This is purely a reflection on personal experience but it seemed to me when
working on a Department of Health contract in the late 80's and early 90's that
there was a positive injunction against joined up thinking - though several
departments (DoH, HO and DES (in those days) were funding research and training
developments in the area of child maltreatment, the various people they funded
had to meet using a degree of stealth and it was extremely difficult to access
minutes of the few inter departmental activities that took place. Cross
departmental conflicts and rivalries seemed to be encouraged and there was a
lot of scapegoating. At local service level there was an enjoinder to 'work
together' but this was not mirrored at governmental level.
I have had various explanations for this and a number related to the cultures
within the civil service - but what is really surprising is just how fast the
attitudes of civil servants rolled over or at least appeared to do so, after
1997.
Anne Hollows
Principal Lecturer in Social Work
School of Health and Community Studies
Sheffield Hallam University
Collgiate Crescent Campus
Sheffield S10 2BA
tel +44 (0) 114 225 2369
fax+44 (0) 114 225 2430
|