National Care Service: Justice Social Work research

Appendix A – Discussion guides

A.1. Discussion guide for JSW professionals:

Introduction (5 mins)

• Introduce self and Ipsos
• Check in with how they are. Is now still an OK time to speak to us?
• Introduce the research and its aims: The Scottish Government has commissioned Ipsos, working with Professor Beth Weaver, to undertake research on the strengths and weakness of current and possible future models of organisation and delivery of JSW in Scotland. It aims to provide robust evidence to inform decisions around the potential inclusion of JSW in the National Care Service, but also to provide wider evidence on current strengths, weaknesses, challenges and opportunities for improvement.
• The research will include:
  • A literature review, conducted by Professor Weaver, looking at existing evidence on strengths and weaknesses of JSW provision in Scotland, and on different models of delivery across the UK and further afield and how these shape practice and outcomes.
  • Qualitative research in four case study areas, including interviews with:
    • Professionals, focusing particularly on JSW (managers, team leaders, social workers/para-professionals), but also including Community Justice Coordinators or CJP leads and other key partners for JSW
    • Service users – intention is to hold a small group discussion in each case study area.
• Discuss anonymity and confidentiality
  • If we use quotes in the report, they will be anonymous, but will know which LAs were included
  • BUT given small number of people in specific roles, it can be difficult to offer concrete guarantees of confidentiality to professional interviewees. Given this, if there is anything you mention during the interview that you would rather wasn’t quoted or referred to directly, then just let me know. I’ll check back with you about this at the end.
  • Remind participants of confidentiality within the group.
• Remind participant that they don’t have to answer any questions they don’t want to answer, and that they are welcome to stop the interview at any time.
• Group will last around 90 mins.
• Request permission to record – this in case my notes are unclear and I need to go back and check anything. The recording will not be shared with anyone outside the research team and will be securely deleted after the research is complete.
• Any questions before we start?

Intro and permission to record (5 mins)

Aim: to clarify their role (title, team) and get consent to record

• To start off with, please could you very briefly introduce yourself, your team and job title, and confirm that you are happy to be recorded for Ipsos to listen back to
  • Go round the room and pick people in turn

Current organisational context (10 mins)

Aim: To understand/check our understanding of how JSW is currently structured locally. Some questions may be more or less relevant depending on level of interviewee. For social workers and team leaders, want to understand where sit within wider local structures.

• Before we get onto discussing your views on strengths and challenges of current JSW delivery, I just wanted to get a bit more info on your current organisational structure and context, so I can make sure I understand this.
• Where is your team based and who else, if anyone, works out of that location, including other social work teams or other services? (we want to know if they’re co-located with other services, so probe on this specifically) (again, go round room in turn, but briefly)
• Key question: For those co-located - probe around impact of co-location – positives and negatives, e.g., helping service users access services, information sharing, etc.

Questions for operational / service managers only:

• Can you describe the wider JSW structure in your area?
  • Where does JSW ‘sit’ in your local structure i.e. on its own, with health, with education, with C&F SW, etc.?
    • Is this same or different as where Children & Families and Adult social work sit? How well does that work? Benefits/challenges?
  • If not already clear , check with service managers/op managers: Who is responsible for JSW overall? What is their job title and profession? Where do they sit in local authority / Integrated Joint Board?

Key perceived strengths and weaknesses of JSW (locally and nationally) (40 mins)

Aim: to understand perceptions of the strengths and weaknesses of JSW, both in their local area and more widely across Scotland, and what these strengths and weaknesses depend on.

Key question: What do you see as the key strengths of current delivery of JSW in your area?

• Why do you see this as a strength?
• What contributes to this being strong in your area?

Key question: What do you see as the key weaknesses, issues, challenges or areas for improvement for current delivery of JSW in your area?

• Why do you see this as an area for improvement?
• What contributes to this being challenging in your area?

If not mentioned, probe on whether see each of the following as a strength or a weakness locally and why (listed in priority order, with key areas to make sure you probe on if not already mentioned highlighted):

