up to date information on the measures taken since July, 1950, to secure co-ordination. We were informed that the replies to this circular indicated that less than ten per cent. of the local authorities in England and Wales had no co-ordinating arrangements of any kind. ‘The reasons given for the lack of co-ordinating machinery in those areas that had no formal arrangements were usually that the existing facilities for co-operation were satisfactory or, in addition to that reason, that the area was so small that no particular arrangements were necessary. 35. The problem of co-ordination of social work generally has recently been reviewed by the Younghusband Working Party on Social Workers — in Local Authority Health and Welfare Services(*). Copies of the replies to the circular of August, 1956, referred to in the foregoing para- graph, were supplied to the Working Party, who summarised the informa- tion, together with replies to a questionnaire they had sent out, in Appendix F to their report. The Working Party expressed the view that “the general principle of co-ordinating machinery is sound as applied to local authority services”. Their other conclusions on this subject may be summarised as follows :— (a) No one pattern of co-operation is appropriate to all areas. It is, however, better to separate the co-ordination of the policy of different services on matters of common interest from the dis- cussion of what is to be done in individual cases. A committee comprising chief or senior officers of the statutory and voluntary services operating in a particular area can do much to establish a general pattern of co-operation and see that it keeps pace with changing social problems; but the discussion of individual cases is best left to a conference of the officers directly concerned (para- graphs 1081-9). (b) Not enough use is yet made of such co-ordinating arrangements as exist ; too few cases are brought within their scope and others are referred at too late a stage. This seems to be due in part at least (*) Home Office Circular 157/50, Ministry of Health Circular 78/50, Ministry of Education Circular 225/50. (7?) Home Office Circular 118/56, Ministry of Health Circular 16/56, Ministry of Education Circular 311/56. (3?) Report of the Working Party on Social Workers in the Local Authority Health and Welfare Services, chapter 12 (H.M.S.0.—1959).