NEWPORT’S head of social services warns that while the foundations remain strong to deliver high quality services, there is no room for complacency.

In his second annual report Stewart Greenwell says there is a growing confidence among front line practitioners and the quality of services is good and in some instances excellent.

He said the authority had pushed forward with changing and improving its services in the past year, while also making sure they become more efficient.

During the past year social services has made significant progress and exceeded its target for attendance at both primary and secondary schools for Looked After Children (LAC), 92.4 per cent and 93.4 per cent respectively and no LAC pupils permanently excluded from school, the report says.

The authority’s fostering service was praised as being “very good within a climate of change” during an inspection in February, while the heavy case load of social workers has been reduced in line with targets set out in last year’s report.

Although the number of complaints to the department rose from 53 to 84 over three years Mr Greenwell said this demonstrated the authority respected people’s right to complain, adding that more and more were being dealt with quickly and responsibly.

The report also highlights the council's intention to work in collaboration with other local authorities and the Aneurin Bevan Health Board to save money and ensure efficiency between services where they might overlap.

The two organisations already work together on projects like the Gwent Frailty Programme, which aims to care for more elderly people in their homes instead of hospitals and there is talks of working together with the newly opened Serennu Children’s Centre.

Mr Greenwell said the challenge of the coming year would be to continue the journey of improvement working with agencies to enable a smarter planning of services to be in place over the next 10 to 15 years.

He added: “While the foundations are strong, there is no room for complacency.”

The report will be presented to full council on June 21.