The Scottish Government

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CHAPTER 1
Introduction

Background to the review

The Social Work Inspection Agency ( SWIA) is an independent executive agency of the Scottish Government. Its main function is to undertake performance inspections of local authority social work services. In addition to this, it works in partnership with others in carrying out multi-agency inspections. ¹SWIA will also undertake other pieces of work when requested to and supported by Scottish Ministers.

SWIA was asked by Turning Point Scotland ( TPS) to undertake an independent review of its governance arrangements. TPS is a registered charity ² whose main business is to provide social and health care to adults with complex needs throughout Scotland. All of its services are purchased through local authority social work, housing services and/or NHS boards.

This review was not an inspection of the quality of the social care provided by TPS. Where voluntary organisations such as TPS provide services on behalf of a local authority, SWIA's performance inspections of social work services incorporate findings on the quality of those services and the relationship between the voluntary organisation and the local authority. Furthermore, TPS social care services are regulated by the Care Commission and the organisation is registered with the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator ( OSCR).

Turning Point Scotland

Turning Point was a UK wide organisation founded in 1964 and originally provided services to people with alcohol problems. The organisation expanded its services to include a range of services, providing support to adults with mental health problems, to people who misuse drugs, and for those with learning disabilities. Turning Point UK set up a mental health service in Scotland in 1993 and this was soon followed by the Glasgow Drugs Crisis Centre in 1994. In December 1994, a development director was appointed in Scotland. In 1999, Turning Point Scotland became a separate company. Although Turning Point and Turning Point Scotland share a name and value base, they do not have any constitutional links. ³

Turning Point Scotland expanded its services across Scotland and it currently operates 35 services in 17 local authorities. Its services provide support to adults with learning disabilities, mental health problems, drug and alcohol misuse problems, early onset dementia and Huntington's disease. They also run criminal justice and homelessness services.

Turning Point Scotland's management structure consists of a board of directors and an operational/ service management team. The board governs the organisation and it is made up of 12 unpaid volunteers who formally meet five times per year. The board is responsible for determining the organisation's strategic direction, the budget, the reserves policy, the organisation's investments and for monitoring its performance against business targets.

Appendix A provides a structural chart of TPS.

Purpose of the review

To undertake an independent evaluative review of the governance of Turning Point Scotland, using established hallmarks of excellent governance for charitable organisations.

Development of the methodology

Over the past two decades there has been considerable focus on standards in the private, public and voluntary sectors. A number of events and publications have influenced this. These are briefly summarised below and how they informed this review is also discussed.

The growing interest in governance originated from events in the private sector. A number of financial reporting irregularities led to the setting up of the 'Financial Aspects of Corporate Governance Committee', chaired by Sir Adrian Cadbury. The Cadbury Report, published in 1992, made a number of recommendations on the roles and responsibilities of the chair and chief executive, transparency of financial reporting and the need for good internal controls.

In 1994, the then Prime Minister, John Major, established a standards committee and set out the following terms of reference for it: "to examine current concerns about standards of conduct of all holders of public office, including arrangements relating to financial and commercial activities, and make recommendations as to any changes in present arrangements which might be required to ensure the highest standards of propriety in public life".⁴ This committee, chaired by Lord Nolan in its first report, ⁵ identified seven principles of public life, which are now commonly referred to as the 'Nolan principles'. These are: selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty and leadership. It was soon recognised that these principles should be widely applied across both the public and voluntary sector. ⁶

In June 2005, a number of organisations on behalf of the National Hub of Expertise in Governance published Good Governance: A code for the voluntary and community sector. Drawing on the Nolan principles, this code identified seven principles of governance in the voluntary and community sector and these included: board leadership, the board in control, high performance board, board review and renewal, board delegation, board and trustee integrity and board openness.

