Integrated Community Centre for Mental Wellness in Hong Kong

Integrated residential district core group for Mental wellness in Hong KongIntroduce ICCMW Services in Hong KongIntegrated Services in Hong KongStart from 1991, the establishment of first merged youth function core group, at that place be much and more coordinated values has been developed in Hong Kong. It is believed that integrated usefulnesss generated a lot of advantages, such as avoiding wastage of resources and duplication of service. For contrary target group of tidy sum, different kind of integrated services has been developed afterwards. Nowadays, there be integrated youth services (ICYSC), integrated family services (IFSC), integrated elderly services (DECC), integrated disable services (DSC), and integrated psychic wellness services (ICCMW) in Hong Kong. In this paper, the integrated services of intellectual wellness in Hong Kong will be focused and discussed. The strengths and limitations of this integrated social service would be analysed, as well as t he improvement of implementation.Background of Integrated Mental Wellness Services In March 2009, companionable Welf be Department set up the first Integrated Community Centre for Mental Wellness (ICCMW) in Tin Shui Wai. The major aims of setting up ICCMW atomic number 18 enhancing the social substantiate and re-integrating the ex- psychogenicly ill persons into the club of interests ( amicable Welf atomic number 18 Department, 2014). The goals of ICCMW are providing one stop services and accessible corporation supports for the needy. The targeted service users are discharged mental patients, persons with suspected mental wellness difficultys, their families or carers of above persons, and wad who are interested in understanding and improving their mental health. ICCMW has been established in all the 18 districts in October 2010. Upon now, there are 24 ICCMW provided by 11 non-governmental organization ( hearty Welfare Department, 2014).Integration of ServicesGenerally, there are three integration levels that integrated services have to address the different needs of clients, includes ICCMW, which are linkage, coordination, and full integration. For the first level, linkage, ICCMW would like to link up the service users and the particular services. For example, it provides teaching for peck who stage business about their stress level. For the second level, coordination, ICCMW would serve the function of coordinator between systems and agencies, process to address problem of service users. For example, follow up the case which just has been discharged from hospital by providing day training programs or counseling services in the centre or in other organizations, is a kind of cross-sectional carrying into action between medical and mental wellness sectors. For the trey level of integration, full integration, multidisciplinary team up cooperation, and community integration would be the targets of ICCMW. There are nurses, occupational therapists, doc tors, clinical psychiatrists, social workers as a team to provide mental rehabilitation services for clients, in order to permit clients re-integrated to the community.Using the agency of The Wellness Centre in Tin Shui Wai of late Life Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association ( overbold Life) as an example, it provides legal community services and intervention by using recovery-oriented approach. For the prevention, New Life offers a lot of mental health promotions and world education, letting general people have more understanding about mental health and mental illness. For the group work intervention, New Life provides support groups, carer volunteer training, and psycho-education programs for clients. For the individual level intervention, New Life provides counselling, peer support worker training, vocational planning and development services, wellness programs, and so on (New Life Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association, 2013). These kinds of intervention and therapy are for the goal of making people with mental health problem to reintegrate to community.Strengths of ICCMWThere are a lot of advantages of setting up integrated services in Hong Kong, so do ICCMW. The first advantage of ICCMW is, convenient to services users. For the service users, ICCMW is multi-functional which provides occupational training, vocational training, care and support, and leisure opportunities. For the public who concern about their mental wellness, they can self approach ICCMW and expect for information and related services. Services are easier accessed nowadays.The second advantage of ICCMW is better coordination among workers and services. After integration, there are multidisciplinary within a team in ICCMW, such as occupational therapist, nurses, doctors, and social workers. They have ceaseless case meetings for discussing how to manage the case, and it is believed that coordination would be better between each division repayable to more communication.The third advan tage of ICCMW is reducing stigmatisation. ICCMW provides different kind of services, non only giving therapy and counselling for people with mental illness but to a fault providing public education and volunteer trainings for mentally ill person or the caregivers. Public education serves the function of letting general public know more about mental health, and letting them to understand that it is not only refer to mental illness but also mental wellness related to everyone. Also, the chance of letting mentally ill person doing voluntary work to community helps them integrating back to community. Therefore, multidimensional services provided by ICCMW would let the concept of mental health and also the mentally ill person integrated into community.Limitations of ICCMWA coin has two sides, although ICCMW provides lot of advantages to service users and community, it is not faces no limitations.Firstly, ICCMW is hard to select centre location. Usually, ICCMW have to select a location f or services centre which is close to community for residents convenience, however, there are lots of limitation of setting up centre in estates. Many of the ICCMW reflects that they are hard to find a permanent premises which are large becoming for group services and training. And the reason whitethorn attribute to the approval time of Welfare Department are too long (Cheung, 2011). In addition, there are objective sounds reject if ICCMW is too close to community or located in estate. For example, in 2010, the residents and the district councilor of Tuen Mun Wu King Estate objected one ICCMW established in their estate, and requested the moving out of ICCMW (MingPao Health, 2011). The major reason is due to stigmatization of mentally ill people who are dangerous and would attack public suddenly. Therefore, residents object if ICCMW too close to the residents.Secondly, there is deficit of man-power. As integrated, ICCMW needs professional module from different discipline such as n urses, clinical psychiatrists, and doctors. It is all know that, these kinds of professions are now shortage in Hong Kong. Even an ICCMW start in estate, they may face the problem of down man-power for a period of time.Thirdly, it is time-consuming to have meetings for multidiscipline to discuss and examine the case management. Since services integrated, operation complexity would be increased. Regular meeting is essential to understand the roles and views of other professions, however, caseworks and pressures would relatively increase. That makes the workers may intimately burnt out for the increased duties.Lastly, there is lack of centralized data for different agencies. Although the communication and fundamental interaction between agencies, departments, or bureaus increased under integrated services, they do not have share information between each other. For example, a mental illness patient who just discharged from hospital with sum problem, Medical Social Services Department in Hospital, Integrated Family Service Center (IFSC), and ICCMW would be knotty in this case. Since there are no platforms for information sharing between agencies, the social workers in ICCMW may need to contact IFSC social workers and medical social workers particularly for further information. Procedures may be duplicated due to lack of data transparency.Suggestions for ICCMWFirst of all, it is suggested that increase the linkage between agencies and organization by developing a platform to share essential information. For example, the doctors in hospital can provide medical reports, integrated keep notes provided by social workers from related agencies etc. It is believed that can raise the transparency of information and data.In addition, it is suggested that Social Welfare Department can simplify the application system of centre location, to avoid the situation that permit venue has been rented by other private parties during the long and complicated approval process.Furthe rmore, it is important to strengthen the public education for public understanding the nature and image of ICCMW. As residents have