Minute of the previous meeting of the Social Work Governance Group, held on 9 July 2026
Argyll and Bute Council · 13 August 2026
Back to Argyll and Bute HSCP Clinical and Care Governance Committee — 13 August 2026 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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1 Social Work Social Work and Social Care Governance Committee 9 July 2026 (online) Present: Pamela MacLeod Shona Williams (Chair) Kirsteen Larkin (notes) Caroline Robertson (joined 1200) Annemarie Reilly (joined 1200) Karen Ralston Nikki Gillespie (joined 1200) Angie McDonald Simon Deveney Apologies: David Gibson Brian Reid Pamela Hoey Amanda Ward Donald Watt Alan Chapman Tom Golcher Ian Kidman Jacqueline Osborne James Littlejohn No Item Agreement and action Points Welcome and introduction Shona welcomed all to the meeting. 2 Previous minute: Note of 11 June 2026 Approved Agreed accurate account of last meeting 3 Committee Business: 3.1 Terms of Reference, Reporting Requirements for the Social Work Governance and Leadership Committee and SSSC Annual Have Your Say Report feedback: Discuss at August meeting as no quoracy to agree. 3.2 Proposed Report Template (Shona Williams): Apologies for late circulation Proposed Shona, Caroline and Nikki to meet and agree Simon: could we have as an online form once agreed Agreed: meeting to develop Kirsteen Larkin to discuss development of form and SharePoint site with Claire MacLeod 4 Service Assurance Reports (see written reports): 4.1 Adult Care Operations (no report): Highlights:
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2 SUMMARY & ASSURANCE STATEMENT: Assurance Level: none provided 4.2 Adult Support and Protection (Pamela MacLeod / Annemarie Reilly): Highlights: • Difficulties in securing chairperson for case conferences, Annemarie covering • Chair training taking place next week • Issues keeping to timescales • Need to contact banks centrally due to closure of branches which is causing issues getting information where there is a suggestion of financial harm • Learning Review team meeting 15 July to get report sign off, to go August committee SUMMARY & ASSURANCE STATEMENT: Scrutiny of Q4’s ASP Inquiry activity as recorded on Eclipse; undertaken by the Lead Officer enables assurance that whilst we continue not to meet KPI the majority of intervention is completed in a timescale in keeping with the needs of the adult. Ongoing staffing issues and competing priorities for existing council officer’s results in interventions which, whilst fundamentally protecting the adult, do not regularly demonstrate best practice. Assurance Level: partial 4.3 Adult Social Care Learning Disability Registered Services (no report): Highlights: SUMMARY & ASSURANCE STATEMENT: Assurance Level: none provided as no report prepared 4.4 Adult Social Care Mental Health (no report): Highlights: SUMMARY & ASSURANCE STATEMENT:
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3 Assurance Level: none provided as no report provided 4.5 Adult Care Resources (Simon Deveney): Highlights: • Waiting on feedback from care inspectorate for KCC • Good progress in care at home service for medication and ASP SUMMARY & ASSURANCE STATEMENT: The outcomes above demonstrate a level of improvement & assurance within our services while also highlighting the improvement needed in areas the internal care at home service. Work is ongoing to make the necessary improvements in line with the standards expected across all of our services and we are confident that these will be made and documented appropriately. Assurance Level: partial 4.6 Children & Families Social Work Operations (Shona Williams): Highlights: • Staffing remains critical • CP numbers have reduced due to placements and reviews • Number of outstanding CP investigations – lack of recording and sign off, now added to weekly huddle to provide additional tracking. • Organised CP training for NQSW in September, open to all SW, will add another 13 CP trained staff, open to WDC SUMMARY & ASSURANCE STATEMENT Children & Families Social Work Services continue to deliver statutory duties across all localities, with strong progress in several key areas, including ongoing development of the Bairns’ Hoose model and the advancement of practice-standardisation work through the emerging Practice Guidance Manual. The service remains committed to multi-agency working and trauma-informed practice and continues to support care-experienced children and young people. The work of the teams is having to be prioritised to focus on statutory CP and other work due to the staffing situation. The
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4 risks associated with staffing have been escalated through appropriate governance arrangements. Several areas of assurance remain under pressure. Staffing challenges, particularly the proportion of newly qualified social workers in Cowal, vacancies and severe shortages of qualified staff in OLI and MAKI, continue to impact capacity and resilience. The Care-Experienced at Home File Reading audit identified notable deficits in practice within the Bute & Cowal and Helensburgh teams, though improvement actions have been initiated and progress is being monitored. Immediate-risk cases were addressed without delay, and improvement plans are now in place across all areas except Helensburgh, where work is being finalised. Overall, the service is actively addressing the issues identified through strengthened oversight, targeted development work and clearer expectations for practice standards. Based on the evidence from this reporting period, the quality of service delivery is assessed as Partially Assured. While there is clear commitment to improvement and evidence of responsive action in relation to identified risks, several areas require continued oversight: • Staffing Shortages in both operational and senior management teams are highlighted as an escalating risk. • Practice deficits in Bute & Cowal and Helensburgh require sustained improvement and consistent managerial scrutiny. • Systemic risks linked to Eclipse must be actively managed until mitigations and potential workflow changes are confirmed. • KPIs remain affected by data quality issues within Eclipse, which impacts reporting accuracy. Assurance Level: partial 4.7 Children’s Resources (no report): Highlights: SUMMARY & ASSURANCE STATEMENT:
