1. Portfolio/Number/Name:H/C10 Efficiency savings in the Care
Commission. |
2. Programme/Activity: Please
include a short description Regulation of care services defined in
the Regulation of Care (Scotland) Act
2001 The 1m cash savings in 2005-06 and
subsequent years relate to efficiency
savings in the regulation of early years
services. The savings have been found
through the streamlining of the
Commission's joint inspection arrangements
for these services with HMIE. For example,
it has been agreed with HMIE that in a year
when a joint inspection is due then for
smaller services that inspection will be
carried out by one inspector. The
Commission has also revised the activity
time needed to inspect childminders in
light of discussions with the
Department. |
3. Planned Savings | | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 |
Cash (m) | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Time Releasing (m) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
4. Accountable Officer for
delivery | Kevin Woods |
5. Project Manager | Care Commission Director of Operations and
Linda Gregson Care Standards and
Sponsorship Branch |
6. EGDG account manager | Ms Gillian Woolman |
7. Quality Impact | Describe any impact on the quality
of service delivery. Be specific and
explain if the expectation is positive,
negative or neutral. We do not expect the savings to affect
the Care Commission's statutory inspection
requirements or the quality of inspections
being carried out. |
8. Dependencies | Explain if your savings are
dependant on legislation or other
structural changes being achieved. The efficiencies at the level agreed
are not dependant on legislation. The
delivery of further efficiencies is,
however, constrained by the requirement in
the Regulation of Care (Scotland) Act 2001
for services to be inspected at least once
a year (and twice in the case of services
where overnight accommodation is a part of
the service e.g. care homes). Consideration
is currently being given to taking a power
to enable Ministers to vary that
requirement. This would apply to all care
services, not just early years. The efficiencies will have an impact on
staffing levels. We do not, however, expect
the saving to result in any redundancies.
The Care Commission will be through a
combination of re-deploying staff into the
regulation of services that have not been
previously regulated (e.g. housing support)
and not filling vacant posts. This will
require some level of re-training. |
9. Description of efficiency and
actions to be taken | 9.1 How will the saving be made? Be
specific about number/size of contracts,
staff, posts dates etc. See 8 above. |
9.2 What action is critically
needed to secure delivery of this saving?
Be specific, and name the key action
managers if they are outwith your immediate
management chain (e.g. in an
NDPB.) The Care Commission is an NDPB
responsible for the regulation of a wide
range of care services under the Regulation
of Care (Scotland) Act 2001. The Commission
will be responsible for delivering these
savings. Jacquie Roberts, Chief Executive
and David Wiseman, Director of Operations
at the Care Commission, are the key action
managers. |
10. Impact on Staffing to achieve the efficiency
gain | If there are to be any changes in
staff numbers (at activity level) to
achieve the efficiency gain, please
indicate how many full time equivalents and
how far you expect savings to be achieved
by natural wastage (show additions as + and
reductions as -). |
| 2005- 06 | 2006- 07 | 2007- 08 |
+ | | | |
- | | | |
Net | | | |
Explanation | It is difficult at this stage to be
specific about number since the Care
Commission has only recently established
the size and scope of the housing support
sector. However we estimate that between 20
and 30 staff less staff will be
required. |
11. Benefits | In general, the benefits of the
Scottish Executive Efficiency Plan are the
enhanced outputs from the resources
Ministers have been able to allocate in
SR04. But if there is a direct connection
between this efficiency saving and the
enhancement of a particular service please
describe it here. N/A |
12. Gross/Net Cash Savings | 12.1 Please set out the gross
recurring saving and any offsetting
recurring expenditure. The 1m efficiency saving will be
recurrent. |
12.2 Against what budget does this
expenditure and saving fall? The 1m efficiency is in the Care
Commission's gross budget and subsequently
in the grant-in-aid required from the
Department. However once we have achieved
self-funding in 2006-07 we expect the Care
Commission's gross expenditure to continue
to reflect the efficient practice in the
regulation of these services. The Care
Commission will be required to keep its
cost down and this will have a direct
impact on fee levels for care services
which are set by Ministers. |
12.3 Has this saving been built
into your budget? The Care Commission has reduced its
gross budget for 2005-06 by the 1m agreed
as part of the discussions on early years
efficiencies. |
12.4 If so, what is the maximum
allowable expenditure against the budget
data, in each year, for that saving to be
delivered? 28.248m with future years yet to be
determined. |
12.5 If not, how do you propose to invest
the additional cash back into public
services? N/A |
12.6 What plans do you have to
exceed the required saving? Explain by how
much in each year. There are no specific plans at present
to increase the efficiencies relating to
the regulation of early years services in
future years. However, see first paragraph
8 above. In addition, Ministers have
recently approved the Care Commission's
Organisational Structure Review. This will
result in savings of 160k a year from
2005-06. The savings are a result of a net
reduction of 8 middle management posts. We
do not expect this to affect the quality or
quantity of the Care Commission's output.
In 2005-06 we will also expect the Care
Commission to fund any increase in
non-staff prices (around 250k) from
efficiency savings elsewhere in its
budget. |
13. Time - release savings | 13.1 Please explain any time-releasing
savings indicated at question 3 N/A |
13.2 Please describe the method you
plan to use to calculate the cash
equivalent of those time release
savings. N/A |
14. Measurement and
Monitoring | 14.1 How are you proposing to
measure the expected efficiency benefits
(e.g. in terms of costs, level of output or
quality of service)? Delivery of the reduced budget while
continuing to meet the targets set out in
the Care Commission's Corporate Plan. |
14.2 What monitoring & reporting
procedures will be put in place to measure the
efficiency savings (How often will progress
towards the target be monitored? Who will have
lead responsibility for reporting progress and
what procedures will be in place?) Care Commission provide monthly reports
on outturn against budget and quarterly
reports showing outturn against key
corporate plan targets and statutory
requirements. |
14.3 Monitoring Data: Sources,
validation and risks - What data will be used to
measure progress? Is all the required
information quantifiable and readily
available? If not what action will be
taken to rectify this?
- What measures will be in place
to validate the accuracy of the data?
Who will take responsibility for this?
- Are there any issues or risks
relating to how you plan to use the
data? (e.g. accuracy, difficulties in
collection)
See 14.2 above.
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