Welcome to the April edition of the Voluntary Sector Social Services Workforce Unit's e-bulletin.
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Our bulletins will keep you up to date with the latest voluntary sector social services workforce development issues. If you have a workforce development event or initiative you would like to publicise please let us know and we will include it in future editions. If you think a colleague may be interested in the bulletin then please forward it. If they would like to sign up for the bulletin, they can sign up online.
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Lisa Pattoni
Information and Communications Officer
lisa.pattoni@ccpscotland.org
Content
Following the launch of the knowledge management strategy for social services - Sharing Knowledge, Improving Practice, Changing Lives - the Workforce Unit is pleased to present our Spring Newsletter which focuses on knowledge management and what it could mean for your organisation. In this edition:
The next edition will be published in the summer. If you would like to showcase good practice examples from your organisation, please get in touch. We would be delighted to interview you and present this information on our website/newsletter.
The Workforce Unit has consulted with over 50 voluntary sector representatives to inform our response to the social care procurement consultation. This has been primarily through our Policy Advisory Committee, Executive Committee, and by facilitating discussion sessions at events in Glasgow, Helensburgh and Kirkcaldy. We would like to thank all of the people who took time to contribute to the Workforce Unit response - we really appreciate your input.
Social Care Procurement is an area of particular concern to voluntary sector providers. The Workforce Unit's research "A Gathering Storm? Procurement, re-tendering and the voluntary sector social care workforce" highlighted the significant negative impact that re-tendering can have on the workforce, including breakdown of co-operative relationships between providers, the undermining of terms and conditions, loss of highly motivated staff, concerns over service quality, and uncertainty aggravated by difficulties and inconsistencies in interpreting TUPE.
The Workforce Unit welcomes this guidance as a step towards reducing some of these issues for providers. Our response focuses on the workforce issues within the draft guidance.View our full response here.
Jubilee House, Forthside Way, Stirling
1st June, 10am - 1pm (followed by lunch)
The Workforce Unit is pleased to present a joint event with the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) and the Scottish Institute for Residential Child Care (SIRCC) which aims to offer support to:
The event will focus on:
This event is FREE, and a networking lunch will be provided. For more information, and to book a place, please visit the events section of the Workforce Unit website. Alternatively, please contact Laura Weir on 01786 849752.
Jubilee House, Forthside Way, Stirling
30th April, 10.30am- 12.30pm
The National Strategy for Self-Directed Support in Scotland along with the proposal for a Self-Directed Support (Scotland) Bill have been developed to help take forward the personalisation of health and social care services in Scotland. The Scottish Government is currently consulting on both these documents.
This event will give you the opportunity to discuss some of the potential workforce issues and implications arising from both documents (strategy and legislation). We have prepared a document regarding this for your consideration. The Workforce Unit is keen to hear your views and make sure that voluntary sector interests are fed into the consultation.
Participation at the event will enable you to contribute to the Workforce Unit's response, as well as preparing you to consider the implications of both the Strategy and the proposed Bill for your own organisation. For more information, please contact Laura Weir at vswu.admin@ccpscotland.org. Book your place by completing the online booking form.
Would your students benefit from having a laptop to write up notes and essays etc?
The Workforce Unit has some old (but serviceable) equipment with basic functions for writing essays etc. that we are hoping to give to a worthy home. If you are interested, please contact Laura Weir at vswu.admin@ccpscotland.org. First come, first served!
CEIS, the Supplier Development Programme, and partners, are running a series of free of charge tender writing workshops across Scotland. Designed specifically for managers and staff of Third Sector organisations, who have responsibility for business development and tender writing, the workshops will offer practical guidance for organisations wishing to compete for public sector contracts.
The interactive workshops will include contributions from experts, including procurement practitioners and organisations with experience of successful tender writing. The programme has been designed for introductory, intermediate and advanced levels.
For more information and to apply, click here to take you to the online application and questionnaire. This will allow CEIS to match you to the appropriate course and venue. For general information about the different courses available, click here.