misunderstanding about people with mental health problem are all dangerous to society, public education is necessary to go past their incorrect perception. It is recommended that government should strengthen the advertisement and civil education in community and education institutions, to let people have correct concept about recovered mental ill person that they are also a part of society, and not only harmful to society.Finally, it is also suggested that more resources should be granted for ICCMW. As ICCMW is the newest service within integrated services since 2009, the resources and experiences are not yet well-developed. Therefore, resources like patronage for ICCMW allow them to purchase more useful treatment tools for clients, or hire more professional staff for relieving the pressure of existing staff.Conclusion Integration of services in Hong Kong are designed to fulfill different needs of clients, and avoiding wastage of resources. ICCMW generates the advantages of convenience to service users, better cooperation among services workers, and reduce the stigmatization of mentally ill people in society. However, there are still some limitations that ICCMW facing, such as difficulty of selecting centre location, shortage of man-power, time consuming of multidisciplinary meeting, and lack of centralized data. It is believed that ICCMW is still in the developing process, if government provides certain assistances and recourses for them, the integrated services would benefit more and more people in need in the coming future.ReferencesCheung, K. C. (2011), Hong Kong Social Workers General Union. Service Series- Rehabilitation Services, Retrieved on 29 April 2014 from http//www.hkswgu.org.hk/node/70MingPao Health (2011), Only 6 out of 24 ICCMW location confirmed retrieved on 5 May 2014, from http//www.mingpaohealth.com/cfm/news 3.cfm?File=20110213/news/gok1.txtNew Life Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association (2013), Annual Report 2012-2013. Retrieved on 2 May 2014, from http//www.nlpra.org.hk/information_n_publications/Annual_report/pdf/049_117_2013.aspxSocial Welfare Department (2014), Integrated Community Centre for Mental Wellness (ICCMW), Services Description, retrieved on 2 May 2014, from http//www.swd.gov.hk/en/index/site_pubsvc/page_rehab/sub_listofserv/id_iccmw/1

Chemical Safety In Schools Environmental Sciences Essay

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

The Challenges Of Protecting Personal Information Information Technology Essay

The Challenges Of Protecting ain nurture Information engineering science EssayThe aim of this paper is to review the importance of person-to-person info, in every case known as sensitive tuition that ar actually employ virtually by any transcription in this 21st century. Personal entropy has wrench the biggest issue around the world, both processing or protecting it. But, in this article, the focus is on the wellness c are administration which is the Electric Health Record strategy (EHR), it is a dust employ to record health nurture electronically. Having the legislation, rules and regulation in place, it is found that this system has failed to provide protection on own(prenominal) information. As a count of fact, this system has managed to be exploited by self-appointed throng. The EHR system was non fully tested accordingly to meet the end- practicers requirement, hardly released to the health return for use. The growth of data loss is increasingly com mon among the organisations in sidereal day to life and challenges in protecting ain data get to emerged. It is indeed essential that health care service establish a ruin certification form _or_ system of government to protect the individualized data. This research paper go out explain the certification issues fill to be en agonistic in fix to protect data from the vulnerabilities.1. INTRODUCTIONOne of the or so signifi washstandt menses discussions in legal and moral philosophy is the security of data. It has engender a central issue for many organisations to achieve a successful information system within defined scope, quality, time and cost constraints in pronounce to protect privacy, confidentiality and security. Researchers like Olvingson et al. (2003) suggest that in that respect ware been drastic changes in the provision of health services since the introduction of computers closely three decades ag peerless and issues related to the protection of personal health information have resulted in both technical research and political debate.1 Thus, it can be justify that security of data is still the leading engender of failure in parcel system development.The main issues addressed in this paper are personal information, data protection and security. It has been divided into four go bads. The first one deals with the explanation of personal data, data protection and disclosure of data. The second position is to value the lucks and the impact on information system. The 3rd one is to testify different approaches to counter these risks. The forth one is to provide a thick of findings that can be use as lessons in the future.The purpose of this paper is to review the latest years of research into these parts and critically evaluate and validate this case study.1.1 What is personal data?Personal data can be classified into three main categories these are contact, profile and behavioral information. It contains the detail information of a living person that is unique to to each one individual. In this scenario, the personal data reveals the information of individuals health much(prenominal) as name, racial origin ,blood group, sex, DNA, contact details, next of kin, illnesses, treatment and General Practitioners detail. in that respectfore, EHR system functions at its dress hat to record and transmit this information throughout the health service organisations. But, the biggest challenge of this system is to protect the privacy of patients health information. The main question addressed in this paper is how to protect this sensitive data. jibe to Croll.P.R (2010), he discusses that the tellingness of Privacy and security measures depend mostly on the policies adopted by the healthcare organisation.2 It can be reason outd that research shows that there is inadequate policies enforce by the presidential term and the medical organisation to preclude further harm on personal data. It can just be suggested that future research should determine how to address these issues effectively and generate effective security policies in IS project development1.2 Data Protection forge is a legislation that has been established since 1984 and replaced in 1998, it is an telephone number to protect personal data. The principles of this displace are to make sure that data is accurate and correct. Information should be fairly and lawfully processed. Personal data should non be kept longer than necessary and processed for limited purposes. It should be adequate, applic fitted and up to date. The most important ones are not to reveal personal data in any manner and should be secure. Personal data should be processed in accordance with the data subjects rights. This Data Act in any case emphasizes on the accessibility of data, that is to say who is allowed to access to the data and nether what conditions. Liability is all-important(a) because it is roughly who is responsible if the data is ab employ . Haasa S. et al (2010), they argue that even if the providers policy states that data protection regulations and legislation are met, patients cannot contain the EHR providers usage of their data. 3 Thus, it can be discussed that EHR system is not a adept medical institution any more than and it is run by separate enterprises who handle the electronic records system where they have access to the personal data and able to disclose private information to other third parties. According to this article, the national Health Information Network (NHIN) and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA) cannot guarantee the security of health records because they are not sure batch working within the medical organisation give project by the rule.1.3 Disclosure of Data is the revelation of data it can be both wanted or unwanted disclosure. This means that one can either reveal the personal data to the authorised party or to the third party that could be unauthorised wi thout any conditions. But, this paper focuses on the risks that are associated with the data that is break inappropriately. Researchers have found that the in-house sabotage is the leading cause of sharing information to the third parties. It is the most common risk ingredient that has been identified by recent studies so far. An example of this potential risk of harvesting personal data for commercial purposes is the CAMM scam in Australia, 2003. It is a company promoting pharmaceutical activities and manages to upload the EHR system where they extract the personal data with some doctors approval. 