Social care - Independent Review of Inspection, Scrutiny and Regulation: call for evidence analysis

Executive Summary

Independent Review of Inspection, Scrutiny, & Regulation (IRISR) Call for Evidence

In September 2022 the Scottish Government announced an Independent Review of Inspection, Scrutiny, and Regulation (IRISR). Dame Sue Bruce was appointed as the Chair of the IRISR with Mr Stuart Currie as the Vice Chair.

The Chair of the IRISR stated her commitment to stakeholder engagement as part of the review, including the inclusion of those with lived and living experience. The programme for stakeholder engagement took place between October 2022 and January 2023 and involved two key elements: a call for evidence and a series of stakeholder engagement events (referred to as 'events' throughout this report). Both elements of the programme focused on five key themes.

In total, there were 100 responses to the call for evidence, 60 were from organisations and 40 from individuals. A total of 20 in person and virtual events were led by the Vice Chair; seven of which were held in-person across Scotland. The remaining 13 events were held online. Across the events, there were a total of 130 representatives of organisations and 19 individuals who attended.

This chapter of the report provides a summary of key issues that emerged across the programme for stakeholder engagement. The main chapters of the report contain more detail.

A number of key themes were evident across the call for evidence and events as well as across respondent groups. In many instances, the same issues were raised by respondents across each of the five themes under consideration. A list of all the questions asked is provided in Appendix 2.