• KEY: Outcomes for service users – which outcomes are they delivering particularly well / less well on? For which specific groups of service users?
• KEY: Professional identity – do they feel JSWs have a clear / strong professional identity or not? What contributes to this?
  • How would they describe their professional identity?
  • Where do they see themselves as ‘fitting’ professionally as a JSW? (e.g. social worker first, justice professional first, or both/something else?)
  • How do they feel they are perceived by other professions? (e.g. Courts, Parole, Health, Addictions etc.)
• Key question : Partner relationships / joint working – where are these strong/weak locally?
  • Who do you see as the key partners/agencies/organisations JSW needs to work with to deliver its aims in your area?
  • Which partnerships are currently particularly strong locally? Which deliver good outcomes for service users?
  • Which partnerships could be improved / what are the areas could partnership working be stronger?
  • What currently helps to support good partnership working locally? What hinders it?
  • How far do they currently work with statutory and third sector partners outside immediate local authority?
    • What support / hinders working across LA boundaries?
  • If not mentioned, and if time, probe specifically on whether / how they work in partnership with:
    • Other social work teams (Children and Family Social Work; Adult social work);
    • Other local authority services (Housing, Employability);
    • Health-related services (GPs, NHS addiction services, Alcohol and Drug support agencies, Mental Health); 3^rd sector (which services?);
    • Justice agencies (Police, Prisons, Parole Board, Courts, Judiciary; Community Justice Partnership)
• Key question: Strategic direction / leadership locally? Is this a strength or are there specific challenges locally?
  • What about leadership nationally? Who speaks for JSW at a national level? How well or badly does this work at the moment in terms of voice and accountability? Does this have an impact on JSW locally?
• Training and guidance for JSW staff?
• Governance/supervision arrangements?
• Resources / funding arrangements – if in need of improvement – in what way? Staffing Levels? Overall amount of funding vs. how funding is structured?

If time (may already have been covered):

• Culture and values – how would they describe culture and key values of JSW locally? (N.B may have come out under professional identity)
  • How do the culture and values of JSW compare with those of health and social care? (e.g. where are they similar/different?)
• Consistency of services – are the right services consistently available to service users in their area? (N.B. may have come out under partnerships/service user outcomes)
  • If not, where are the gaps, and why?

Key question: How do you think these local strengths and challenges in delivery compare to wider picture across Scotland? (interest in knowing what they know about / how they view what happens outside their LA)

• Are there things you think your area seems to do particularly well?
• In what way? Why do you think your area might be stronger in this regard?
• Are there things where you think other areas may be stronger?
• In what way? Why do you think other areas might be stronger in this regard?
• PROBE on what basing answers on – e.g. discussions with other areas, what have read in news/online, etc.

Possible benefits and challenges of JSW being included, or not included, within the NCS (25 mins)

Aim: to understand how, if at all, they think strengths and weaknesses identified above may be impacted by a) JSW being included in the NCS and b) JSW being outside the NCS. To understand any other perceived implications of the NCS for JSW.

• As you’ll be aware, the Scottish Government has introduced legislation to enable the creation of a National Care Service, following on from the Independent Feely Review of Adult Social Care.

The Bill allows Scottish Ministers to transfer social care responsibility from local authorities to a new, national service with the stated aim of improving the quality and consistency of social services in Scotland. It provides a framework for the setting up of the Service, with the substantive detail to follow.

At the moment, no decision has been taken about whether or not JSW (and Children and Families Social work) will be included in the NCS or not. As you may also be aware, the Scottish Government is also looking at developing a National Social Work Agency within the NCS, with the aim of providing national leadership.

• Key question: What potential benefits do you think there could be from including JSW in the NCS?
  • Could any of the local challenges / areas for improvement you mentioned earlier be helped by this change?
  • Probe re. specific challenges / areas for improvement they mentioned– e.g. partnership working, leadership, etc.
• Key question: What potential challenges do you think there would be around including JSW in the NCS?
  • Could any of the local strengths you mentioned earlier be affected by this change?
  • Probe re. specific strengths improvement they mentioned - e.g. partnership working, leadership, etc.
• Key question : What about if JSW was NOT included in the NCS? What potential benefits do you think there could be from not including JSW in the NCS?
  • Could any of the local challenges / areas for improvement you mentioned earlier be helped by this?
  • PROBE re. specific challenges / areas for improvement they mentioned– e.g. partnership working, leadership, etc.
• Key question: What potential challenges do you think there would be around not including JSW in the NCS?
  • Could any of the local strengths you mentioned earlier be affected by this?
  • PROBE re. specific strengths improvement they mentioned - e.g. partnership working, leadership, etc.
  • What if C&F and ASC are inside the NCS and JSW was outside it?
• Key question:: What areas would you need more detail on in order to assess the possible impacts of JSW being included in the NCS or not?
  • Probe fully – want to understand what issues they think need to be addressed in developing more detailed options for future of JSW
  • What questions do they have about how it would work?

Wider views on the future of JSW delivery (10 mins)

Aim: to understand wider factors in terms of structural change for JSW

Key question: What difference, if any, has integration of Health and Social Care into a HSCP made to JSW in your area?