Radisson Hotel, Argyle St, Glasgow
19 May 2010, 12pm.
NHS Education for Scotland invites health, social care and housing practitioners to attend the national launch of a Multi-agency Capability Framework for Intermediate Care. This framework has been developed in collaboration with NHS Lanarkshire and tested with frontline staff from four partnerships across Scotland.
The event will introduce the tool, outline how to use it in your local partnership and explain how it supports strategic work on intermediate care, Shifting the Balance of Care, Reshaping Care for older people and the Dementia Strategy. This event is free of charge but in order to plan catering requirements we ask that you register by emailing Lesley.metcalf@nes.scot.nhs.uk with your name, designation, employer, contact details and any specific dietary requirements.
The Framework is available to download here. Download the event flyer and programme here.
Hilton Grosvenor Hotel, Glasgow
6th May, 9.15am - 4.15pm
The University of Glasgow, Faculty of Medicine has organised a conference which looks at key topics on children’s mental health addressed by leading experts. The conference should be of interest to a variety of professionals working in education, social care and health and others with an interest in this area. The event promises to provide:
The conference also promises to be a good meeting place where you can network with colleagues and pick up educational resources. Download the conference flyer for more information or book online.
Self Directed Support Scotland are working with advocacy organisations across Scotland to promote a better understanding of how self-directed support can empower disabled people, parents of disabled people and older people to have more choice over how their care support is provided. SDSS is offering free training to advocacy organisations on Direct Payments and Self Directed Support.
If your organisation is interested in accessing this free training contact John Dever on 0141 550 4455 or email at john@sdsscotland
University of Strathclyde, Jordanhill Campus, Glasgow
26th May
The Scottish Institute for Residential Child Care (SIRCC) are pleased to present this training event which will provide an introduction to the principles and practices of social pedagogy and will consider how learning from social pedagogy can develop residential practice.
Social pedagogy is a philosophy of care that draws on theories from social work, education, sociology, psychology and philosophy. The seminar will offer an opportunity to professionals to develop an understanding of social pedagogy with head, heart and hands. It will provide an introduction to social pedagogy to residential practitioners in a way that resonates with them personally and theoretically.
The seminar also aims to underpin and strengthen existing practice, as well as providing inspiring ideas for change. The trainers are keen to engage in an open dialogue about your perspective on social pedagogy, how it could enhance your practice and how we can jointly develop a social pedagogy for Scotland.
For more information, Download the event flyer or complete the online booking form.
Brunton Hall, Musselburgh
29th April, 10.30am- 3pm
Citizen Leadership happens when citizens have power, influence and responsibility to make decisions. Learning Network South East in partnership with ENABLE Scotland, Progress Scotland and Edinburgh Development Group (EDG) are pleased to present this follow up event which will welcome workers and managers in addition to people who use services and their carers.
This event will be based on participative workshop sessions and aims to bring people together to focus on:
For more information, download the event flyer. Contact Beth Nuttall at 0131 650 4660 or beth.nuttall@ed.ac.uk to book a place
People who use services and members of the public are now being given the chance to say thank you to the people who support and care for them or their loved ones.
The Outstanding Contribution to Care Award gives you the chance to nominate a worker in a social service organisation such as a care home for older people, a social work department or a nursery who has gone that extra mile to support and help you. Perhaps in this year's severe winter weather, or a particularly difficult time for you, there is someone that little bit special that you would like to thank?
Log on to the SSSC website: www.sssc.uk.com to nominate a worker or email:enquiries@sssc.uk.com or telephone: 0845 60 30 891 for more information. The closing date for entries is 30 April 2010.
The SSSC has announced the outcome of its consultation to establish qualification requirements for Care at Home Managers.
