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News - 30 June 2008

National Practitioners Conference 2008
The 3rd National Practitioners Conference was held at the Carnegie Conference Centre, Halbeath, Dunfermline, on 25 June. Presenters included Nigel Henderson (Chief Executive, Penumbra), the User and Carer Forum, and Alan Baird (Director of Social Work, Dundee & President, ADSW). Minister Adam Ingram delivered the keynote speech. There were a variety of workshops and delegates contributed to the agenda in the ‘Talk to the Wall’ session.

Welcome to Social Work Scotland

Welcome to the Social Work Scotland website. This website was set up by the Scottish Government in 2006 to enable users to access a wide range of information about Changing Lives – the change programme for social work services in Scotland, based on the 21st century review of social work.

The Changing Lives team work with a wide range of individuals, organisations and groups with an interest in social work services. This includes service users and carers, local authorities, voluntary and private organisations, umbrella and partner organisations (including health, education and justice services), universities and colleges and other Scottish Government departments.

Transformation of social work services to better meet people's needs requires major cultural change, as well as visionary leadership at national and local levels. It will need concerted effort, collaborative working and for every one of us to play our part, and be willing to challenge and to be challenged to ensure delivery of the services needed for the 21st century.

The Way Ahead

The key aspiration of Changing Lives is to improve outcomes for individuals and communities. To do this we need to: build the capacity to deliver services; and develop a confident, competent, valued workforce. Click here to see how the ‘core products’ being worked on by the Change Programmes are intended to support this approach.

It remains the case that the Changing Lives agenda needs to be recognised and owned at local level, with service providers at all levels taking responsibility for making the aspirations of Changing Lives a reality.

A number of presentations from the conference have been made available. Please click here to access them. A DVD of the conference is currently in production and will be made available in due course. Please contact Ben Coburn to reserve a copy. email: ben.coburn@scotland.gsi.gov.uk tel: 0131 244 7683.

Delegates were encouraged to give their feedback on the day via the evaluation forms. If you attended the event but did not give feedback and would still like to, please complete the evaluation form and email it to ben.coburn@scotland.gsi.gov.uk. Close date for responses is Friday 18th July.

21 August 2008

August 2008 eBulletin now available

The Changing Lives Team have produced an August 2008 eBulletin that reflects on the recent National Practitioners Conference, the progress of Local Practitioner Forums, recent Change Programme activity and the core products. Distributed to a wide number of stakeholders, it is now available here. If you would like to be added to the mailing list for the eBulletin and Changing Lives Newsletter, please contact Ben Coburn. Email: ben.coburn@scotland.gsi.gov.uk.

Changing Lives Newsletter Autumn/Winter 2008

Work will commence shortly on the Changing Lives Newsletter Autumn/Winter 2008. The Changing Lives Team are looking for your stories and accounts of how Changing Lives has affected you, your work or your community. Space within the newsletter is limited, so if you would like to discuss the contribution of an article, please contact Ben Coburn by 9 September. Email: ben.coburn@scotland.gsi.gov.uk. Tel : 0131 244 7683. If you would like to be added to the mailing list for the eBulletin and Changing Lives Newsletter, please contact Ben Coburn.

National Practitioner Forum Meeting Announced

ADSW have announced the date of the first National Practitioner Forum meeting – to take place at Crieff Hydro on 11 September 2008. The National Practitioner Forum meeting will bring together Chairs of each of the Local Practitioner Forums, ADSW President Alan Baird, ADSW officials and a representative from the Scottish Government. Invitations for the first meeting have been sent to current LPF Chairs and those on the LPF contacts list (add link to list) that are in the process of setting up a LPF or have indicated an interest in doing so. If you have any questions regarding the meeting, please contact Wendy Harrington. Email: wendy.harrington@adsw.org.uk.

22nd July 2008

A number of actions arose from the Local Practitioner Forum meeting in June. One of the requests was for a Core Products Timeline.

This timeline gives a brief description of the core products and their indicative launch dates. A contact list for Local Practitioner Forums has recently been published on this website and revised Local Practitioner Forum guidance and a Local Practitioner Forum ‘starter pack’ will shortly be available on the Local Practitioner Forum page.

3 July 2008

Local Practitioner Forum Meeting

20 people either interested in or involved with local practitioner forums across Scotland met with the Scottish Government and ADSW representatives in Edinburgh on 11 June to discuss the future support and facilitation of LPFs. A summary note of the meeting can be accessed here (please link to summary note, attached below). For more information on local practitioner forums, please click here.

13 June 2008

Care Accolades 2008

The winners of the Care Accolades 2008 were announced on Friday 13 June at the Hilton Hotel, Glasgow. (News release)

Minister Adam Ingram delivered the keynote speech.

News from previous months can be found in the archive.

» News Archive