• How has it impacted on the strengths and challenges you’ve described? (probe for both areas where JSW is devolved to IA, and areas where remains in LA)
• (For team leaders / operational/service managers where jsw is within HSCP) – In context of thinking about potential future changes to the structure JSW sits within, we’re interested in your reflections on the process of moving JSW into the HSCP. What helped with the transition? What were the challenges?
• Do you have any other thoughts on how the operation of JSW in Scotland might be improved in the future?
  • What actions could be taken now and by whom?
  • What are other possible ways of strengthening services in the longer term?
• Finally, based on your experience, do you think there is an optimal structure for the delivery of JSW in Scotland?
  • IF YES - what would it look like and why?
  • If necessary, prompt on different options: remain the same; incorporate in NCS; single JSW national agency model; local model with co-location with other services?

Thank you and ending interview (2 mins)

• Is there anything else you would like to raise about the things we’ve discussed today?
• Do you have any questions about the research?
• Are you happy to be quoted anonymously in any reports? Note any concerns/anything don’t want to be quoted on in notes.

A.2. Discussion guide for wider professional partners:

Introduction (3 mins)

• Introduce self and Ipsos
• Check in with how they are. Is now still an OK time to speak to us?
• Introduce the research and its aims: The Scottish Government has commissioned Ipsos, working with Professor Beth Weaver, to undertake research on the strengths and weakness of current and possible future models of organisation and delivery of JSW in Scotland. It aims to provide robust evidence to inform decisions around the potential inclusion of JSW in the National Care Service, but also to provide wider evidence on current strengths, weaknesses, challenges and opportunities for improvement.
• The research will include:
  • A literature review, conducted by Professor Weaver, looking at existing evidence on strengths and weaknesses of JSW provision in Scotland, and on different models of delivery across the UK and further afield and how these shape practice and outcomes.
  • Qualitative research in case study areas, including interviews with:
    • Professionals, focusing particularly on JSW (managers, team leaders, social workers), but also including other key partners for JSW – including themselves.
    • Service users – intention is to hold a small group discussion in each case study area.
• Discuss anonymity and confidentiality
  • If we use quotes in the report, they will be anonymous, but will know which LAs were included
  • BUT given small number of people in specific roles, it can be difficult to offer concrete guarantees of confidentiality to professional interviewees. Given this, if there is anything you mention during the interview that you would rather wasn’t quoted or referred to directly, then just let me know. I’ll check back with you about this at the end.
• Remind participant that they don’t have to answer any questions they don’t want to answer, and that they are welcome to stop the interview at any time.
• Interview will probably last around 45-60 minutes.
• Request permission to record – this in case my notes are unclear and I need to go back and check anything. The recording will not be shared with anyone outside the research team and will be securely deleted after the research is complete.
• Any questions before we start?
• At start of recording – I just need to confirm for the record that you are giving verbal consent that you are happy to take part in this interview, and happy for the interview to be recorded for Ipsos to listen back to.

Own role and responsibilities (5 mins)

Aim: to clarify their role (title, key responsibilities)

To start off with, tell me a bit about your role and your organisation

• How would you describe your role to someone who didn’t know anything about what you do
• How long have you been in post?

Partnership working / working relationships with JSW (15 mins)

Aim: To understand a) how they work with JSW, b) wider partnership working around justice involved individuals and c) areas for improvement. Some questions may be more or less relevant, depending on role of interviewee.

• Can you describe how you / your organisation work with JSW in your area?
  • How frequently do you have contact with JSW?
  • Is your contact mainly focused on discussing individuals, or do you also have wider discussions / involvement with JSW (e.g. strategic, shared resourcing, etc.)?
  • Do you work with them in person / remotely? How well does this work? How could it be improved?
  • If based in same building – what are the benefits of this? What are the drawbacks?
  • Overall
    • What do you feel works well about your current working relationship with JSW? What supports joint working?
    • What do you feel are the main challenges around your current working relationship with JSW? What hinders joint working?
    • How could joint working with JSW be improved?
    • IF NECESSARY, PROBE AROUND: Leadership (locally/nationally)? Training? Resources? Structure of JSW locally? Structure of their organisation / other partners? Joint planning arrangements?
• Which other justice partners do you work most closely with?
  • What currently helps to support good partnership working in general locally? What hinders it?
  • How far do they currently work with partners outside immediate local authority?
    • What support / hinders working across LA boundaries?
• How do you think the culture and values of JSW compare with the culture and values of your service? Where are they similar? Where are they different?
  • What, if any, difference does this make to joint working?

External partners’ perceptions of JSW (10-15 mins)

Aims: to get their external perspective on strengths and weaknesses of JSW. Depending on role/level, they may feel more or less qualified to comment on this, so adapt questioning/level of probing accordingly.

