Scottish Churches Parliamentary Office, Edinburgh - Briefing Document Fifteen

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Parliamentary Officer:Rev Graham Blount
Phone:
0131 558 8137

Briefing Document No 15 - Page 1 of 4

Regulation of Care

The Regulation of Care (Scotland) Bill - introduced on 20 December 2000 as part of the Scottish Executive's drive to improve the protection of children and vulnerable adults - is intended to modernise and standardise the regulation of care services in Scotland. (The term "care services" covers care homes for adults, residential care for children, children's early education, day care and childminding, agencies providing care at home, nurse agencies, independent health-care services, day care services for adults, housing support services, care and welfare in boarding schools and school hostels and in accommodation for offenders.)

The main provisions of the Bill are to establish two new independent bodies

(a) the Scottish Commission for the Regulation of Care ("The Commission"), which will regulate care services in Scotland; the Commission will undertake the registration and inspection of care services against a set of national care standards (as published by the Scottish Ministers) and the taking of any enforcement action; and
(b) the Scottish Social Services Council ("The Council"), which will regulate social service workers, and promote and regulate their education and training.

Both will be non-departmental public bodies, independent in their day-to-day running but accountable to Scottish Ministers. They must act in accordance with directions given to them by Ministers. Each will consist of a Convener and other members to be appointed by Scottish Ministers. Those appointed will be a mixture of people who use or are eligible to use care services, those who provide care services, those employed in care service provision and local authorities who do not themselves provide care services but make arrangements for the provision of such services. The Commission is scheduled to take on responsibility for regulating those services regulated at present on 1 April 2002, and the remaining services as soon as possible after that, probably in April 2003. It is intended that the Council will assume its responsibilities in October 2001. Initially, both bodies will be funded wholly through grants given by the Scottish Ministers. It is anticipated though that once the two bodies assume their functions, they will be able to meet their own costs through the charging of registration fees.

The Commission's functions

The Commission has a general duty of promoting and improving the quality of care services in Scotland through inspection and registration

1. Registration of care service providers
The Commission will establish a register of all care service providers. For the first time, all local authority care services will be required to register and to meet the same standards as independent sector providers. Registration will only be granted if the Commission is satisfied that the applicant has demonstrated that they have complied with or will comply with the relevant standards and other requirements.