MSPs say they are in the dark over children's services
No clear view can be formed as to whether children’s services should be included under any future National Care Service, due to lack of information from the Scottish Government, a committee of MSPs has reported.
Holyrood's Education, Children & Young People Committee has voiced its dissatisfaction at the lack of information about proposals for children’s health and social care services as it scrutinised the relevant provisions of the National Care Service (Scotland) Bill at stage 1.
The MSPs express concern that much of the detail of any future transfer of children’s services to the National Care Service would be delegated to ministers, preventing the Parliament from carrying out thorough scrutiny of any changes. Furthermore, the committee was told that research designed to help inform a decision about whether to include children’s services will not be ready until September 2023.
They also note the lack of information regarding the financial implications, and urge the Government to model the cost of different scenarios where children’s services are included and excluded from a National Care Service.
"Whilst the committee welcomes the bill's commitment to human rights and co-design", the report concludes, "it is, however, deeply dissatisfying that critical research and detailed financial information was not available for scrutiny prior to the end of stage 1. The committee believes that much of this groundwork could – and should – have been taken before the bill was brought forward, to provide the same clear steer as has been provided for adult services by the Feeley review."
It is firmly of the view that "regardless of where children's services sit in future, there is a clear need for improvement", but notes the evidence that structural change in and of itself will not guarantee the improvements sought. It heard "strong evidence that leadership, culture and strong relationships between teams are crucial to delivering effective integration. Should the bill proceed, careful thought will need to be given as to how to ensure those elements are captured when designing services for children and young people in future so that the policy intention is delivered".
In addition, the report calls on the Government to clarify its plans for letting young people design services at the earliest stages of work to create a National Care Service. With a large number of children and young people receiving health and social care support, the MSPs agreed that it would be helpful to know how the Government plans to engage meaningfully with them.
Committee convener Sue Webber MSP commented: "The feedback we had has told us that there is not currently enough information about the bill’s impact on children’s health and social care services for us to form a view about whether this is the right approach for children and young people.
"However, we did hear significant concerns about the way in which these services are operating at present. Therefore, our report asks the Scottish Government to ensure that work on this bill does not delay the improvements that are needed to children’s services now. Children and young people need to be at the very heart of those discussions."
The report will be shared with the Health, Sport & Social Care Committee, which is leading the Parliament’s scrutiny of the bill.