• From what you know, what do you see as the key strengths of current delivery of JSW in your area?
  • Why do you see this a strength?
  • What contributes to this being strong in your area?
    • IF NECESSARY, PROMPT: is it a result of strong leadership (locally/nationally)? Training? Partnership working? Levels of / access to resources? Organisation of JSW locally? Something else?
• What do you see as the key weaknesses, issues, challenges or areas for improvement for current delivery of JSW in your area?
  • Why do you see this as an area for improvement?
  • What contributes to this being challenging in your area?
    • If necessary, prompt: national/local leadership? Training? Partnership working? Resources? Organisation of JSW locally?
• Outcomes for service users – which outcomes are they delivering particularly well / less well on? For which specific groups of service users?
• Consistency of services – are the right services consistently available to JSW service users in their area?
  • If not, where are the gaps, and why?
• How do you think these local strengths and challenges in delivery compare to wider picture across Scotland?
  • Are there things you think JSW in your area seems to do particularly well?
    • In what way? Why do you think JSW your area might be stronger in this regard?
  • Are there things where you think JSW other areas may be stronger?
    • In what way? Why do you think other areas might be stronger in this regard?
  • Probe on what basing answers on – e.g. experience of working with JSW in other areas, discussions with colleagues in other areas, what have read in news/online, etc.

Possible benefits and challenges of JSW being included, or not included, within the NCS (15 mins)

Aim: to understand their current views of the potential implications, positive and negative, of a) JSW being included in the NCS and b) JSW being outside the NCS. We are interested in perceived impacts on JSW, JSW service users, and on their partners.

• Read out: As you’ll be aware, the Scottish Government has introduced legislation to enable the creation of a National Care Service. The National Care Service Bill followed on from the Independent Review of Adult Social Care (the Feely Review) which recommended reform to create national accountability for social care support.

The Bill allows Scottish Ministers to transfer social care responsibility from local authorities to a new, national service with the stated aim of improving the quality and consistency of social services in Scotland. The Bill provides a framework for the setting up of the Service, with the substantive detail to follow.

At the moment, no decision has been taken about whether or not JSW (and Children and Families Social work) will be included in the NCS or not. As you may also be aware, the Scottish Government is also looking at developing a National Social Work Agency within the NCS, with the aim of providing national leadership.

• What potential benefits do you think there could be from including JSW in the NCS?
  • Could any of the local challenges / areas for improvement you mentioned earlier be helped by this change?
  • What impact might it have for service users?
  • What impact might it have for partnership working with JSW?
• What potential challenges do you think there would be around including JSW in the NCS?
  • Could any of the local challenges / areas for improvement you mentioned earlier be helped by this change?
  • What impact might it have for service users?
  • What impact might it have for partnership working with JSW?
• What about if JSW was NOT included in the NCS? What potential benefits do you think there could be from including JSW in the NCS?
  • Could any of the local challenges / areas for improvement you mentioned earlier be helped by this change?
  • What impact might it have for service users?
  • What impact might it have for partnership working with JSW?
• What potential challenges do you think there would be around not including JSW in the NCS?
  • Could any of the local challenges / areas for improvement you mentioned earlier be helped by this change?
  • What impact might it have for service users?
  • What impact might it have for partnership working with JSW?
• What areas would you need more detail on in order to assess the possible impacts of JSW being included in the NCS or not?
  • Probe fully – want to understand what issues they think need to be addressed in developing more detailed options for future of JSW
  • What questions do they have about how it would work?
• Do you have any other thoughts on how the operation of JSW in Scotland might be improved in the future?
  • Are there any improvements that could be made now and by whom?
  • What are other possible ways of strengthening services in the medium to long term?
• Finally, based on your experience, do you think there is an optimal structure for the delivery of JSW in Scotland? IF YES - what would it look like and why?
  • If necessary, prompt on different options: remain the same; incorporate in NCS; single JSW national agency model; local model with co-location with other services?

Thank you and ending interview (2 mins)

• Is there anything else you would like to raise about the things we’ve discussed today?
• Do you have any questions about the research?
• Are you happy to be quoted anonymously in any reports? Note any concerns/anything don’t want to be quoted on in notes.