4 Later, it was found that CAMM did not just use it for the pharmaceutical purposes, but also sold it to many insurance companies and to other organisations that wanted to demoralise the data. Hence, it can be argued that this can cause significant threats to patients privacy. Concerns have been elevated by several bodies about the poor regulatory structures and policies implementing by the government in protecting personal data. The other associated risks are hackers, natural disaster, act of terrorism and viruses. According to the case study, the fact and figures shows that 99% were the staff that had the opportunity to stigma the system and 88% of the organisations had lost money between 500 dollars to 10 millions of dollars.5 The most surprising fact is when staff leaves the organisation, they are the one who become the attackers of the company. Security breaches mostly when there is lack of access control which leads to information technology sabotage. Angus N (2005) argues that if it is for the benefit of the patient, information can be shared within the multidisciplinary team caring for the patient and does not habituate to research, teaching or other unqualified members.6 Thus, it can be reassert that information should only be disclosed appropriately and safely to the people required or authorised by the legislation and hence this will improve the s ecurity issues.2. Evaluation of the risks and impact on information systemsThis part of the discussion is about the evaluation of the risks listed above and the impact on information systems in terms of storage, transport, access management and disclosure are as followsStorage -The idea of the freedom people working anywhere has in fact increase the ability to carry data on takeout hard drives, laptops and USB sticks. Recent report has confirmed that data leakage have become very common among the organisations and has great impact on the family to customer due to the loss of laptops and USB. For example the case of the PA consulting who transferred the personal data of 84,000 prisoners in England and Wales to a memory sticks that gone missing. 7 This was a impart disaster in terms of money loss and identity frauds. There is increasing concern of obtain on line because of security which is the study perception whether to buy or not to on line. Recent developments in use credit cards have heightened the need for better security policy to protect personal bank details from hackers. Transport -The crucial thing is when electronic data is carrying insecurely in public champaign and from one domain to another. That has an inverse impact on information systems such as people will lose confidence in using the system. Economically speaking, the risks to organisations have grown immensely where consumers and businesses suffer from loss of availability, virtue and confidentiality. If any of these is loss either accidentally or deliberately, this will furbish up the organisations productivity, popularity and much more. According to this case study, the health service system is more networked and that lead to an increase of intrusion and malware. The statistic research shows that health care companies in United States had an average of 13,four hundred attacks per day at the end of 2009, according to the obtain Works where some of these attacks are hacking credit card and others are alter attacks from malware which infect computers via networks and USB sticks. 8 In UK, late 2009, there were three London Hospitals that were forced to shut down their computer networks due to the infected malware known as Mytob. 9 It can be argued that has an adverse impact on NHS because 4,700 computers were infected and it took about two weeks to eliminate the virus which was cost-effective and data loss.10 These attacks can also result in wrong diagnosis of patients and even cause demolition if the patients information have been erased or mislead by the malicious attack. entranceway Management is about the au then(prenominal)tication process which deals with the authorization of user sID and give-and-take to have access to the data. Concerns have been raised by several bodies about the poor password management. This means that passwordword is not changed regularly and has the same slackness fixed password which in turn makes the system vulnerable to mo st attacks. In fact, this scenario states that the user do not need to have administrator access to do serious damage to the health records. McSherry (2004) suggests that with the growing potency of data retrieval engines and data mining techniques, personal data has become vulnerable to unauthorised people. 11 It can be argued that data kept electronically makes it easier to exploit by data thieves and other intruders. Disclosure this explains to whom information should be disclosed to, that is to say who is liable to receive this information and on what conditions. The employees have a key role to play regarding this because whether they are liable under the Data Protection Act, company rules and regulation or not. But in most cases as mentioned above, it is found that mostly the staff that breaches the contract duration dealing with personal information.3. Controls and countermeasuresPresentation of different approaches will be discussed in this part of the paper to counter t hese risks listed above. Recent developments in the field of security issues have led to a renewed interest in encryption. encoding is the process of converting information into codes. It is in the form of computer programs software used to secure data. That is to say, a sender enters his / her personal data, it is first get encrypted and then decrypted before it reach to the receiver. It is one of the best solutions to all of these potential threats. encryption is distinguished to protect communications and secure data effectively and safely, indeed it can be justified that encryption should be enforced by the organisations internally and externally. This also applies on mobile devices, such as mobile phones and laptops where data are stored. Good and effective password management policy should be implemented at workplace. As a matter fact, stylemark is the key factor of security issues, thus it is important to have watertight methods, for example change password regularly and change the default. Staff should not bypass password in any manner. Education and training regarding data protection should be continuously adhered to employees. Public key infrastructure should be implemented as it provides a means to generate, administer and revoke digital certificate. It works similar to personal IDs, public key provides authentication where as the private key provides confidentiality. Therefore, encryption should be critically put in force when data is transmitted from one place to another, for passwords to limit unauthorised access and while storing data in databases and files. Firewall and other anti -virus software are also countermeasures that are needed to deploy by organisation to protect, detect and remove virus infection. However, a major problem with this agreeable of application is organisation often focus on security issues and inhume the preventative issues when it comes to the rules and regulations, thus medical system should emphasise on safety measures. Standards need to be followed to enable security protection. It is important that information is disclosed appropriately and safely to the required people on conditions. Some other measures that need to be considered are check has to be made with profits Service Provider whether personal details are protected and shopping online should take place only through secure server which is https and not http. It is important to delete the browsing details after the transactions are completed and that helps protecting the online privacy. The most important one is for staff to abide by the rules and regulation in the organisation to successfully protect the personal data. However, Guarda P and Zannone N (2009), they suggest that it is difficult for an organisation to assure data subjects about the correct execution of data processing. 12 It can thus be argued that data processing is a very delicate activity which need better assurance policy. According to the case study, an automa ted security interrogation tool was used in OpenEMR application and discovered about 400 vulnerabilities. Implementation bugs are code-level security problems. 13. It was found that EHRs did not manage to documentation up with discretion of patients records. An SQL injection attack was performed in OpenEMR and enabled to log in as the Front Office user without administravives authorization. Using this technique, it is established that any table in the database could be exploited, but the Proprietary Med application was safe. A Cross-site scripting attack is when malicious script is entered into the webpage. It was also successful and managed to exploit six-spot in each application. It can thus be justified that the best way to test web application is to have the cross-site script apply correctly. Cookies- are small text files contain information such as username, start page, user preferences and contents of a shopping cart, they are use to analyse the user and support junk mail.