Functional definition of Care at Home Manager
During the consultation, the Workforce Unit suggested that too broad a functional definition of Manager could lead to supervisors requiring to register as managers. The Workforce Unit is pleased to note that the SSSC has responded to these concerns and the definition of Care at Home Manager is confirmed to be:
A manager is a worker who is responsible for the overall professional management of the direct provision, supervision, and quality assurance of care and support provided in a care at home service. [The definition will be similar for Housing Support Managers]
Qualification Requirements for Care at Home Managers
Care at Home Managers will need to gain both a care award (eg SVQ 4 Health and Social Care) and a management award. Acceptable management awards are as follows:
In response to feedback from stakeholders, the Workforce Unit raised concerns within the consultation process that the focus on the Leadership & Management for Care award and the requirement for mapping of other awards would effectively limit the choice of qualifications acceptable for registration. The Workforce Unit is also disappointed to note at SVQ 4 Management is not explicitly included in the qualifications requirements.
Although the SVQ 4 Management is not specifically mentioned within the qualifications list, the SSSC has clarified that it will accept SVQ 4 Management (in its current and former iterations), unmapped, for registration of Care at Home Managers. It will do this because this qualification is acceptable for all similar functional roles and is, effectively, a predecessor award to the "mapped" qualification.
However, any subsequent SVQ 4 Management i.e. any re-validated qualification, must meet the stated criteria (level, credits and mapping.)
The Care Commission held a review at Stirling Management Centre on 11 January 2010 to explore the challenges and benefits of the implementation of the Adult Support and Protection (Scotland) Act 2007 since it was introduced in October 2008.
The Care Commission note that challenge has been, and will continue to be, in striking the balance between enabling individuals to lead independent lives and make choices whilst also protecting those who may not be able to do so for themselves. The event was attended by local authorities, the Social Work Inspection Agency and Adult Protection Committees.
For more information, including a copy of the proposed future actions following the event, and progress report, please visit the Care Commission website.
Many thanks to those of you who have responded to the Scottish Governments's consultation on Social Care Procurement.
The Joint Improvement Team (JIT) are also looking for any examples of good practice in local policy, procedure, process and procurement activity and would like to include examples provided by service user and carer groups and service providers from their own local experience.
Although there is a very broad consensus that there is scope for improvement in all localities -- there is also lots of evidence of good practice locally in certain aspects of procurement activity. It is the detail of such good practice activity that the Joint Improvement Team (JIT) are keen to make available to inform practice improvement across the country. The intention is to make the practice information available online alongside the guidance and at the same time as the final guidance is published. If you can help, please complete the form and send it to Alex Bell at the Joint Improvement Team: Alex.Bell@scotland.gsi.gov.uk by Monday 26th April.
The latest bulletin about the creation of the two new scrutiny bodies due to start in April 2011 has been published by the Scottish Government. These newsletters cover key updates and developments on work relating to the establishment of the Improvement and Scrutiny Bodies for Healthcare and for Social Work and Social Care. Latest information includes:
The bulletin also notes some important amendments for parts of the Bill that affect SCSWIS and HIS. These include:
The website http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Health/Scrutiny contains the latest information for the project and includes a frequently asked questions section. If you have any comments or suggestions, please send them to the project team at NSB2011@scotland.gsi.gov.uk.
Throughout our lives we tend to acquire a range and variety of knowledge, skills and competencies through formal and informal learning. Through the National Qualifications Framework, there exists the possibility that all of these forms of learning can be mapped. However, although people with learning disabilities often gain valuable employability skills through non-formal education and training, in most cases they can't prove these job related skills since no accreditation of basic vocational training exists.
The European Commission have begun a project with a range of European partners called National Qualifications Framework (NQF) Inclusive which aims to enable people with learning disabilities to obtain officially recognised certificates for vocational competencies. There is work ongoing at the moment to develop a model of accreditation and certification, the hope being that people with learning disabilities are afforded the same opportunities as everyone else, which is an important step towards inclusion in the labour market.
To find out more information about the project, and to keep up to date with progress, please visit the NQF Inclusive website.
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