EASY READ: The Independent Review of Inspection, Scrutiny and Regulation of social care in Scotland (IRISR) Our response

The Independent Review of Inspection, Scrutiny and Regulation of social care in Scotland (IRISR)

What is the IRISR?

My name is Maree Todd.

I am an MSP – a member of the Scottish Parliament.

My job in the Scottish Government is

Minister for Social Care, Mental Wellbeing and Sport

This document was written in March 2024.

The person who did this job before me was Kevin Stewart MSP.

He said there would be an Independent Review of Inspection, Scrutiny and Regulation (IRISR) of social care in Scotland in September 2022.

A review is when something is looked at to see if it is working well and what needs to change.

Inspection and scrutiny are both ways of looking closely at something.

Regulations are rules.

Social care is services that support people with daily living so they can be as independent as possible.

The way we do inspections and the rules about inspections have been the same for 20 years.

Social care services have changed a lot in that time.

The IRISR was started to make sure that inspection, scrutiny and rules:

• work well
• protect human rights
• are person-centred - listen to what a person wants and needs and has them at the centre of decisions that are made about their care

The IRISR made 38 recommendations.

A recommendation is what they think should happen to make things better.

We must make sure there are ways to:

• improve the ways we do inspections
• improve the rules about inspections

Improve means to make it better.

• make sure regulators work together to make inspection work better

Regulators are the people and organisations that make the rules.

• check which social care services need an inspection

I would like to thank Dame Sue Bruce and her team for doing the review.

I have looked carefully at the recommendations before telling Parliament what will happen next.

I accept all 38 recommendations.

I know that a lot of work to make the recommendations happen is taking place and this work must carry on, with organisations working together.

Our regulators make sure we have high standards of social care services.

Regulators are the people and organisations that make the rules.

I would like to thank our regulators for:

• for the work they do
• for being positive about the recommendations

Recommendation 8 is a co-produced registration scheme for Personal Assistants (PAs).

Co-production means everyone taking part in the way something is planned and put together has an equal level of power.

Everyone's view is important and everyone helps to make decisions.

A registration scheme is a list of people who have signed up to join it.

Personal assistants could join a new registration scheme.

The PA Programme Board offer advice to me about how to make sure personal assistants are seen as members of the social care workforce.

The PA Programme Board work plan includes work:

• on the PA National Training Framework
• on the PA Direct Payment Model Agreement Standard
• with Disclosure Scotland

I support the work plan.

I will not decide if more work is needed to make recommendation 8 happen, until the work with Disclosure Scotland and the PA Programme Board work plan has happened.

The Scottish Government will work on the recommendations with:

• regulators
• providers
• partner organisations
• with people with experience of getting social care services

I know that social care services are having to deal with a lot of difficult things.

The work on the recommendations will make services better.

The work must not place extra responsibilities on:

• regulators
• commissioners
• organisations that provide social care services
• staff in social care services

We need the work on the recommendations to happen in stages so the work can be delivered in the same way the IRISR wants.

New workstreams

Workstreams are ways to divide up the work in a large project.

To build on the work that is already happening, 2 new workstreams will start for Recommendations 15 and 33.

Recommendation 15 is a review of the types of care services and definitions in a law called the Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act 2010

A definition explains what something means.

The review will check if the types and definitions of care services are still right and will:

• try and stop the same work being done again when it does not need to be
• make it easier for staff to work across different services
• support rules to be extended to other social care services in the future

Recommendation 33 is a review of the Health and Social Care Standards

This will make sure the Standards:

• are based on human rights

• include ethical commissioning – this means following the rules about what is right and wrong when choosing which services are needed and putting them in place

• focus on the way we want something to turn out

As we are starting a National Care Service, it is more important than ever that standards are designed, delivered and checked in a way that makes health and social care services better for everyone.

I know that people who use, work and deliver social care services want change.

I have accepted these recommendations.

I am confident we can work in partnership with other organisations:

• to do to the work the review said needed to be done

• to make social care services better by:
  • improving the ways we do inspections
  • improving the rules about inspections