Loan Application for Water Desalination Plant

Loan Application for peeing supply Desalination PlantKelly CrossenCommittee The World situateCountry japan on behalf of Yemen sum total Amount US$50,000,000Type of Loan IBRD1. Total Amount of Loan US$50,000,0002. Proposed Project- The purpose of this loan is for the constructing of a piss desalination instal in the coastal city of Mokha, 54 miles wolfram of the water scarce city of Taiz. At full capacity the set would be able to pump a total of 100,000 cubic fourth dimensions of water per day, more than adequate to meet the daily needs of Taiz city, which they estimated to be 55,000 meter. find on the Mokha coastline, the plant would be connected to a pipeline foot race from Mokha to Taiz and then later to Ibb and Sanaa cities, serving all small towns and villages located along the way.The lacquerese government is presenting this loan to the World Bank to strengthen the delivery through ontogeny production of Yemen nature resources, such as the coffee, corn, and pale yellow coming from the Haraz Mountain, which would reduce the dependency on the gradely humanitarian attend received from the UN and other foreign countries. Today, Yemen receives nearly 200 meg in foreign aid per year. In addition, the lack of clean water had increase the spread of water-borne disease on a scale not seen in decades. Cholera, diarrhea and dengue fever suck up spread at august rate in rural areas where access to clean water is limited.3. ambit According to Yemen Water and Environment Minister, Abdulsalam Razzaz Yemen suffers with the most water shortages in the Arab region. He pointed to Yemens increasing population growth rates and limited rainfall for the exacerbation of the country water crisis, noting that at its current declare Yemen would soon be unable to sustain its supplies. Today about 25 million Yemenis which is approximately 70% of the population, struggle daily to find or buy enough clean water to drink or grow food. As a result 14.7 million Ye menis currently depend on humanitarian aid.A senior expert at Yemens water and environment ministry states ordinary Yemenis like a shot pay more than 30 % of their income just to get water in their houses. Prices have more than tripled since March, reaching 10,000 Yemen rials ($47) for a four cubic meter tank of water. According to a report by the U.N. Development political platform (UNDP), Yemen is withdrawing almost 169 % of its renewable water resources, meaning that it is using water uttermost faster than it can replenish its supplies. According to the reports conducted by the UNDP the gap amongst the countrys demand for and supply of water has widened to 1.4 billion cubic meter per year as a result of one of the in high spiritsest population growth rates in the world and peoples extensive use of water.Only a small proportion of Yemeni househ grey-headed are connected to the municipal supply. The state run municipal company only supplies some household in the city while 70 % of Yemeni lives in rural area. In the capital of Sanaa only 40% of houses are connected. The pipe network is old and an estimated 60% of water is lost through leaks.4. Rationale-Without this loan, the water crisis in Yemen has the latent to cause great destruction to the nation. Access to clean water and sanitization is one of the most cost-effective development interventions and critical for reducing beggary which is one of the World Bank decisive goal. With clean water pronto available, women no longer have to spend hours every day collection water, agricultural production can increase, the cost of services and goods could go pop out and the reduction of water-borne diseases. Studies have shown with proper management, not only would construction of the plant help fill the ever widening gap in the citys decrease water supply, but that it would also be able to stick out consumers with high purity water at cheaper rates than consumers were currently spending.The learn allow for be managed by the Ministry of Planning and the International Cooperation Secretariat. The timeline for the scheme will be 5 years from planning to implementation. There will be every quarter report made to the World Bank on all phases of the pop. The project will be broken down in four phases. The freshman phase will be the project planning in which a project scope will be put in writing. contiguous will be project execution where resources are tasks and teams are organize with responsible. Next will be project performance and control where project managers will compare project status and progress to actual plan. Finally, project close after all tasks are completed and the project is up and running.5. Allocation- US$100 million for construction of the pipeline leading from Mokhta to SanaaUS$150 million for construction of the desalination plant.US$50 million for construction of pipe network to the rural communities.US$25 million each will come from japan and EU UNDP will p rovide US $200 million and IDA will provide US$50 million.6. Environmental Impact This project will have a dogmatic impact to the environment by helping to reduce climate adjustment in the region. The increase water supply will aid in the increase of the natural resources and the reduction of humanitarian aid to the country.7. Credibility Japan became a member of the World Bank in 1952 the World Bank has provided more than 30 loans totaling US$850 million to the country, which all were paid masking on time. The last loan taken by Japan was issued in 1966 by the 1970s they transition from borrower to now a source of finance. Japan became the second-largest shareholder of the World Bank in 1984, gaining a greater constituent as one of the most important partners. Over the last 40 years, approximately US$150 billion of World Bank bonds have been sold to Japanese institutional and individual investors. Japan holds an 8.90% voting shares in the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development.8. Co-Financing Government of Japan.US$25 milEU.. US$25 milUNDP. US$200 milIDA.. US$50 mil9. Maturity The terms are as followsAmount $50,000.00 from IDAGrace item 3-5 yearsFixed RateInterest Rate 1.15%Maturity 5 years

The problems facing itc

The problems lining itcReport utilizationThis report has been compiled by the Director of Human Resources at the request of the come along of Directors. Following on from the new-made schooling of the administ proportionalityn by remote consultants, a rivet of problem aras need been identify in likeness to HR practices, policies and executing. It is the purpose of this report to analyse the findings of the study compiled by the consultants and pep up the courses of action necessary to address the problems identifiedThe Problems Facing ITCThe geological formation is shortly comprised of four severalise run aways administration, production, retail, and client service. These functions atomic number 18 spread everyplace a number of sites with administration and production sharing a single site, retail function operating from several locations, and client service spread crossways three ph superstar centres. The problems which be facing the organisation vary depending on the function and location.The administration function of head office and the production function of the pulverization ar both based on the alike geographic site. Although the functions be take a shiting in c retreat proximity to each opposite they are very different in terms of working conditions, practices, and get away establishments. These differences are creating tensions crosswise the departments and driveing to a them and us culture. Some of the differences identified include bonus intrigue in the factory provided non the head office, poorer working conditions in the factory compared to head office, lack of pay keisterteen for factory faculty which is available to administrative ply. Some problems are common to both functions such as lack of promotion opportunities for midland jackpotdidates and poor general perception of stave abilities by managers. As headspring up as these, the factory in any case suffers from a blame culture evidently fostered b y poor product quality.The retail outlets gravel a separate set of problems. thither is potentially a discrimination problem in the recruitment and selection processes employed for managerial supply. There are currently no female managers of retail outlets and in that location has been at least(prenominal) iodin complaint of discrimination referred to a trade union by an undone female spatedidate for promotion. This complaint has received the backing of a number of the one-on-ones colleagues.The call centres are very highly pressured, conviction-oriented environments in which to work. There are significant pressures to deal with guest enquiries quickly and to sell as some refreshed packages as possible. Pressure is exerted by supervisors whose salaries are dependent on the abilities of the centre staff to mystify income through sales.Across the organisation there is a general intuitive feeling that staff are underpaid in sexual relation to competitors and not valued a s an asset of the organisation. There is an change magnitude turn towards trade union membership which is probably a sign of evolution estrangement indoors the men as a whole. There are also a growing number of customer complaints, mainly enjoin at retail and customer service staff as they are the customer-facing part of the organisation. These complaints are generally centred on lack of knowledge of products on the part of retail staff and poor customer service from the call centre staff. As detailed there are a quite a brusk of different problems facing ITC with the lack of consistency of treatment of