Social Work Scotland 2022 - Brochure

Social work teams in Scotland continue to adapt to ongoing changes, budgetary pressures and an increase in demand for services. There are many elements in ensuring that social work thrives; one of which is access to modern, flexible technology that supports accurate, efficient and joined up recording.

Adapting to the changing needs of social work

Liquidlogic mobile app supports remote access in the community

Portals for children, carers, adults and third parties to contribute to cases Hosted solutions for consistent, reliable and secure availability

Responding to change

Proven track record: developing a full social work case management and justice solution specific to Scotland Regular updates to ensure solutions reflect the latest statutory guidance and legislation changes

Monitoring the National Care Services Scotland Consultation and planning for any necessary changes required

Integrated systems ensure a 360-degree view Information sharing with appropriate permissions made possible re-keying of data integrations with Information @ Work, EMIS and AYRshare

Integration with other systems Reporting

Liquidlogic offers a wide variety of reporting platforms across children’s and adults’ social care and justice, including: and Dashboards reports Warehouse Objects Universe

For more details about how Liquidlogic can support your council in adapting to changing social work demands, visit us on stand 1 or our website www.liquidlogic.co.uk www.liquidlogic.co.uk

In a national and international context characterised by rapid societal, technological and structural change, and with the establishment of a National Care Service in Scotland, and further, deeper health and social care integration, the prospect of the social work profession fragmenting (further) is real, its unique contribution and role possibly marginalised or sublimated by other professions or interests (in particular, those associated with the NHS). And when we look to the long-standing societal issues of poverty, the cost of living crisis, environmental change and public health (including pandemic response) are we making the most of social work’s potential?

The Social Work Scotland 2022 Conference will be an opportunity to consider this. We invite you to take the time to engage with colleagues, hear a breadth of ideas and experiences, and to think about the future of social work and its leadership. Our aim is to create the space that helps inform your thinking, and through that, our collective work to strengthen the profession, its voice and its impact. A task we can’t do without you.

Across the world social work is evolving in response to its context, finding ways to address emerging societal issues, adapting to cultural and economic developments, and adjusting to the ever-changing organisational structures within which the ‘service’ is

located. Social work in Scotland is no different, and we want to hear from you and our panellists about what and where the profession is going, and what it needs to thrive. There’s a need to ensure that the future of the profession is diverse, skilled and able to articulate social work’s fundamental focus on social justice and human rights. We can’t only look inwards, of course – we’ll also need to look outwards and consider how we relate and learn from the rest of the UK, and international developments in social work.

We’re excited and proud to bring you a variety of panellists, whose contributions we should use to inform our thinking and stimulate debate. At the end of the event, we hope you’ll leave clearer on (or re-committed to) the importance of the social work profession, committed to its unity and diversity, and full of the passion, ideas and energy needed to address the turbulent years ahead.

Thank you for joining us, and we look forward to hearing your views.

Ben Farrugia, DIRECTOR, SOCIAL WORK SCOTLAND

Alison White, CONVENOR, SOCIAL WORK SCOTLAND

We are delighted to welcome you (in person!) to the Crieff Hydro hotel, to join us at Social Work Scotland’s 2022 conference; to join with us in our full day programme around the theme “What will it take for social work to thrive?”

A huge thank you to all of our sponsors.

Social Work Scotland Conference and Exhibition 2022

In association with Liquidlogic

Wednesday 5 October 2022 – Crieff Hydro Hotel

8:00am Registration and Exhibition opens - Ferntower Suite

9:30am Conference Welcome - Melville Hall

David Lee, Host

Ben Farrugia, Director, Social Work Scotland

Alison White, Convenor, Social Work Scotland

Brendan McNally, Business Development Director, Liquidlogic

9:45am Re-Envisioning Social Work: A Profession for the 21st Century

Professor Lena Dominelli, Chair in Social Work & Director MSc Disaster Interventions and Humanitarian Aid, University of Stirling

10:30am Professor Fergus McNeill

Criminology and Social Work, University of Glasgow

11:00am Refreshment break in the exhibition area - Ferntower Suite

11:30am Kevin Stewart MSP

Minister for Mental Wellbeing & Social Care

Iona Colvin

Chief Social Work Adviser, Scottish Government

12:00pm Panel Discussion

Iona Colvin, Chief Social Work Advisor, Scottish Government Lena Dominelli, University of Stirling Fergus McNeill, University of Glasgow

