Social care - Practitioner and Stakeholder Panel minutes: February 2023

Attendees and apologies

Chair of the meeting

• Stuart Currie (Vice Chair, Independent Review of Inspection, Scrutiny and Regulation IRISR)

Practitioner and Stakeholder Panel members (the panel)

• Adoption UK
• Care Home Relatives Group 
• Carer Centres Managers Network
• Coalition of Care and Support Providers (CCPS) 
• Community Justice Scotland
• COSLA
• Inclusion Scotland
• National Day Nurseries Association
• People Led Policy Panel – 1 representative present
• Queens Nursing Institute Scotland 
• SACRO
• Scottish Families Affected by Alcohol and Drugs
• Social Work Scotland
• STUC
• The Health and Social Care Alliance (The Alliance)
• The Royal College of Nursing Scotland 

Scottish Government personnel and secretariat 

• Kerry Brooks
• Arlene Crockett
• Daniel Nagy 

Apologies 

• British Association of Social Workers
• CELCIS
• Coalition of Carers in Scotland
• Scottish Care
• Self-Directed Support Scotland 
• Shelter Scotland
• The Scottish Young Carers Services Alliance Network 

Items and actions

Approval of minutes from January meeting

The panel approved the previous minutes and agreed for them to be published on the IRISR website.

Actions from last meeting

The secretariat organised a meeting focusing on Personal Assistants which was attended by the Vice Chair, panel members and other colleagues.

The secretariat has sent invitations to all panel members to attend the networking lunch on 14 March, which takes place before the next panel meeting.

As a way of updating panel members on a previous query, the secretariat noted that work around payment for panel members with lived experience was ongoing.

Panel discussion – theme 3 - how should inspection scrutiny and regulation be carried out?

A discussion took place about theme 3 with panel members sharing their experience and expertise.

The panel considered who should be involved in inspection, scrutiny and regulation. Representation of people receiving social care support and those who work in social care was emphasised, as well as the involvement of a more diverse range of people and especially individuals with lived and living experience of social care support.

The panel discussed current complaints and redress procedures in various types of social care services. The panel agreed that to sufficiently support people who use social care support services and their families, a positive and supportive culture amongst regulatory bodies was essential.

The panel debated the question of whether inspection should be the responsibility of a single body. Points about expert knowledge, requirements of the sector and application of various standards were raised.

The panel agreed that improvement should focus on outcomes for supported people but that due to the diverse nature of social care support, outcomes meant different things for different people. In addition, embedding continuous improvement in a system would lead to more streamlined processes which would benefit people who use social care support services and the workforce.

The panel discussed current regulation and inspection processes. Points about duplication, resources, feedback and self-evaluation were raised.

Any other business

The Vice Chair noted that the networking lunch event on 14 March will be a good opportunity for the two panels to come together, and asked panel members to respond to the invitation before the end of the week.

Next meeting

The next panel meeting will take place on: Tuesday 14 March (2pm – 4pm) at COSLA (19 Haymarket Yards, Edinburgh EH12 5BH) and via Teams.