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5 Assurance Level: none provided as no report prepared 4.8 Justice Social Work (Shona Williams): Highlights: • Currently completing statutory returns for Scottish Government • Met 95% KPI target of getting court reports in on time (96% quarter 1) SUMMARY & ASSURANCE STATEMENT: Justice Social Work in Argyll & Bute continues to deliver a high-quality, safe, and compliant service that meets core statutory duties. Performance challenges around CPO induction data have been analysed and are being addressed through targeted improvement actions. These include changes to administrative processes, earlier scheduling of appointments, and enhancements to how information is recorded and transferred between courts, staff, and systems. A significant risk to the services assurance factor is the lack of senior management oversight and availability to progress improvement actions due to covering alternative duties in C&F service. Indicators suggest that the increase in workload across most business areas has not compromised safe practice or compliance with statutory duties, however there is a lack of scrutiny of this at the present time. Assurance Level: partial 5 Any Other Business: 5.1 Adult SW Casefile Audit Procedure and Overview (Pamela MacLeod): Internal audit waiting on decision to approve and implement. C&F have own process so this just for adults. Team Manager responsible for 8 audits every quarter as per schedule using audit tool. Service Managers audit 2 case files, 1 assessment and supervision record every quarter Senior Manager to do quarterly review of outcomes and recommendations to create implementation and training plan Reported to SW Governance Committee and Performance and Audit Committee – including if not been undertaken Agreed: framework, trial for first year as quarterly and review, not to audit own team
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6 Supervision procedure waiting to be approved and implemented Random selection of case files using criteria Need to agree who would co-ordinate - HofS Discussion: Shona Williams: concern about where this is practical and can be kept to schedule due to capacity; how do you evidence improvement if done too often, should there be more audits less frequently; HofS for Adults need to sign off Karen Ralston: should we audit our own teams? Maybe 6 monthly would be more manageable due to amount of issues highlighted and how to implement improvement; now might not be the time due to levels of staffing currently; experience of having supervision audited; are any other audits being undertaken eg IRD, huddles Angela McDonald: previously tried quarterly audits in C&F and it did become too much and was reduced to 6 months, also did not do own team; how do you identify which cases and co- ordinate Nikki Gillespie: issues previously with monthly audits not being done so suggested quarterly, we can review if not working, 6 monthly might be too few unless dates set; could do with a guide for all services of expected standard; lots of work ongoing around all processes with a plan to implement 5.2 Mental Welfare Commission Return (Pamela MacLeod): Request for information annually Significant improvement in supervising officers for guardianships Due to be submitted 10 July 2026 Cowal locality issue as high for ASP, CP, etc as well Discussion: Karen Ralston: where do we sit nationally, large volume in Cowal Nikki Gillespie: higher deprivation, drug use, etc in Cowal, move from Inverclyde Agreed: report for submission Pamela to present to SLT for oversight 5.3 SSSC consultation on levels of registration (adult day centres, SW assistants, offender residential) (Shona Williams): Agreed – Shona Williams to submit response to SG
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7 CSWO has been asked to do a response for the HSCP. SSSC to set standards and qualifications, this will have a cost implication for the HSCP. SSSC set expectations of what SW assistants can and cannot do. Meetings with HR to align job specs. Implications for staff who don’t meet qualifications within timescales. Discussion: Simon Deveney: have been anticipating the change for day centres, supportive and agree, day centre managers also keen to see in place Pamela MacLeod: concern for SW assistants to gain qualifications, supportive of registration, review of job specs has put us in a better position to implement, will need to amend process for supervision, CPL, etc; need to standardise job spec for support workers to be clear who should be registered; may have implications on social worker role due to need for oversight; can we amend SW assistant job spec now to reflect qualifications 5.4 Waiver Policy (Kirsteen Larkin): Request to do a review of current policy and oversight with a few managers Agreed: to undertake review 5.5 Emerging Risk (Nikki Gillespie): Letter from Carr Gomm about complexity and escalation process out of hours Agency worker offered overtime Looking to withdraw brokerage and seek urgent meeting – Nikki and Shona Need copies of procedures so that these can be reviewed – Kirsteen to send over Discussion: Simon Deveney: next job spec being reviewed is home care organiser post, after 5pm no managerial cover from care at home and should not be transferred to Carr Gomm, out of hours is included in job specs but not being done, links with new scheduling system Pamela MacLeod: contract with Carr Gomm is interdependent, need meeting with procurement before meeting with Carr Gomm; agree needs SW manager to be available to make decisions Agreed – Nikki Gillespie and Shona Williams to meet with Carr Gomm
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8 5.6 NQSW (Pamela MacLeod): Three in C&F have completed supported year Dates of next meetings: 13 August 2026 10 September 2026 8 October 2026 12 November 2026 10 December 2026