Joint Improvement Team and Scottish Procurement Directorate
Social Care Procurement Programme
Newsletter 3 - May 2010
The Joint Improvement Team (JIT) and Scottish Government’s Procurement Directorate (SPD) are jointly leading the preparation of guidance and good practice materials on social care procurement. This third newsletter follows the conclusion of the three-month consultation period on the draft guidance.
Guidance Consultation
The consultation guidance material consisted of a draft version of the full guidance, a shorter version highlighting the references to service user and carer involvement, and an easy read report and presentation (jointly written with the Learning Disability Alliance). All of the material was a product of nine months of work, which had included: separate surveys of the experiences and views of local authorities and service providers; separate meetings with council staff and service providers in seven areas; meetings with service users and carers; two sessions with the ADSW Contracts Group; a meeting with Council legal officers; and two meetings of the Reference Group.
A wide range of detailed responses have been received from all of the key interests, and service user groups: adults; children and families; and criminal justice services.
|
Consultation Responses |
|
|
|
|
|
Voluntary Provider |
27 |
|
Local Authority |
22 |
|
Service User Organisation |
12 |
|
National Agency |
9 |
|
Provider Organisation |
6 |
|
Housing Association |
5 |
|
Trade Union |
2 |
|
NHS Board |
2 |
|
Carer + Carer Organisation |
2 |
|
Private Provider |
1 |
|
Advocacy Organisation |
1 |
|
TOTAL |
89 |
Whilst the majority of the responses welcomed the guidance, or certain aspects of it, there was a considerable number and variety of suggested changes and improvements. Many suggested that the draft was too long, whilst going on to identify issues which should be discussed in more detail in the guidance! Many responses suggested that the final guidance should include good practice examples. Concerns were expressed about the implementation of the guidance and the resourcing for it.
Current Work
The task of linking all of the detailed comments to the relevant part of the draft guidance has now been completed. Work is now under way to consider whether and how to finalise the guidance in relation to each of the comments. Where permission has been given, guidance responses will be published, alongside a report which indicates how the final guidance has made use of those comments.
It was clear from the survey responses and local meetings last year that there is a general concern to learn from good practice examples. To date, eight local authorities and one service provider have returned examples of what they have assessed as being good practice. We are considering if this material should be included in the final guidance; we also intend to make this practice information available online, so that contact can be made with local staff for fuller details. The guidance responses have provided a further source of references to good practice experience, and we plan to contact respondents for further information about the practice they have identified.
The publication of the final guidance is generally being seen as an important step. However, it is also clear that, consideration will need to be given to a further programme of improvement work, such as the development of benchmark costs against standards and evaluation toolkits and further consideration of service user/carer involvement and the implications of self-directed support.
Next Steps
The SPD-JIT programme team is now working to finalise the guidance, taking account of all of the responses received. We intend to circulate the final guidance in the first half of June for consideration by Cosla and the other bodies represented on the Reference Group and to seek their endorsement at a meeting of the Reference Group in the second half of June. At that meeting, we also intend to discuss arrangements for publication of the guidance and good practice information and to seek views on the ongoing work programme.
Further Information
Papers from the work completed so far, such as the draft guidance, easy read presentation, and the reports of the surveys and local meetings can be accessed on the JIT website: http://www.jitscotland.org.uk/action-areas/commissioning/procurement/