staff crosswise the organisation and poor communication of organisational values existence major add factors. The morale of the workforce is low and there is a lack of the true to the organisation debated by high levels of staff turnover. It is not purely a matter of low salaries as it has been issued that staff leave the company to work for other(a) organisations for little in the way of additive reward. The managerial and supervisory staff also show up to be ineffective and/or un forgeting to tackle the problems which leaves the staff with no alternative but to seek advice and assistance from the trade unions. The consultants reported that there is no indispensable problem with the quality of the core workforce but that the managerial staff are not sufficiently competent to be able to recognise and build on the attributes of the workforce. This combination of factors and problems could potentially all be explained inwardly the concept of employee struggle. The main thrust of this report will, therefore, concentrate on the execution of instrument of an employee booking programme as an initial means of addressing the issues currently facing ITC. Other means of tackling the identified problems over the longer term will also be discussed and recommendations made.Employee Engagement The CIPD (2009) define amour as creating opportunities fo r employees to relate with their colleagues, managers and wider organisation. It is also about creating an environment where employees are motivated to want to splice with their work and really care about doing a good suppose.why is employee engagement relevant to ITC? Al intimately all examples quoted in the consultant findings demonstrate an out-and-out lack of employee engagement moreover, the opposite appears to be the case. At this point, it is consequential to note that a global survey by BlessingWhite Intelligence (2008) on the state of employee engagement be that that Indian workers are among the most center and satisfied in the world. In the Asia-Pacific groupings, full engagement for Indian employees reaches 34% in parity to the lowest of only 10% for China. Moreover, over 65% of respondents said yes when asked if, assuming they had the choice, they would hope to remain within their organisation in 2008. From this, the apparent lack of employee engagement and retent ion issues apparent within ITC would appear to point to something we are doing wrong as a company. The for the first time question should be Why is employee engagement important? Links surrounded by employee attitudes, employee management and business writ of execution pee been repeatedly demonstrated in CIPD (Nov 2009) research, and the Aberdeen Group (2009) reported only this year that 82% of Best-in-Class organisations attributed employee engagement initiatives flat to transformations in revenue and / or profitability. Employee engagement spills into the concept of the psychological contract. The psychological contract is a popular framework within which aspects of the employee relationship can be studied (Bratton Gold, 2007 14). Guest and Conway (2002) define it as the perceptions of the two parties, employee and employer, of what their common obligations are towards each other. These obligations tend to differ from individual-to- individual and are often imprecise / unsp oken and inferred from actions or from what has happened in the past, as soundly as from statements made by the employer(CIPD Nov 2009). This contract forms the basis for employer grade (CIPD Jan 2009) unequivocal brand can of course help promote recruitment and remedy staff retention levels. For the latter reasons, ITC should pay close heed to this contract. later all, fetching account of the emotional needs of the employee ought to be a term when we consider they are the only resource within our organization that can simply walk out, taking their skills and possible opinions of negative employer brand with them.Customer service issuesWith regards to the consultant reports of customer service issues, several studies prolong found that employee engagement is an important variable on this front. The CIPD (2009 2) reported that indorse Europe figures show that employee engagement levels ran parallel with an development in customer satisfaction. Likewise, it seems intuitive t hat an increase in customer satisfaction would henceforth lead to an increase in financial writ of execution. In a recent study within the customer service industry by Chi and Gursoy (2009), verifiable support for this link was indeed presented. On the engagement level, while they found employee satisfaction did not appear to impact on financial comeance directly, they did find an indirect relationship in the midst of the latter, with customer satisfaction acting as the mediator. Storey, on the other hand refers to engagement as EIP (employee fight and participation) and stated that it is thought to contribute to improved levels of worker satisfaction and lading and, subsequently, organisational performance. From this it would appear that engaged and satisfied employees are a requirement for customer satisfaction, with customer satisfaction being the strongest indicator in financial performance. It would also appear, however, that all three variables are take to be woven int o the same fabric for overall business success. For ITC, without employee engagement / satisfaction, there will little customer satisfaction, and without customer satisfaction there will be no success. The obvious lack of ITC employee engagement at this moment in time is a worrying factor with regards this tripartite equation. Therefore, the obvious question should be how do we tackle employee disengagement, how do we go about driving employee engagement? Employee engagement driversAccording to the CIPD (Nov 2009), there is no absolute list expressed of engagement drivers. Their research has shown, however, the key employee engagement drivers are Opportunities to feed employee views upward Feeling well-informed about what is happening in the organisation The employee believe that their manager is committed to the organisationMost writers agree that one of the most important factors at stage with regards employee engagement is reciprocal communication between management and the re quirement to keep all employees well informed, etc. As you might imagine, these factors are also very more involved in the psychological contract it is also suggested that, in a crisis, mutually prize expectations are surmount shaped by honest communication and unfluctuating information (Dietz 2009). At this moment in ITC history, we might be exposit as being on the verge of crisis point.Intranet 2.0A technology that appears fishily lacking in ITC since its inception is Corporate Intranet. All of the key engagement drivers suggested above can to some extent be addressed with the devouration of an Intranet solution. This of course would not solve all of our problems, but it would at least supplement any other measures we ultimately put into place. This Intranet should not be of the antiquated variety (known as sack 1.0), that is, typified by static pages, lively with the sole purpose of providing information. We should be embracing all that Web 2.0 tools have to offer (i.e. highly dynamic / interactive internal social networking tools, arcminute messaging, wikis, blogs, discussion forums, and RSS feed technologies, etc.). Intranet 2.0 is still very much in its infancy, so the ability to introduce a rich networking environment is very much in line with core business strategies of innovation and creativity. We also have a largely young workforce, and Web 2.0 technology tools are something the junior generation have grown accustomed to, and this acquaintance can be employed to our advantage in the recruitment field.When it comes to the employees call to connect with managers, the confide to believe in their commitment, and having the opportunity to have views fed upwards, the sharing medium of Intranet 2.0 is ideally suited to help facilitate these key engagement drivers. Web 2.0 tools flatten company hierarchy by providing a transparent pathway of communication between employees at all levels, from the Company Director quite a little to the shop fl oor worker. It can provide staff across geographic location, irrespective of position or intellect, the opportunity to float ideas on new product ranges, best practices, working procedures, etc. via live suggestion boxes. These ideas can appear in real time and will open to progress comments / suggestions by all staff. Intranet 2.0 can also provide a telephone line for feedback on organisational news announcements, strategies, etc. This type of feedback can help managers to gain insight into the needs and motivations of employees (BlessingWhite Inc. 2008). Indeed, employee attitude surveys can be a uninterrupted feature of the system, the issuances of which can used to measure employee engagement and gauge feeling amongst the workforce, all of which can help ITC identify areas to focus improvement towards.The parcel such an Intranet can put to work as a training and phylogeny tool cannot be underplayed. It can provide the workforce with the most current product information , tutorials, and marketing material, etc. This information does not have to appear in the way it did pre-Web 2.0, where static pages were displayed across the organisation, meaning each employee would be required to wade through pages in order to arrive at the relevant nugget of information. Intranet 2.0 provides levels of person-to-personisation to the point of providing each employee with news updates focused on their job role (Nielsen, J. 2009). This would be of particular return when it comes to areas such