The Scottish Government

Integrated services

It is no longer appropriate to think of integrated community schooling as a separate school based initiative. The role of authorities and schools in delivering integrated children's services was clarified in an information leaflet circulated in early 2006. It highlights the steps schools need to take successfully mainstream approaches to integrated services for children and young people and outlines the support available to schools.

Among the support that will be available is:

• a self-evaluation framework within How Good Is Our School? - The Journey to Excellence
• the development by HMIe of indicators for partnership working at neighbourhood or cluster level
• A literature review exploring the evidence base for integration was also published in early 2006

The integrated children's services agenda is being co-ordinated by the Children and Young People Delivery Group. The main parts of this agenda are:

• integrated children's services plans
• quality improvement framework
• joint inspections for children's services
• development of the workforce