In Scotland, the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 established a new and coherent regulatory framework for charities in Scotland. This act established the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator ( OSCAR) as the statutory regulator of the charity sector. In 2006, it published Guidance for Charity Trustees 'acting with care and diligence'. This guidance was intended to support trustees of charities in understanding what was expected of them, both as individuals and collectively under the new legislation. It focused on what trustees must do to ensure compliance with the law, but it also highlighted good practice principles in fulfilling the role and responsibilities of being an effective charity trustee. The guidance summarised core responsibilities of charity trustees under four headings and these were: act in the interest of the charity, operate in a manner consistent with the charity's purpose, act with care and diligence and ensure the charity complies with the provisions of the Act, and any other relevant legislation.

The development of the evaluation framework for this review of the governance arrangements for Turning Point Scotland chiefly drew on the Nolan principles, the Cadbury report, and the publications of the National Hub for Expertise in Governance and OSCR. Using the established principles of good governance, we selected four broad areas for evaluation. These were: openness, integrity, accountability, and leadership.

Quality indicators (sub headings within the chapters) were developed to illustrate the four areas and evidence gathered was analysed against these. The four areas for evaluation received a grading based on the SWIA six point scale for evaluation.

Openness:

To be open, organisations must have transparent processes for decision making, consult stakeholders, make available a range of information promoting confidence in financial controls and strategic management functions. They should have clear targets and report on progress or otherwise towards achieving these.

Integrity:

Integrity is based on high standards of honesty, probity, and professionalism in the management of the organisation's affairs. It arises from a combination of the personal qualities of the organisation's board and staff and the financial and organisational controls that it has in place to ensure good governance and excellence in service delivery.

Accountability:

This quality derives from the degree to which an organisation and its people take appropriate responsibility for finances, policy and results in delivering outcomes. To have good accountability, an organisation must model the principles of openness and activity to carry out internal and seek external scrutiny of its activities through quality assurance, quality management and audit.

Leadership:

Effective leadership combines strategic vision with effective operational management to lead continuous improvement and ensure that the organisation delivers its current range of services to a consistently high standard. It means sound partnerships with stakeholders and staff, and a sharing of accountability throughout the organisation for effective financial management and the delivery of services to a very high standard.

SWIA evaluation scale

Review methodology

The review was led by Jennifer Crowson (tel. 0131-244 4742) and was undertaken in four stages. TPS was first asked to submit preliminary information about its structure, board of directors, staffing and services. TPS then completed a self evaluation questionnaire ( SEQ), where they evaluated the organisation against the same four areas of evaluation used by SWIA. Supporting documents were provided with the SEQ. All material submitted was read and analysed by SWIA inspectors. Financial reports, procedures and policies were reviewed by a SWIA auditor. ⁷ In the third phase, questionnaires were distributed to a randomly selected group of staff ⁸ and stakeholders ⁹ of TPS. These were analysed by a SWIA statistician. In the final stage, SWIA inspectors spent two weeks meeting with staff, external stakeholders, board members and people who use TPS services. These meetings were either interviews or focus groups. A summary of these visits can be found in Appendix B. All information gathered was analysed and considered against the areas for evaluation described above and graded using the SWIA six point evaluation scale.

SWIA inspectors also conducted a case study of a significant decision taken by the board of Turning Point Scotland. This particular decision was selected for analysis because of how it illustrated the essential role boards have in making decisions for an organisation. This review only considered the actions taken by the TPS board and the organisation. The decision making process was not evaluated using the SWIA scale, rather it was critically analysed by the review team. We did not review or analyse the actions taken by the purchasing local authority.

Format of report

The report is written in the past tense, except where using the present tense is more sensible. For example, TPS currently provides social and health care services to vulnerable adults and as such this is referred to in the present tense. Turning Point Scotland is referred to as either TPS or the organisation throughout the report.

In the report, we use quotations from people only where they illustrate widely held perceptions. They were not just the views of one person. We used the following words to describe numbers and proportions when we quoted findings from our questionnaires.

Summary of TPS evaluations

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