as the customer complaints we have been receiving from the call centre regarding staff not being current on products. For example, this type of system has the capability to consistently display individual staff with the most up-to-date products details and Q A scripts, etc. As this Intranet 2.0 proposition is based on helping the flow of communication across the entire organisation, thus logically, we would require all staff to have distract gateway to such a system. He ad Office, call centre and retail staff are likely to have ready access to PC, laptop, diligent phone technologies in order to do this. In the factory, however, such access is very likely limited. To get around this, deployment of PCs / touch-screens at specific locations passim the factory is recommended perhaps inviting factory floor staff to use the system during lunch breaks, etc. Following the suggestion that we allow all employees across the site access the canteen, situating access in this area would also make sense.Web 2.0 technologies and business performanceBeyond the obvious communication-flow benefits of Web 2.0 technologies, recent findings by the Aberdeen Group also provide positive figures for their business performance benefits. Saba (2009) reported that they found that 52 % of organisations who employed social networking tools, blogs, and wikis achieved Best-in-Class compared to only 5% for those who did employ them. They also provided figures for Web 2.0 tools in relation to employee engagement. They found an 18% average year-on-year increase in employee engagement for organisations employing Web 2.0 technologies in comparison to a mere 1% for those who did not Options for ChangeShort-termAn employee engagement programme and corporate communications strategy should both be essential as a matter of urgency to stem the tide of disaffection and high levels of turnover within our workforce. This will undoubtedly require a reliable level of upfront investment but will, I believe, nonplus to pay dividends at a very early stage. Part of this investment may have to include outlay for extra personnel and equipment to implement these solutions as we currently do not have the specialist staff available in-house to fully utilise the technology required for this communications systems implementation, nor the staff to adequately implement an employee engagement programme.Long-termAn organisation-wide job evaluation scheme is required as a means of ra tionalising the pay scales of the separate functions into one transparent system. The use of bonus payments to boost the wages of certain sections of the workforce should be reviewed and possibly abolished. Exact costs of this proposal are ambitious to predict until the completion of the job evaluation exercise, but it may well be a cost-neutral option with increases to basic salary costs being offset by reduction in bonuses. Any subsequent increase in the overall salary costs which may arise would hopefully be countered by increased productivity.A scheme which would encourage secondments between departments should be developed. This would allow staff to gain a better agreement of the operations of the other functions within the organisation. This scheme could also be of benefit in assisting to identify personnel with potential for promotion or who could perform better in a different role.The hierarchy in the factory requires a radical overhaul with a view to rationalising the man agement structure. The ratio of managers to supervisors is far higher than the ratio of supervisors to production workers. The potential savings gained from this advancement could be used to increase the salary of the supervisors in return for taking on greater responsibility for operations in their sector. This would create a more prestigious role for the first line supervisor and a more strategic one for the remaining managers.A process is required which will recognise the potential leaders and managers of the future from within the alive workforce. Learning and development for staff should be a core convention of the organisation. Staff with the potential to move on to other roles within the organisation should be identified, encouraged and developed in order to achieve this. There is also a need to introduce learning and development opportunities for staff who do not necessarily like to move on to other roles. Members of staff may be satisfied with the role they are playing but it is still necessary to ensure that there are opportunities for personal growth and satisfaction within that role. The emphasis on speed in dealing with customer enquiries within the call centres should be replaced by an ethos of power in dealing with those enquiries. This would be a more cost-effective advance as an enquiry dealt with efficiently initially is less likely to generate future similar enquiries from the same customer and reduce complaints of poor service. proofBeing an Employer of Choice is not simply about offering the best salary. The whole package must be seen as appealing in order to attract and retain the correct calibre of staff who address the vision of the organisation and who want to actively contribute to its success. It has been stated (CIPD, 2009) that industrious employees are more likely to act as organisational advocates than disengaged employees and can play a powerful role in promoting their organisation as an employer of choice. For this to w ork, staff must feel that their views are welcomed and they are valued as individuals. This should result in higher levels of motivation and increased morale which, in turn, should reduce staff turnover. Our aim is to spread the word about how good ITC is to work for and hence attract the maximum number of high calibre candidates for posts who then want to stay with the organisation to reach their full potential. We also have to relieve that by attracting the highest calibre of candidate we will inevitably lose a number of high-performing staff over time as they wish to progress beyond what the organisation can offer. We must be disposed(p) not only to embrace this, but actively encourage it, and accept that for the organisation to grow there will be a certain degree of turnover of ambitious staff. The upside of this is that there will be regular opportunities for existing staff to progress through the organisation increasing levels of loyalty and improving morale.

Social Work Roles And Criminal Justice Settings Social Work Essay

loving ready Roles And felonious evaluator Settings well-dis conveyd conk place Essaythither be some competing pressures to direct the service in ways that may non be consistent with neighborly effect principles towards greater penal and punitory models. It is thusly essential to arrive a clear understanding of the constitution and legal frame carry that creates the remit and legitimacy for the operation of genial hunt down in the deplorable nicety process (Whyte, 2001, p.7).Statute justness is created by Acts of the UK and Scottish Parliaments and relies upon rulings made in Court Hearings to garnish precedents that define and view key terms i.e. Case Law. Understanding the honor is funda kind to exercise in venomous arbiter settings. wicked Law is a right on instrument of social bind and sanctions and the evil Courts set out the potential to take down restrictions of indecorum of respective(prenominal)s. kindly useers oblige a responsibility t owards the command humankind and the dallyyards to protect the public and ensure their well existence however, there is similarly compact towards those who be in the Criminal umpire process who may be vulnerable and in need of serve provided by Social buy the farm at. It is therefore essential that all p voices overhear an understanding of the legal frameworks that govern Criminal Justice Social Work and argon aw ar of the scope and limitations of their mandatory (Whyte, 2001). However, law is subject to change and wicked justice policy is much liable to sudden, semipolitically motivated changes of direction than is social policy in other fields (Smith, 2002, p.309)The law defines what a crime is, rules of show up and outlaw procedure. However, discretion is given to those involved and therefore, the turn justice process is non schemeatic. The judiciary, police and social work energize differing mappings, agendas, value and article of beliefs which argon mold by training and cultures which net make working indoors the system difficult due to drop of shared understanding of common aims and soulfulness roles.Social Work involves working with the marginalised and detrimentd and loafer be twain vulnerable to crime and susceptible to criminalisation and form involves work with victims or wrongdoers. topical anaesthetic Authorities have statutory responsibility to provide Criminal Justice Social Work attend tos to support the Criminal Justice Process through legal opinion of individuals, knowledge to the Courts and supervision of wrongdoers.Scotland differs from the rest of the UK in that there is a unique cultural and political heritage and a separate legal system. Social Work therefore, has a central role within the Criminal Justice process in Scotland which is in personalised credit line to England and Wales where probation work is commissioned by the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) which is separate from L ocal Authority control and Social Work functions and shows a difference in their onslaughtes in responding to crime. As McAra (2005) suggests a more benefit orientated approach has been adopted due to its legal culture and political history.The legal framework outlining powers and duties of Criminal Justice Social Work is the Social Work Scotland Act 1968 (as amended). Section 