Background
After a series of activities related to quality of social services in Europe, the Platform of European Social NGOs (Social Platform) adopted a Common position paper on quality social and health services in June 2008. The European Platform for Rehabilitation (EPR) has been contributing to the discussion, and to the document. The position paper aims at safeguarding the provision of quality social and health services and intends to reach highest quality levels and create equal opportunities and independent participation in society. The position paper of the Social Platform defines quality principles that are compliant with the quality requirements of the High Level Group on Disability (October 2007) and the EQUASS (European Quality in Social Services) Principles for Quality (December 2002).
The present workshop is carried out in the framework of the Prometheus project which is supported by the European Community Programme for Employment and Social Solidarity 2007-2013 (PROGRESS) managed by the Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities of the European Commission.
The Prometheus project has been selected for financing together with seven other projects, following a Call for Proposals (VP/2008/004 - Promoting quality of Social Services of General Interest) which aimed at supporting bottom-up initiatives having a trans-national character and developing mechanisms for the definition, measurement, assessment and improvement of quality of social services of general interest (SSGI).
This Call for Proposals is part of a larger Commission strategy for supporting the quality of SSGI across the EU, announced in the Commission Communication 'Services of general interest, including social services of general interest: a new European commitment' (COM(2007) 725) which also encompasses
(i) the development, within the Social Protection Committee, of an EU voluntary quality framework providing guidelines on the methodology to set, monitor and evaluate quality standards for SSGI and
(ii) the financing of training initiatives of public authorities on the application of Community rules to SSGI, aimed notably at ensuring that quality concerns can be fully reflected in case of outsourcing of social services.
Neither the Commission strategy as such nor, more specifically, the present workshop aim at developing European standards on SSGI.
The information contained in this webpage does not necessarily reflect the position or opinion of the European Commission.
More information on PROGRESS.
CEN Workshop Agreement
The CWA will:
CEN Workshop status
The kick-off meeting of this CEN Workshop took place on Monday 9 February 2009.
Business Plan
Contact points
Workshop Chairman
Mr Guus van Beek
EQUASS Executive manager
Rue de Spa 15
B-1000 Brussels
Tel: + 31 6 53 77 0121
E-mail
Workshop Vice Chairman
Mr Jan Spooren
EPR General Secretary
Rue de Spa 15
B-1000 Brussels
Tel: + 32 2 763 54 44
E-mail
Workshop Secretariat
Mr Norbert Siegel
DIN
Burggrafenstr. 6
D-10787 Berlin
Tel: + 49 30 2601 23 43
E-mail
CEN Management Centre
Ms Gaïd Le Gall
Programme Manager
Innovation and Business Development
Avenue Marnix 17
B-1000 Brussels
Tel: + 32 2 550 09 39
Fax: + 32 2 550 08 19
E-mail