Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act 2010: Section 112(1): Guidance on Duty of User Focus for Listed Scrutiny Authorities

ANNEX B BENEFITS OF CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT IN USER FOCUS

1 - For users:

(a) More opportunities to become involved in all aspects of scrutiny, for example involvement in the governance of listed authorities and in helping to design and carry out scrutiny activities;

(b) Scrutiny which takes more account of the user voice and is likely to be more effective, provide greater public assurance and be more likely to lead to service improvement through being influenced by user experience and views;

(c) Reports which are more accessible and easy to understand;

(d) Opportunities to feed into forums to comment on whether reports are comprehensible and fit for purpose;

(e) Clear evidence in Annual Reports or by other means of how listed authorities have engaged users in their activities.

2 - For scrutinised services and organisations:

(a) External scrutiny which is more proportionate and better targeted on the services areas which mean most to the service user;

(b) Listed authorities mirroring the imperative which key scrutinised services already have to involve users in the planning, delivery and evaluation of services;

(c) More support and encouragement from listed authorities to include the service user perspective in all their improvement activities;

(d) Greater coordination and consistency in how services are marked or graded by different listed authorities - leading to a more easily understood scrutiny system.