AN EXTERNAL report of Swindon Council's social services department has uncovered major weaknesses similar to those recently found in the education department.

The joint review by the Audit Commission and Government Department of Health took place in September at the same time as the damning Ofsted report was being unveiled.

The draft report has now finally arrived after nearly a month of delay and is highly critical of the way the cash-strapped social services department is being run.

The director of social services, Marie Seaton, told last night's cabinet meeting that the report had landed on her desk yesterday afternoon.

The Evening Advertiser is yet to see its contents, but Mrs Seaton said it was critical in many areas.

As with the Ofsted report, it is said to condemn the poor leadership of councillors and senior officers and their lack of vision shown for the future of social care.

It slates the unsatisfactory provision for elderly and vulnerable people and calls for waiting lists for community care places to be reduced.

Mrs Seaton said her department was yet to fully analyse the 70-page report, but she had already identified several areas that she intended to dispute.

The council has only been given until January 10 to respond to the report, but it is likely that an extension will be granted, given the lateness of the report and the inconvenience posed by the Christmas break.

Mrs Seaton said: "There are areas that are very similar to the Ofsted report, including the need for stronger leadership from councillors and senior officers.

"The inspectors want the council to develop a clearer vision for social care services in Swindon that is explicit to meet the needs of vulnerable people.

"Older people are mentioned specifically and the need to reduce delayed transfers, but we expected to see that.

"There is an extensive body of work needed to respond to this and there are areas we would wish to challenge."

The changes that will need to be made as a result of the report could now cost around £500,000 to implement.

Reacting to the report, the lead member for social services, Carolyn Arkell, slammed the inspection process as ludicrous.

She argued that almost all of the weaknesses the report showed were due to a lack of funding from central government.

The council recently joined all other local authorities in the South West to start a campaign to highlight a growing funding crisis in social care in the region.

It is thought that the government allocation to the region is short by around £70 million, compared to the cost of running a basic service.

Coun Arkell (Con, Highworth) said: "From what Marie is saying, it seems the Government review is simply pointing out the obvious.

"We know we've got long waiting lists and problems with delayed transfers, but it's only because we haven't got enough money.

"It seems a waste of money for Government inspectors to spend all this time on this report and for our officers to have to spend weeks analysing it, when if we were just given that money, we might be able to do something about it."