Strategic Public Social Partnership model: report

1. Introduction

This report ^[1] presents findings of the research commissioned by the Scottish Government Third Sector Unit to explore the progress, to date, of the Strategic Public Social Partnership ( PSP) model in Scotland. In order to assess the progress of the model, we have carried out a realist evaluation (for a full description of the methodology see Appendix 1) and have sought to contextualise the Scottish model within current academic debates around co-production, and to provide a review of alternative PSP models being delivered internationally and elsewhere in the UK (see Appendix 2 for a full description of the models reviewed).

Realist evaluation has been chosen as the approach best suited to address the aims and objectives of this research: to explore the progress of the Strategic PSP model in Scotland and advise on future investment relating to this (for a summary of the methods see Table 1). Realist evaluation emphasises the role of context and plurality of perspectives in shaping the outcomes of a programme, and is used to identify patterns, generative mechanisms and contextual conditions – whathappens, how it happens, and in what context it happens - which can then help to assess what works, for whom, and in which circumstances (Blackwood et al., 2010; Pawson, 2013; Pawson et al. 2012; Pawson et al. 1997).

Table 1 – Summary of methods of data collection used

Note: SPSP (Strategic Public Social Partnership)

Following this introductory section, the structure of this report is as follows:

• Section two presents the findings of the scoping review of the literature and international alternative PSP models. The diversity of co-production models has given form to numerous experiments across Europe and further afield. Within the context of this report, we can only provide a brief overview of the diversity of examples to be found. However, we have attempted to reflect upon the successes and challenges faced by each ^[2] .
• Section three focuses on the results of the assessment of the progress to date of the Strategic PSP model. Finally, section four concludes the report by discussing the lessons learned, on the basis of which, considerations for future developments are proposed.