27 of this Act outlines the duty by Local Authorities to provide specific Criminal Justice serve (e.g. social background reports, supervision of offenders on an Order or Licence) in respect of central government funding however, it does non explain the objectives of these go or provide guidance on their exercise. Section 12 gives Local Authorities (LAs) discretion to provide additional services (e.g. victims) as subtract of the general responsibility to promote social benefit.Probation or offender services became the responsibility of the Local Authority Social Work Departments in 1968 and had a general duty to promote social welfare in their locality (S12, Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968). This was due to the Kilbrandon Committee (Kilbrandon, 1964) being name to investigate increasing juvenile crime. The Kilbrandon Report recommended a new approach to childrens services base on the needs of children and families and those who offend should be interact the same as those children requiring care and protection. Kilbrandon also suggested diversion and early unpaid intervention as crime prevention and one department for children and adults. This connect of work with adult offenders was pivotal in recognising work with offenders as having a welfare component admittedly with a level of control. Although the Kilbrandon philosophy followed trends of the cartridge clip which advocated rehabilitation and treatment of offenders and an awareness of the social causes of crime, this is still graduate(prenominal)ly pertinent to todays rehearse.From the 1980s onwards Criminal Justice in Scotland has undergone major legislative andpolicy change due to successive governments. As there was revive for public protectionand club disposal legalness in 1991, nose candy per cent central government funding wasintroduced and the National Objectives and Standards were published which set out midpoint objectives, service provision and guidance on their words (Social Work Group, 1991).This resulted in the government committing to Social Work delivering this role. This policy written text outlined by Rifkind in 1989 has survived changes in political administrationalthough, it has been suggested that decadency has caused a sudden and dramaticpoliticisation of Criminal Justice issues and could undermine the welfare tradition (McNeilland Batchelor, 2004 Croal, 2005).Social Work with offenders should aim to address and reduce offend behaviour. Whilst the law provides a framework for practice, effective work with offenders quests Social Work skills such as communication, the rapeutic relationships in supervision, sagacity and jeopardy management. The travail is therefore, varied and complex as Social proles have the power to control the individuals who are referred via the Courts and enforce any Court Orders only if must also work with an offender in a holistic, inclusive way to have a positive bear upon on their offending behaviour and this can be through support and assistance in relation to personal and social problems but also the individual taking responsibility for their actions. potent and ethical practice is therefore, about forecasting and managing the needs and rights of the Courts, the general public, victims and offenders. Although Social Workers have statutory duties and powers to interfere in peoples lives this is not always welcome but is necessary in promoting public prophylactic. Under the Scottish Social Work operate Council (SSSC) Code of Practice Social Workers have an obligation to hold public trust and confidence and the Criminal Justice Authorities (CJAs) are required by Scottish Executive guidance to reveal a strategy to address this (Scottish Executive, 2006b). This strategy includes both offenders and their families and Social Workers should engage these individuals and do their views in the development of services.Both Criminal Law and Social Work recognise the autonomy of individuals choices on how they lead their lives and with this capacity is criminal responsibility. Those of which who lack capacity (e.g. children and the mentally dis determineed) are not culpable in the eye of the law and may be treated differently. It is therefore recognised that criminal behaviour is not just a choice but may be about social heap to which they have minimal control. Social Workers should assist in allowing individuals to improve their capacity for making choices together with consequences to their actions (ADSW, 1996a).Although Social Workers are obliged to protect the rights and interests of service u sers there is a belief amongst the general public that they have forfeited these rights when they have offended. All Criminal Justice agencies must comply with the humane Rights Act 1988 which incorporates into domestic law the fundamental rights set out in the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR). Public Authorities are required to respect all of the provision however, the two articles with particular relevance to Criminal Law and Social Work are the right to self-direction and security (Article 5. ECHR) and the right to a uninfected trial (Article 6, ECHR). However, the state can impose restrictions on those who breach criminal law or are a threat to public safety as long as the detention is creatorised by law and there is a chemical equilibrium between the individual, their victims and the general public. The Social Worker must assess this balance through rigorous sound judgement and digest of seek. The Social Work role requires respect to offenders as individuals and ensure that the offenders strength and right to function as a member of society is not impaired to a greater extent than is necessary in the interests of justice (ADSW, 1996a).Criminal Justice Social Work services are delivered in partnership with various statutory and non-statutory agencies and this can present challenges due to contrasted maestro set and aims. The Management of Offenders etc. (Scotland) Act 2005 was introduced to improve articulate working and co-ordinate the management of offenders especially in the transition from men to community supervision and places a duty on Criminal Justice Authorities (CJAs) to have an information share-out process in put together that relevant information is shared between agencies (s.3 (5)(g)) for improving offender and risk management. However, sensitive personal information must be handled carefully and be under the principles of the Data Protection Act 1988 and local agency protocols. Practitioners within Social Work must ensure that any information sharing decisions are fully explained and understood by the offender even when their hold to disclosure is not required.Organisations who deliver public services have general duties to eliminate culpable discrimination and promote equality of opportunity on the grounds of race (Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000), sex (Equality Act 2006), and impediment (Disability Discrimination Act 2005). Individuals who are involved with Criminal Justice organisations are entitled to the protection of discrimination laws which relate to sex, race, disability, religious beliefs and sexual orientation, with excommunication to exercising judicial functions or carrying out Court orders. In these circumstances it may be within Article 14 of the ECHR which prevents to the right to liberty and security of the individual or the right to a fair trial being interfered with on a wide range of discriminatory grounds. Criminal Justice is still influenced by prejudicial and dis criminatory views.Research has been carried out by both the Social Work and Prisons Inspectorate for Scotland (1998) which talllighted concerns about the treatment of feminine offenders in the Criminal Justice process. In addition to this, several inquiries in England and Wales in relation to racial discrimination by the police and prison services has subsequently raised public awareness (Macpherson, 1999 Keith, 2006). The Scottish governing has a duty to publish information of discrimination of any unlawful grounds (s.306 (1)(b) Criminal influence (Scotland) Act 1995) and therefore, all workers need to practice in an anti-discriminatory way.The law outlines the limits of Social Work intervention and knowledge of the law is essential to anti-oppressive practice. The only legitimacy for intervening in the life of the individual within the criminal justice process is the individuals offending behaviourif individuals have social needs which require to be met but are not crime rela ted or crime producing, or if the offence is not sufficiently serious to fall within the criteria of the twin-track approach, services should be offered, as far as potential, through voluntary provisionNo-one should be move into the criminal justice processes in order to receive social work help (Moore and Whyte, 1998, p.24).Rehabilitative intervention is not just about part it imposes limitations on the rights of the individual who is subject to the intervention. riskiness opinion and offence based practice is an ethical approach. It aims to ensure that the most(prenominal) intensive and potentially most intrusive services are focused on those service users who pose the greatest risk of causing damage to others (ADSW, 2003) and to prevent socially disadvantaged individuals being taken further into criminal justice control which can result in further social riddance.Criminal Justice Social Workers must take note that the role involves work with disadvantaged social groups. Ce rtain types of crimes and offenders often criminalise the young, deprived, unemployed and undereducated male with an image of the care system and this is clear from Social Work and prison statistics (Croall, 2005 