Reference Group
1. A Reference Group has been set up by Iain Gray, Deputy Minister for Community Care, to help officials develop the proposals outlined in this paper. Members of the Reference Group were given an opportunity to comment on this paper in advance of publication. The paper, however, does not necessarily represent the views of the Reference Group or their employers. The membership of the group is as follows:
Ian Baillie (Social Care Association Scotland)
Sandy Cameron (South Lanarkshire Council)
Noni Cobban (UK Home Care Association)
Colin Cowie (Scottish Care)
Geraldine Doherty (Central Council for Education and Training in Social Work)
Martyn Evans (Scottish Consumer Council)
Lorne Findlay (Scottish Heads of Inspection Group)
Paul Gibbons (Argyll and Clyde Health Board)
Annie Gunner (Community Care Providers Scotland)
David Henderson (COSLA)
Ronnie Hill (Edinburgh and the Lothians Registration and Inspection Service)
Ian Johnston (British Association of Social Workers)
Mike Kirby (UNISON) *
Professor Joyce Lishman (Robert Gordon University)
Ingrid McClements (Scottish Voluntary Organisations Training Forum)
Les McEwan (City of Edinburgh Council)
Janet Miller (Social Care Association Scotland)
George Ronald (Scottish Users Network)
Martha Simpson (Scottish Pre-School Play Association)
Satnam Singh (Scottish Anti-Racist Federation in Community and Social Work)
Deirdre Watson (Who Cares? Scotland)
Professor Bryan Williams (University of Dundee)
Cllr Robert Winter
Carole Wilkinson (Falkirk Council)
* recent appointment therefore not commented on consultation paper
Survey of registration and inspection units
2. In order to gather more information on the current work of registration and inspection services across Scotland we are surveying all local authority registration and inspection units (including those only dealing with children under 8) and all similar units in health boards. This information will feed into the development of the proposals in this paper.
National Care Standards Committee
3. Aiming for Excellence noted that a National Care Standards Committee would be established to develop a series of national standards for the services regulated by the Commission. This Committee first met in September 1999 and is currently developing standards for older people, people with mental health problems and children in residential care.
4. The legislation will provide a framework within which national care standards can be operated and changed without recourse to further primary legislation. Prior to the Commission coming into existence the National Care Standards Committee, after wide consultation, will make recommendations to the Scottish Executive on the range of care standards to initially apply across Scotland.
Codes of conduct
5. The Scottish Social Services Council will have parallel bodies in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Ministers have stated that there will be alignment between the four regulatory bodies in order to protect users across the UK and avoid cross border loopholes. To this end the Scottish Executive, the Department of Health, the National Assembly for Wales and the DHSS (Northern Ireland) have commissioned the Office for Public Management, a London based consultancy, to develop codes of conduct and practice. The development of these draft codes will require consultation in each country of the UK. It will be for the Council itself to decide on their adoption when it is established.
Recruitment and selection procedures
6. The Social Work Services Inspectorate has commissioned a consortium of local authorities led by Perth and Kinross Council to develop effective recruitment and selection procedures for social work staff who work with children and young people. The final report will be completed in the spring of 2001. This will be an important building block for the work of the Commission and the Council and may contribute to the codes of practice for employers and regulation criteria for staff in residential child care.
Implementation of Part 4 of Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Bill (management of residents' finances)
7. Part 4 of the Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Bill provides for the management by care establishments of residents' funds (and by hospitals in respect of patients' funds), where people lack capacity to look after their own resources. The Bill will need to be amended in due course to take account of some of the changes arising out of the proposals set out in this document. It is our intention to implement these provisions at the same time as the new Scottish Commission for the Regulation of Care comes into force. This will simplify procedures and ease administrative and operational burdens at a time of substantial transitional change in both the public and independent sectors. The new Commission is due to be established by April 2001 and is expected to become operational in September 2001 when we expect the incapacity provisions to be implemented.
8. The helpful interim provisions of the 'Clarke Act' (Mental Health (Amendment) (Scotland) Act 1999) and our interim guidance of 29 November 1999 to local authorities and health boards on the management of residents' finances (Community Care circular 2/1999) will continue in force until the new provisions are implemented.