Forthcoming Merger of Government Scrutiny Bodies
Posted on Sunday 01 March 2009
The Scottish Government plans to merge the Care Commission, the Social Work Inspection Agency and the child protection function of HMIE into one new scrutiny body for care services. The drafting of legislation to bring about the merger is proceeding very rapidly, and a bill is likely to be introduced to the Scottish Parliament within a matter of weeks. CCPS was concerned that regulated providers had not yet had a chance to air their views on the regulatory system and so requested a meeting with the team of officials leading on this matter.
At the meeting, which took place in February and was attended by a number of CCPS members as well as representative of SWIA and the Care Commission, CCPS set out a range of issues for consideration including practical matters around the transition to the new body; opportunities presented by the legislation (for example, the chance to resolve some of the issues around the differences in the application of regulation to 'traditional' services and to more personalised approaches, and the possibility of ditching current policy regarding the payment of fees); and the need for the new body to take a 'whole systems' approach to scrutiny of the support of individuals, from the initial assessment of need through to service provision. Officials have now invited CCPS to put their concerns and interests in writing.