News
BackThe Council and the European Parliament are currently deliberating on securing the quality of social services. The Council will adopt a relevant conclusion before the end of December; the European Parliament plans to set out its position in the middle of next year. The Commission has also started to move in this direction and already gave the first indications of their plans on social services within the scope of an expert conference.
A Commission official at a conference on social services in Brussels commented on the direction, in which the activities of the Commission on social activities are heading and what action has already been taken by the Council. Following the fact that the public sector had outsourced many social services to private service providers, the question had arisen how the quality of social services could be secured. Apart from that, the demand for such services was on the increase, among others because of the aging population. The creation of instruments to secure the quality of services could provide helpful support. The greatest challenge would be the large range of different social services. For example, the quality of social housing was different from the quality of long-term care. That is why one had to make an attempt to introduce rules for each individual sector.
A decisive point in respect of social services would be the workforce. One had to deal with the employees and their working conditions. The demand for personnel in this sector would significantly increase over the coming years. In addition, one had to pay attention to the fact that different forms of employment would exist, which played a part in the social services sector. These could be jobs filled by volunteers but also by full-time employees.
The Council would like to propose a voluntary framework for the quality of social services, which should be adopted in December of this year. The European Parliament also wants to adopt a resolution on social services in June 2011. One should mention that the cooperation between European Parliament, Council and Commission concerning this subject is highly unusual. Whilst European Parliament and Council normally become active as soon as the Commission has published its proposal, Parliament and Council are already active in respect of social services. One reason for this might be found in the subsidiarity principle, given the fact that the social services sector is the responsibility of the Member States and not the EU.
A decisive point in respect of social services would be the workforce. One had to deal with the employees and their working conditions. The demand for personnel in this sector would significantly increase over the coming years. In addition, one had to pay attention to the fact that different forms of employment would exist, which played a part in the social services sector. These could be jobs filled by volunteers but also by full-time employees.
The Council would like to propose a voluntary framework for the quality of social services, which should be adopted in December of this year. The European Parliament also wants to adopt a resolution on social services in June 2011. One should mention that the cooperation between European Parliament, Council and Commission concerning this subject is highly unusual. Whilst European Parliament and Council normally become active as soon as the Commission has published its proposal, Parliament and Council are already active in respect of social services. One reason for this might be found in the subsidiarity principle, given the fact that the social services sector is the responsibility of the Member States and not the EU.