West Lothian Council delivers

Working with people - confidentiality, communication, and consultation

Confidentiality

As a service we are committed to keeping information as secure as possible. The ways that we do this are explained in our CJ Information Charter, a copy of which can also be downloaded from the foot of this page. All staff and other people working with us have signed a Confidentiality Undertaking. Many of our staff are formally committed to safeguarding the confidentiality of service users through their registration as Social Care workers.

There are some situations where we cannot promise to keep information confidential (or indeed may be legally required to share it). This is explained in more detail in the CJ Information Charter.

Communication

In the course of our work we have to communicate with many people – service users; the courts and Parole Board; volunteers helping provide work placements in local organisations; and members of the public.

We think it is important to make our communications as straightforward as possible (whether in face-to-face meetings, on the phone, in letters or emails, or through the Internet). All staff are expected to use ‘Plain English’, and if anyone is not completely clear about a point we are trying to make, we would ask them to tell us!

If you do not understand English well enough, we can arrange interpretation services for you.

Consultation – how the Criminal Justice Social Work Service finds out what people think of us.

We consult with people who use our services and with the public in a number of ways. These are explained in the CJSWS Consultation Strategy – How we find out what people think of us,  which is also downloadable from the foot of this page.

The views of people who have dealings with us are important to help us make services better. Please do let us know your views if asked.

We will post the results of surveys on this page as they become available. Information is also available in Community Justice, the newsletter of the West Lothian Criminal Justice Social Work Service, which can be downloaded from the bottom of this page.

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We understand that the actions we take in relation to you may not always be to your liking. This may happen either because we feel that we have to follow up on our legal responsibilities (for example, to return your order to court) or because you feel that we have not done something that we said we would do.

We have a Criminal Justice Service Comments and Complaints Procedure which explains this in more detail, which can also be downloaded from the foot of this page, together with the CJ leaflet dealing with these issues.

If you wish to contact us with comments and suggestions, you can do so in several ways:

- telephone us on 01506 280999

- fax us on 01506 281243

- write to us at Criminal Justice Office, West Lothian Civic Centre, Howden South Road, Livingston EH54 6FF

(You can hand the letter in (unstamped) to any public council office, and it will be sent to us by council internal mail)

- email us: criminaljusticeteam@westlothian.gov.uk

- if you are already in contact with us, please speak to the member of staff who is working with you

- use the council's Comments, Complaints and Concerns form, available in any public council office.