Alison White, Convenor, Social Work Scotland

12:45pm Networking Lunch - Meikle Restaurant

Networking and Exhibition with post lunch refreshments served in Ferntower Suite

2:00pm Dr. Amanda Taylor-Beswick

Director, Centre for Digital Transformation, University of Cumbria

2:45pm Speaking up: social work and leadership in a changing system

Jane Dudman, Former Guardian public leadership editor

3:45pm Panel Discussion

Mike Burns, Vice Convenor, Social Work Scotland

Dr George Palattiyil, School of Social and Political Science, University of Edinburgh

Dr Amanda Taylor-Beswick, University of Cumbria

Jane Dudman, Former Guardian public leadership editor

4:45pm Closing Remarks

5:00pm Conference moves to the Ferntower Suite

An opportunity to spend informal time with colleagues and explore the exhibition area. With a live music performance by Ginny and the Tonic singing some of our favourite pop classics and not forgetting some drinks and light snacks.

6:30pm Close of Conference

YOUR SPEAKERS Morning

Director of Social Work Scotland since October 2018, and a member since 2014. Prior to his current role, Ben was part of the senior management team at CELCIS (Scotland’s centre for excellence for children’s care and protection) at the University of Strathclyde, responsible for the organisation’s research, policy and consultancy offer. He has worked for the Scottish Government (looked after the children team) and in Westminster (on children’s services and regional economic development).

Ben Farrugia Director, Social Work Scotland (SWS)

Alison White Convenor, Social Work Scotland and Chief Officer West Lothian IJB

Alison qualified as a Social Worker 20 years ago and recently held the role of Chief Social Work Officer in Midlothian. She is also a Board Member of the Mental Welfare Commission.

Alison is passionate about developing person centred, human rights-based services.

Prof. Lena Dominelli

Chair in Social Work & Director MSc Disaster Interventions and Humanitarian Aid University of Stirling

Professor Lena Dominelli holds a Chair in Social Work and is Director of the MSc in Disaster Interventions and Humanitarian Aid at the University of Stirling. Lena has a specific interest in projects on climate change, extreme weather events, health pandemics including Covid-19.

Lena is a prolific writer and has published widely in social work, social policy and sociology, including several ground-breaking classics, the latest being Green Social Work which provides a theory and practice of disasters from a social justice perspective that includes environmental justice and sustainability.

Lena has received various honours and prizes for her work. Her book, Green Social Work, (Polity Press, 2012) changed the discourse on environmental social work to bring in a holistic approach that includes the duty of people to take care of Planet Earth by seeking alternatives to fossil fuel-based patterns of production and consumption to ensure sustainable approaches to meeting human needs.

Prof. Fergus McNeill Professor of Criminology and Social Work University of Glasgow

Fergus McNeill is Professor of Criminology and Social Work at the University of Glasgow where he works in the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research and in Sociology. Prior to becoming an academic in 1998, Fergus worked for a decade in residential drug rehabilitation and as a criminal justice social worker. His many research projects and publications have examined institutions, cultures and practices of punishment and rehabilitation and their alternatives.

Kevin Stewart MSP

Minister for Mental Wellbeing and Social Care

The Scottish Government

Before his election to the Scottish Parliament, he was previously the Depute Leader of Aberdeen City Council and served as a local councillor for more than eleven years. As a councillor, he chaired the Finance and Resources Committee and the North East of Scotland’s Regional Transport Partnership, NESTRANS.

Kevin has served in the Scottish Parliament as the member for Aberdeen Central since 2011. He was the Convener of the Local Government and Regeneration Committee in the last Parliament and sat on the Welfare Reform and Justice Sub-Committee on Policing.

He was previously the Minister for Local Government, Housing and Planning.

Iona Colvin

Chief Social Work Advisor

The Scottish Government

Iona joined the Scottish Government in 2017 after more than 30 years working in Local government with eight of those years working in four posts with the NHS. Iona’s previous posts include:

• Director of Health and Social Care and IJB Chief Officer – North Ayrshire

• Director of Social Work and CSWO – North Ayrshire

• Director of Southwest Glasgow Community Health and Care Partnership

• Joint General Manager, Addiction Service – Glasgow

While Iona is committed and compassionate social worker, she has a particular interest in developing integrated approaches to improve outcomes for children, young people and adults.

Within the Scottish Government Iona is a member of the senior Leadership team for children and families and the health and social care management board. Iona has also been a member of the Drugs Death Task Force.

