Revised abuse plan adopted

Peter Bates advised stronger social work roles

Councillors have voted unanimously to adopt revised proposals to improve social work care in the Borders.

The action plan examined the social work department procedures of Scottish Borders Council following a serious sex abuse case.

The council made amendments after an independent expert asked to scrutinise the plan concluded the original proposals did not go far enough.

Peter Bates, Chairman of NHS Tayside, had been examining the departments review of operations in the wake of the Miss X case.

Three men, including a carer, were convicted last year of raping and torturing a woman with learning difficulties.

Mr Bates made recommendations for better team work, spot checks and management accountability for monitoring complex cases.

Torture and abuse

Earlier investigations by two independent expert consultants decided that Scottish Borders Council social workers failed Miss X in not intervening sooner.

But they concluded that no-one should face disciplinary action.

Miss X's carer, James Mercer, and two other men tortured and sexually abused her for several months.

There's a lot of very good work that goes on and its enormously important that that is promoted, that staff don't feel demoralised Peter Bates

Mercer, 35, Ross Douglas, 26, and Alexander Maben, 39, were jailed for a total of 24 years in 2002.

The plan is designed to ensure a similar incident cannot happen again, but Mr Bates put forward extra measures to strengthen its findings.

"I would like to see the strengthening of the role of chief social work officer which is a very important role we have in each of the councils in Scotland," he said.

"The second area is to do with the issues of social work performance, ensuring that managers know what is really going on.

Staff morale

"This involves audit and inspection and supporting and working with staff to improve their practice.

"The third broad area is to do with promoting social work within Borders, there's a lot of very good work that goes on and its enormously important that that is promoted, that staff don't feel demoralised and that the workforce's confidence is rebuilt."

Colin Johnson, director of lifelong care with Scottish Borders Council, welcomed the recommendations, which he said were an important addition to the action plan.

What we seek to do is ensure as far as is humanly possible that matters like this will not arise again Colin Johnson Scottish Borders Council

He admitted morale and reputation had been badly affected as a result of the case but denied claims that the council had been aware of the abuse.

Mr Johnson said it was now time to look towards the future.

"What we seek to do is ensure, as far as is humanly possible, that matters like this will not arise again - it's impossible to predict that a conjunction of events won't produce something in the future," he added.

"But we seek to have sufficient systems and procedures that will ensure a non repetition."