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CO-ORDINATION OF SOCIAL SERVICES
The co-ordinating procedure as between the Children's, Health, Housing and Welfare
Departments continued successfully throughout the year. The Members' Co-ordinating
Committee has proved an effective machine for ensuring the allocation of responsibility
between departments of the Council for its general policy on matters appertaining to the
various social services. At field worker level good relationships exist with the numerous
statutory and voluntary bodies working in the borough. A visit by members of the 'Seebohm
Committee' was made recently to study the working of the borough's social services. The
findings and any recommendations of that Committee are awaited with interest by all
concerned departments.
SOCIAL CONDITIONS
Although many problems still exist, the image so often presented of the East End by
the mass media is really more reminiscent of conditions in the late 19th century with
undertones of Jack the Ripper. The area is continually chosen to personify a romanticised
picture of the human jungle, red in tooth and claw yet tempered by a spirit of good
neighbourliness. It is time to demonstrate the falsity of this image by citing the recent
vast improvements made, not least in housing, schools and the general environment, so
counteracting the distorted false view which pictures a meths drinker on every derelict
site, a psychotic on every street corner, and an overt juvenile deliquent in every schoolboy.
Failure to do so may nullify the good effects of the changes for the better by a
resultant inability to attract and hold stable communities in new estates. The transfer
of problem families from other areas of London to large lettings in the pre-war blocks within
the borough has not helped in this respect. Gresham's law can be applied to human
society, 'the bad will drive out the good'. Other results also flow; for instance
teachers, health and social workers may become difficult to recruit to the borough which,
whilst it will not be a garden city for a long time, if ever, deserves a long overdue
approach to proclaim it's virtues.
I have the honour to be,
Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Your obedient Servant,
R.W. WATTON.
Medical officer of Health
May, 1967.
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