Enhancing Quality 1: Professional Audit and Progressive Practice in Child Care

Abstract

Auditing is the term used by the Audit Commission to refer to processes of checking whether public money is being spent economically, efficiently and effectively. There is a degree of tension between this finance-based concept and the professional basis for social work. Professional audit is the term used here to express the tension between professional practice and financially-led auditing procedures. The nature and meaning of professional practice is often a matter for debate and controversy. Auditing practice, on the other hand, is bound by legislation. The code published in July 1995 which governs the auditing practices of local authorities in England and Wales is a statutory requirement under Section 14 of the Local Government Finance Act 1982, as amended by Section 20 and Schedule 4, paragraph 4 of the NHS and Community Care Act 1990. This chapter examines arrangements made for assuring the quality of professional activity, to establish whether or not the standards are adhered to, with particular reference to child care in fieldwork and residential settings.