Directions from integration authorities to health boards and local authorities: guidance

Introduction - the wider context for directions

1.1 The Public Bodies (Joint Working) (Scotland) Act 2014 (the Act) places a duty on Integration Authorities to develop a "strategic plan" (also known as a strategic commissioning plan) for integrated functions and budgets under their control.

1.2 Each Integration Authority must produce a strategic commissioning plan that sets out how they will plan and deliver services for their area over the medium term, using the integrated budgets under their control. Stakeholders must be fully engaged in the preparation, publication and review of the strategic commissioning plan, in order to establish a meaningful co-productive approach, to enable Integration Authorities to deliver the national outcomes for health and wellbeing, and achieve the core aims of integration.

1.3 Integration Authorities require a mechanism to action their strategic commissioning plans, and this is laid out in sections 26 to 28 of the Act. This mechanism takes the form of binding^[1] directions from the Integration Authority to one or both of the Health Board and Local Authority.

1.4 In the case of an Integration Joint Board (IJB), a direction must be given in respect of every function that has been delegated to the IJB^[2]. Where the lead agency model is used, the Integration Authority may issue directions or may carry out functions itself.

1.5 In either case, a direction must set out how each integrated health and social care function is to be exercised, and the budget associated with that.