McAra and McVie, 2005). There is often a complex relationship between social exclusion and offending behaviour and often the Criminal Justice process displays existent injustices within society. It is important that issues in relation to class, age and social demo setting should be recognised together with vulnerability to discrimination.The Social Workers role should be to address issues of social exclusion and empower individuals to lead law fixed lives by addressing their offending behaviour. Social Work can help offenders develop capacity to make informed choices by actively encouraging their lodge in the supervision/change process and their engagement with improving their new social situation (McCulloch, 2005 McNeill, 2004). Assisting offenders to focus on their strengths as opposed to their risk and needs can have a positive impact as they learn to recognise the value in their own lives and respecting the value of others.The sentencing stage in the criminal justice process generates the majority of Criminal Justice Social Work through provision of information to the Court in the form of Social Enquiry Reports (SERs) and the administration of community disposals, with the exception of liberty orders (tagging). SERs have no legal basis but there is a statutory duty on criminal justice social work to provide reports to the Court for disposal of a case (s.27(1)(a) SWSA 1968. Reports provide the court with the information and advice they need in deciding on the most steal way to deal with offenders. They include information and advice about the feasibility of community based disposals, particularly those involving local authority supervision. In the case of every(prenominal) offender under 21 and any offender facing manpower for the first m , the court must welcome information and advice about whether a community based disposal is available and appropriate. In the event of handcuffs, the court requires advice about the possible need for a Supervised Release order or Extended Sentence Supervision on release. (Scottish Executive, 2004d, para. 1.5)The Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 sets out when the court can or must obtain an SER. Failure to request a report, where required by law, can result in a sentence being quashed on appeal. The Court is not obliged to follow recommendations or opinions in the SER however, Social workers can have a direct influence on the sentence passed.Preparing SERs demands a high standard of professional practice. It requires skilled interviewing, the ability to collect and assess information from different sources, and the art of writing a report which is dependable, constructive, impartial and apprize (Social Work Services Inspectorate (SWSI), 1996, Foreword).The law imposes time l imits in compiling reports. The Courts require a report within three weeks (s.201(3) (a) if an offender is remanded in custody and within four weeks if the offender is on bail (s.21(3)(b) of the 1995 Act). This means in practice that there are increased demands on a workers time that places increased pressure in the preparation of SERs especially if there are high numbers of worker absence due to leave or whether the worker knows the offender and their individual circumstances. Whilst conducting interviews the worker must ensure that the offender understands the purpose of the report, the relevance of questions (health, addiction issues, and personal relationships) and the limits to confidentiality of this information. Social workers must balance between an informed recommendation and an awareness of the severity of the offence. The report author should be impartial and not minimise the seriousness of the offence and its impact (NOS, Scottish Executive, 2004d, para 5.5) and phrases that imply moral judgements, label or boss offenders should not be used (para. 5.1).When compiling an SER workers are required to consider the suitability of disposals in relation to the risk posed by an offender and to target appropriate resources which are most appropriate and successful in addressing offending behaviour. Guidelines for the assessment and management of risk are outlined in the Management and Assessment of put on the line in Social Work Services (SWSI, 2000) and there are also additional risk assessment frameworks which specifically relate to serious violent and sex offenders. In Criminal Justice the focus has moved from risk of custody to risk of reoffending and risk of harm. Risk assessment is complex and there has been a shift from concern for the offender and their needs to concern about public safety and the offender being a potential source of risk to others. Although the legislation is not overt about offending behaviour, National Standards state that SE Rs should provide information and advice which result help the Court decide the available sentencing optionsby assessing the risk of reoffending, andthe possible harm to others. This requires an investigation of offending behaviour and of the offenders circumstances, attitudes and motivation to change (Scottish Executive, 2004d, 1.6).Risk is defined by Kemshall (1996) as the probability of a future ostracize or harmful event and assessment of risk includes the likliehood of an event occurring, who is in all probability to be at risk, the nature of the harm which they might be open(a) and the impact and consequences of the harmful event.Risk assessment has changed over the years and former to the introduction of risk assessment tools workers relied on clinical methods or professional judgement which was based on an offenders history. These methods were criticised for being too subjective, inaccurate, open to worker bias and dependent on information given by the offender. In the 1990s workers moved towards objective and empirically based risk assessment tools (actuarial) to support their assessment. Actuarial risk assessment tools rely on nonoperational (historical) risk factors together with dynamic (criminogenic) risk factors and to assess the risk of reoffending.The stable factors (which cannot change) take into account gender, age at first conviction, number of front offences and custodial experiences, school progress, previous employment and personal history. The criminogenic factors (focus on incumbent areas) include current employment, personal relationships, peer associates, use of time, substance use, mental health and attitudes and behaviour. All of these factors impact on the risk of reoffending (Bonta, 1996). The most wide used assessment tool, The Level of Service Inventory Revised (LSI-R) devised by Andrews and Bonta (1995) incorporates both static and dynamic factors. However, it does not assess risk of harm and this shows that both actu arial and clinical risk assessments are decisive for an effective and comprehensive risk assessment. Clinical methods combine knowledge of the offenders personality, habits lifestyle and an analytic thinking of the circumstances of the offending behaviour and are therefore, the most appropriate assessment tool at identifying those who are likely to cause serious harm. Although more time consuming and require more in-depth analysis of both the offender and the offence risk is assessed on predispositions, motivation towards certain behaviours and triggers that may ease up to harmful behaviour.Actuarial tools are not totally accurate (Kemshall, 1996) and although this is improve upon through use of clinical methods in decision making, professional judgement is also crucial. Social workers must be aware that social disadvantage plays a part and this can contribute to a higher assessment of risk and need and to be cautious about the total reliableness of these factors when making rec ommendations that may affect an offenders liberty.Risk assessment and intervention or supervision should be informed by valid, reliable and ongoing assessment and Social Workers should familiarise themselves with research emerging in this area and the many assessment tools and change programmes available (Levy et.al., 2002).To support change Social Workers have to not just think about what work is done with the offender but how that work is done. Offenders under supervision have very high levels of need. Moreover, although most offenders have many needs in common, there are also significant variations that necessitate the thoughtful tailoring of individual interventions if the effectiveness of practice is to be maximised. In delivering effective practice, the accumulated weight of evidencedrives us towards recognition that practice skills in general and relationship skills in particular are at least as critical in reducing re-offending as programme content (McNeill et al., 2005, p. 5). This recent review of core skills required for effective Criminal Justice Social Work practice raises challenges in practising ethically and effectively but when applied critically and reflectively this could achieve positive outcomes that are in the interest of the public, victims and offenders.Although the law is crucial in framing Social Work practice in the Criminal Justice process it is equally important that Social Work skills and values are central to effective interventions as the role is both demanding and rewarding. abomination has become increasingly prominent both in the public and political agenda and therefore, Social Work has become more prominent and complex. Social Workers have a professional responsibility towards victims, the Court, community and offenders. To fulfil this role effectively, Social Workers must have a clear, confident understanding of their role, the legislative and policy context and a commitment to increasing and developing knowledge, skills and values required for effective and ethical practice.