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10
trary. Herein lies the dilemma. In our present ignorance of the
underlying causes of social pathology, are these ills (if indeed they
are ills) preventable, or would we achieve much the same end by
providing adequately in the material sense for those who fall by
the wayside, without the necessity for the prolonged professional
intervention of officialdom? Is there a danger that in our very
enthusiasm to help people, sometimes with rather ill defined problems,
social service departments may be stigmatised as professional
inquisitors? These philosophical reservations do not rule out the
provision of social services of a high and consistent standard, and
I trust that the progress recorded in the main body of this report
will indicate the concern of this Department to help the needy, the
unfortunate and demonstrably inadequate.
The Maud and Mallaby reports have been published, and many
Boroughs are undergoing the agonising pains of examining their
management structures. Unavoidably there are differences of
opinion and it is no part of this report to express any views on the
validity of many of their recommendations, other than to support
the idea of the grouping of related services and to reaffirm my own
conviction about the essential indivisibility and unity of health and
the social causes and consequences of disease and disability. It is
also regrettable that the Seebohm Committee's review of the
personal social services was not available at the same time as the
reports on local authority staffing and management structures.
The Mallaby report emphasises the need for knowledgeable and
expert staff, and the Department is aware of the importance of
recruiting, training and retaining qualified staff. Great efforts are
being made to encourage staff to obtain qualifications appropriate
to their jobs. While recognising that in the past there has been
chronic shortage of suitable recruits because of other more attractive
employment prospects, the position seems to be improving. The
Junior Centre now has a fully qualified staff and social workers in
all disciplines are being seconded for training, while a regular quota
year by year of student health visitors and public health inspectors
is accepted in the Department. A higher quality of junior officers
is now coming forward and in the Community Care Branch students
are engaged in the first instance for clerical and administrative
duties, but with a view to eventual qualification as social workers.
I must now address myself to the specfiic events of the year.
Once again there has been a slight decrease in population, although
the number of deaths is down. There has been a marginal increase
in the infantile mortality rate and, as expected, the illegitimacy
rate is higher.
When one examines the main causes of death, there has been a
reduction by 4% in heart diseases, although coronary artery disease