2. Social Care Procurement Scotland - Guiding Principles
This guidance is founded on a set of guiding principles for social care procurement which, taken together, should govern all social care procurement activity. The principles reflect the complexity of social care procurement and the challenges associated with upholding values, delivering high standards and responding to individuals' needs whilst complying with procurement rules and securing Best Value.
Local authorities must ensure that their social care procurement policy, procedures and practices meet the following set of principles and that they are used as a framework for evaluating local practice.
1. Outcomes - social care procurement must achieve positive outcomes for service users and carers through the delivery of good quality social care and support services.
2. Strategic Commissioning - the development and purchasing of services must be placed within a wider context of strategic social care commissioning activities and strategies, and reflect strategic and service reviews.
3. Personalisation - social care procurement must take account of the need to deliver personalised services providing choice and control through building individual, family and community capacity, with attention to consistency and continuity, performance improvement and the delivery of agreed outcomes.
4. Involvement - service users and carers must be active partners and citizen leaders in both defining their needs and the outcomes of the support they require to realise their potential and influencing the design of services.
5. National Care Standards - social care procurement must ensure that services provided to individuals adhere to the principles of dignity, privacy, choice, safety, realising potential and equality and diversity which underpin the National Care Standards.
6. Codes of Practice ( SSSC) - social care procurement must ensure that social services staff promote the interests and independence of service users and carers, protect their rights and safety, and gain their trust and confidence; and social services employers must provide training and development opportunities to enable staff involved in social care procurement to strengthen and develop their skills and knowledge.
7. Best Value - services must be developed to meet the needs of service users and carers in line with the duty on Local Authorities to achieve best value, balancing quality and cost with regard to economy, efficiency, effectiveness, equal opportunities, attention to risk, and sustainable development.
8. Benefit and Risk - strategic decisions concerning social care procurement must be based on careful benefit and risk analysis of the potential effects on: service users and carers; the quality and cost of services; and partnership working with service providers and workforce issues.
9. Procurement Rules - social care procurement must comply with the EC Treaty principles of equal treatment, non-discrimination and transparency and the requirements of the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations and Scottish public procurement policy.
10. Leadership - senior managers must give a high priority to social care procurement, setting clear strategic goals and managing performance.
11. Workforce - the need for a skilled and competent workforce must be taken into account within social care procurement.
12. Partnership - there must be collaboration between agencies across the public, private and voluntary sectors to make the best use of the mixed economy of care and bring about cultural change in all sectors.