A.3. Discussion guide for JSW clients:

Introductions (10 minutes)

• Introduce self and Ipsos – emphasise independence
• Thank them for coming
• Check – did everyone get the project leaflet and have they had chance to read it? If anyone not read, make sure take extra time on intro.
• Introduce the research and its aims: The Scottish Government is thinking about how best to organise Justice Social Work in the future. They want this to be informed by understanding how it is working at the moment – what works well, what works less well? They’ve asked us to do research on this. We’re speaking to people in different areas of Scotland, including Justice Social Workers and other professionals they work with. But the views of people involved in these services are really critical to understanding what works and what doesn’t – that’s where you come in. Views will be fed back (anonymously) to the Scottish Government so that they, and others, can think about how to improve JSW in the future.
• How this will work:
  • Four questions. Will spend about 15 minutes on each question – start by thinking about / jotting down ideas (post-its on tables), then we’ll chat through them (if you’d rather not write things down you can just tell me what you’d like to add from start)
  • At end, I’ll summarise what I think were the most important points – and you can let me know if this seems right
  • Will probably take around an hour
  • We’ll write a report for Scottish Government on what we find from across all the groups and the interviews with Justice Social Work and others. This will help inform their thinking about future options for Justice Social Work.
• Voluntary nature of participation / scope of discussion
  • Taking part is completely voluntary. If you’d rather not take part / prefer not to answer particular questions, that’s totally fine.
  • Focus of discussion is on your views and experiences of working with Justice Social Work.
  • You don’t need to share anything about why you are working with Justice Social Work
• Discuss anonymity and confidentiality
  • Everything you say today will be confidential – only exception to this is if someone tells us something that makes us concerned you, or someone else, is at risk of harm. If that happened, and it was something you weren’t already getting support with, we might need to share it with someone else.
  • Other than that, we won’t tell anyone else what you said in a way that could identify you, and won’t include any names in the report – feedback is all anonymous, so you can be open and honest.
  • We’d ask that you also respect each other’s confidentiality – please don’t share anything that’s discussed outside this room.
• Check whether happy to record – this is in case our notes are unclear and we need to go back and check anything. The recording will not be shared with anyone outside the research team and will be securely deleted after the research is complete. If anyone is not happy with being recorded, that’s fine, we can just take notes – just let us know before we start.
• Hand out consent forms and ask them to initial each box, if they are happy a) to take part, b) to be recorded, c) to be anonymously quoted.
  • Suggest reading the consent form options out to avoid any literacy issues
  • Then collect in and confirm everyone happy with recording before switching recorder on.
• Any questions before we start?
• Go round table and ask people to introduce themselves – first name, area they stay in just now, and their favourite film / TV programme.

Four questions:

1. What would you say Justice Social Work do well? What are they good at?

2. What would you say Justice Social Work don’t do very well?

3. If you were talking to someone about possible changes to Justice Social Work in the future, what are the top three things you would tell them they need to keep about how Justice Social Work works with people just now?

4. What are the top three things you would want to change about Justice Social Work?

Instructions to moderator:

• Take each question in turn – 10-15 mins on each.
• Give participants a couple of minutes to write down initial thoughts and stick them up on the flip chart sheet (or they can just call them out and you can write them up)
• Then read them out and probe for detail

Possible extra probes:

• What are some examples of things that your Justice Social Worker/Supervisor has done that have most helped you?
  • What was it (specifically) that they did that helped most?
  • How did it help?
• What difference, if any, did being involved with Justice Social Work make to your lives / what difference is it making?
• Are there any areas where you would have liked more help from Justice Social Work?
  • Are these things you’ve discussed with your Social Worker/Supervisor? What did they say about this?
• What did you expect working with Justice Social Work to be like when you first started seeing them? How did this compare to what it was like in practice?
• What particular times have you felt more or less well supported by Justice Social Work?
  • When?
  • Why – what made you feel more/less supported at this stage?
  • What would you have liked to happen instead?
• What did you expect the support to be like? And what was it actually like?
• How does it compare to any support you get or have had from elsewhere?
• Have Justice Social Work linked you with other services?
  • Which ones?
  • How helpful was this for you?
  • Are there other services you would have liked to be linked up with?
  • Did you discuss this with your Justice Social Worker? What did they say about this?
• Do you think Justice Social Workers are more similar to other justice workers (e.g the police) or other social workers?
  • E.g. are they social workers first; justice workers second? (or vice versa?)

At end of discussion:

• Is there anything else you would like to raise about the things we’ve discussed today?
• Do you have any other questions about the research?

Thank and close

• Thank everyone for coming
• Reminder about confidentiality – from us and from them for each other
• Reminder that next steps will be to write a report for the Scottish Government about how Justice Social Work is working across Scotland – it may be helpful at this stage to clarify/remind participants that their feedback will not lead to their JSW making any changes to the service they’re currently receiving.
• Hand out copies of project leaflet and remind them they can get in touch if any further comments/questions. If you have already given out the leaflet: Remind participants about this and that our contact information is on there.