YOUR SPEAKERS Afternoon

Dr. Amanda Taylor-Beswick Director, Centre for Digital Transformation University of Cumbria

Dr Amanda ML Taylor-Beswick’s background is as a social scientist. Amanda’s professional and academic careers began in Northern Ireland, before taking up a substantive teaching post in the School of Social Work, Care and Community at the University of Central Lancashire in 2009. Prior to this, Amanda practiced as a residential social worker, a psychiatric social worker, an adult mental health groupwork practitioner and as a specialist social worker for D/deaf children and their families in Northern Ireland’s integrated health and social care system. In October 2019, Amanda relocated back to Northern Ireland to pursue research interests and academic contributions at Queens University Belfast, within the Faculty of Social Sciences, Education and Social Work.

Jane Dudman is a freelance journalist, event chair & consultant. She is the former public leadership editor of the Guardian, where she worked for 14 years. Now based in Edinburgh, Jane is a senior commentator on UK and global public services, with a focus on leadership and partnership, particularly in central and local government. She is an experienced chair of UK and global events.

Jane Dudman

Former Guardian Public Leadership Editor

Mike Burns Vice Convenor Social Work Scotland (SWS)

Mike began his career in Dundee City in 1986 as a Social Worker in Child Protection. He then moved to Melbourne, Australia in 1989, first as a Social Worker, Senior Practitioner, and then as a Team Leader with Community Services in Victoria, investigating and leading on Child Protection investigations.

He has been a professional representative on the Scottish Governments National Implementation on getting it right for every child (GIRFEC), the Practice Development Panel for GIRFEC, the Children’s Improvement Partnership, the Realigning Children Services Board, Taskforce on Early Years and Early Intervention, the Child Protection Reform Programme, and the Raising Attainment Group. He previously provided advice when Convenor to the Brock review in relation to Child Protection.

Mike has been a member of Social Work Scotland for over 16 years. He was previously the Convenor for the Children and Families Committee from 2013 to 2016 and Vice Convenor from 2016 to 2018. He is currently the Vice convenor of Social Work Scotland.

Dr George Palattiyil

School of Social and Political Science, University of Edinburgh

Dr George Palattiyil is originally from Kerala, India where he completed his Masters in Social Work. Subsequently he taught at the College of Social Work, University of Mumbai, and later at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences India. In 1999, he began his PhD in Social Work at the University of Strathclyde, Scotland on the topic of family carers of people living with HIV in Scotland and Kerala.

While pursuing his PhD, he also worked as a statutory Social Worker, specialising in social work with older people and latterly as a Practice Team Leader with Glasgow Social Work Services. In 2005, he became a Lecturer in Social Work at the University of Strathclyde, and in 2009 moved to the University of Edinburgh, where he continues to work as a Senior Lecturer in Social Work.

Join us to celebrate the conference by making time to catch up with colleagues, accompanied by music, drinks and light snacks – it’s your chance to relax and network with peers!

Giving young people a chance at life

Kibble is a specialist child and youth care charity and leading social enterprise that supports at risk children and young people (aged 5-26) across the UK.

Many of the young people we care for have experienced trauma and/or adversity, therefore, using a therapeutic, trauma-informed approach we empower young people through care, education and support to open opportunities and create positive futures.

All services are integrated and shaped around the individual needs of young people. This includes: residential care, primary, secondary and tertiary education, an education day hub, secure care, fostering, therapeutic support, community-based services and housing support.

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Our work means the people of Scotland can count on social work, social care and early years services being provided by a trusted, skilled and confident workforce. We protect the public by registering social workers, social care and early years workers, setting standards for their practice, conduct, training and education and by supporting their professional development. Where people fall below the standards of practice and conduct we can investigate and take action.

We:

• publish the national codes of practice for people working in social work, social care and early years services and their employers

• register people working in social work, social care and early years and make sure they adhere to our codes of practice

• promote and regulate their learning and development

• are the national lead for workforce development and planning for the social work, social care and early years workforce in Scotland.

We are the regulator for the social work, social care and early years workforce in Scotland.

We provide support and platforms to social work leaders to ensure the voice of the profession is heard where it needs to be, and provide an infrastructure through which the expertise of senior and operational managers can inform the national debates about the profession – whether that’s children and families, criminal justice, adults or wider public service reform.

We’re stronger with your voice. Join us.

Social Work Scotland is the professional body for social work leaders.