Consultation on Proposals to Introduce a Statutory Duty of Candour for Health and Social Care Services

CHAPTER 5: Responding to this consultation paper

11.1. We are inviting written responses to this consultation paper between 15^th October 2014 and 14^th January 2015.

11.2. There are a number of consultation questions on which the Scottish Government would welcome views. Please do not feel obliged to answer all the questions. Equally, if you would like to comment on any other aspects of the proposals, the Scottish Government would welcome your views.

11.3. We would be grateful if you could use the separate consultation questionnaire provided to answer the questions posed throughout the consultation paper. The questions appear in full in the consultation questionnaire at Annex A and on the downloadable consultation response form (for electronic completion).

11.4. Please send your completed consultation questionnaire and Respondent Information Form (see "Handling your Response" below) to:

Dutyofcandourconsultation@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

or

11.5. If you have any queries contact Professor Craig White, Divisional Clinical Lead, Quality Unit on 0131 244 4049.

11.6. We would be grateful for responses to be completed electronically and sent by email where possible. This will aid handling and analysis of all responses.

11.7. This consultation, and all other Scottish Government consultation exercises, can be viewed online on the consultation web pages of the Scottish Government website at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/consultations.

11.8. You can telephone Freephone 0800 77 1234 to find out where your nearest public internet access point is.

11.9. The Scottish Government now has an email alert system for consultations (SEconsult: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/consultations/seconsult.aspx). This system allows stakeholder individuals and organisations to register and receive a weekly email containing details of all new consultations (including web links). SEconsult complements, but in no way replaces SG distribution lists, and is designed to allow stakeholders to keep up to date with all SG consultation activity, and therefore be alerted at the earliest opportunity to those of most interest. We would encourage you to register.

Handling your response

11.10. We need to know how you wish your response to be handled and, in particular, whether you are happy for your response to be made public. Please complete and return the Respondent Information Form (at Annex A and on the downloadable consultation response form) which forms part of the consultation questionnaire as this will ensure that we treat your response appropriately. If you ask for your response not to be published we will regard it as confidential, and we will treat it accordingly.

11.11. All respondents should be aware that the Scottish Government are subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and would therefore have to consider any request made to it under the Act for information relating to responses made to this consultation exercise.

Next steps in the process

11.12. Where respondents have given permission for their response to be made public and after we have checked that they contain no potentially defamatory material, responses will be made available to the public in the Scottish Government Library. (See the attached Respondent Information Form), these will be made available to the public in the Scottish Government Library and on the Scottish Government consultation web pages by 8 February 2015. You can make arrangements to view responses by contacting the SG Library on 0131 244 4552. Responses can be copied and sent to you, but a charge may be made for this service.

What happens next?

11.13. Following the closing date, all responses will be analysed and considered along with any other available evidence to help us reach a decision on the terms of introducing a statutory duty of candour for health and social care services. We aim to issue a report on this consultation process by 27 March 2015

Comments and complaints

11.14. If you have any comments about how this consultation exercise has been conducted, please send them to Professor Craig White at the above address.