National Care Service: questions and answers - engagement sessions

Third Sector

The Bill has no mention of the interface between care boards and the third sector. This is an important part of health and social care. Why were they omitted?

• The Bill makes some provisions in relation to care boards, including the need for public consultation on Strategic plans and ethical commissioning strategies but provides for the care boards to be fully established via secondary legislation, which can only be brought forward once the Bill has been passed.
• It sets out a framework for the changes we want to make and gives Scottish Ministers powers to work through the detail, through a co-design process with unpaid carers, people who access support and those who provide it.
• We're already engaged with Coalition of Care and Support Providers in Scotland (CCPS) as a large representative of third sector providers of social care services and many providers have already engaged with the consultation processes, including organised events and the formal written consultation. We expect to launch the co-design process imminently and are still considering the best way to further involve the wide range of organisations, including third sector organisations who have an interest in the development of the National Care Service, in the design process.

How does the Bill consider the key role of the third sector and community-based support?

• The Bill provides for the current models of securing care services to be replaced by a model of ethical commissioning and ethical procurement.
• The National Care Service will design and deliver its services locally to ensure individual needs and local circumstances are taken in account. This will include continuing to work with specialist charity and third sector providers of care services.
• Ministers also intend to use the Bill to grant the National Care Service powers to reserve some procurement exercises to third sector organisations.
• There are a range of issues matters in relation to the National Care Service local care boards that will need to be explored as part of the co-design and further stakeholder engagement process including Board Membership, ethical commissioning and strategic planning all of which will likely consider the key role of the third sector.

Also, how do we ensure that financial support for the third sector is long-term, not short-term?

• Ethical commissioning and ethical procurement will become a cornerstone that the National Care Service will use to shape all commissioning and procurement decision making, including commissioning of third sector services.
• We are in the process of setting up a working group with key stakeholders to consider improvements that could be made to the current commissioning process and areas of good practice which could be developed.
• The National Care Service Program includes a 'Market Shaping' work stream. This project will deliver tools and techniques for securing services through contracts, grants, and alliances that are financially sustainable and that meet the needs of people receiving care and the people delivering care. Market Shaping tools and techniques will be designed with third and private sector providers of social care, commissioners, procurement experts and other stakeholders. It will consider how to improve the financial sustainability of current services, and how services that not currently offered by the market can be designed and secured in ways that providers are able to deliver.