Carers strategic policy statement: consultation

Annex: Consultation on Draft Carers Strategic Policy Statement

Executive Summary

The Carers Strategic Policy Statement is intended to assist local and national strategic planning and policy development in the statutory, independent and third sector to understand the existing national policies and approaches in place to support unpaid carers in Scotland. By having this "map" of national carer support policies and strategies, those who have a role in commissioning or the provision of support for carers can make fully informed decisions about different approaches and models, and tap into existing opportunities.

The draft puts the individual carer in the centre and focuses on national policies to address four different aspects of carer support:

• Carer Voice and Engagement
• Health and Social Care Support
• Social and Financial Inclusion
• Young Carers

Why we are consulting?

The Carers Strategic Policy Statement is intended to maximise the benefits from national policies and approaches intended to support carers (including major ongoing reforms such as implementation of the Carers (Scotland) Act and the development of our new social security powers for carers). It aims to do this by connecting a wide range of existing policies.

The draft Statement has been developed following intensive informal engagement with stakeholders. We want to ensure it covers the right information and is presented in a way which will be genuinely useful to its intended audience. We are consulting formally on the draft document to test that it achieves these aims.

The responses to the consultation will be analysed and the results will be used to help ensure the Carers Strategic Policy Statement covers the right information and is presented in a way which will be genuinely useful to its intended audience.

This consultation is open for a period of 12 weeks. (30/09/2019 – 13/12/2019)

We invite your views to each of the questions below.

Consultation on Draft Carers Strategic Policy Statement

Overall document

Question 1

The Carers Strategic Policy Statement aims to map the main policies across the Scottish Government which are relevant to carers; and set out the overall approach and outcomes these policies contribute towards. Do you agree that the draft achieves this?

• Strongly agree
• Agree
• Neither agree nor disagree
• Disagree
• Strongly disagree

Please provide reasons for your response.

Question 2

The Carers Strategic Policy Statement is intended to inform strategic planning and policy development for local and national organisations working with carers. If you represent such an organisation, does the draft provide valuable information for that purpose?

• Strongly agree
• Agree
• Neither agree nor disagree
• Disagree
• Strongly disagree
• Don't represent an organisation working with carers

Please provide reasons for your response.

Consultation on Draft Carers Strategic Policy Statement

Chapter 1 – Introduction

Question 3

Do you agree with the vision and principles as proposed in the strategic framework?

• Strongly agree
• Agree
• Neither agree nor disagree
• Disagree
• Strongly disagree

Please provide reasons for your response.

Chapter 2 - Carer Voice and Engagement

Question 4

Do you agree with the proposed strategic outcome:

"Carers voices are heard and their views and experiences are taken into account in decisions which affect them?"

• Strongly agree
• Agree
• Neither agree nor disagree
• Disagree
• Strongly disagree

Please provide reasons for your response.

Question 5

We want this document to be helpful and concise. Do you agree that this chapter provides enough information about the most important issues about carer voice and engagement?

• Too much information
• About right
• Not enough information

Please explain your answer if you have suggestions for improvements.

Consultation on Draft Carers Strategic Policy Statement

Chapter 3- Health and Social care support

Question 6

The proposed strategic outcome is one of the "National Health and Wellbeing Outcomes" set in legislation to guide the integration of health and social care:

"People who provide unpaid care are supported to look after their own health and wellbeing, including to reduce any negative impact of their caring role on their own health and wellbeing?"

Do you agree with our proposed approach of using the same outcome for this document?

• Strongly agree
• Agree
• Neither agree nor disagree
• Disagree
• Strongly disagree

Please provide reasons for your response.

Question 7

We want this document to be helpful and concise. Do you agree that this chapter provides enough information about the most important issues on health and social care support for carers?

• Too much information
• About right
• Not enough information

Please explain your answer if you have suggestions for improvements.

Consultation on Draft Carers Strategic Policy Statement

Chapter 4- Social and financial inclusion

Question 8

Do you agree with the proposed strategic outcomes:

"Carers access the financial support and assistance they are entitled to?"

"Carers are able to take up or maintain meaningful employment alongside caring?"

"Carers can participate in and are valued by their community and wider society?"

• Strongly agree
• Agree
• Neither agree nor disagree
• Disagree
• Strongly disagree

Please provide reasons for your response.

Question 9

We want this document to be helpful and concise. Do you agree that this chapter provides enough information about the most important issues on social and financial inclusion for carers?

• Too much information
• About right
• Not enough information

Please explain your answer if you have suggestions for improvements.

Consultation on Draft Carers Strategic Policy Statement

Chapter 5- Young carers

Question 10

Do you agree with the proposed strategic outcome:

"Young carers are supported; and protected from inappropriate caring and negative impacts on their education, social lives and future development?"

• Strongly agree
• Agree
• Neither agree nor disagree
• Disagree
• Strongly disagree

Please provide reasons for your response.

Question 11

We want this document to be helpful and concise. Do you agree that this chapter provides enough information about the most important issues for young carers?

• Too much information
• About right
• Not enough information

Please explain your answer if you have suggestions for improvements.

Responding To This Consultation

We are inviting responses to this consultation by 13/12/2019.

Please respond to this consultation using the Scottish Government's consultation hub, Citizen Space ( http://consult.gov.scot ). Access and respond to this consultation online at https://consult.gov.scot/health-and-social-care/carers-strategic-policy-statement/

You can save and return to your responses while the consultation is still open. Please ensure that consultation responses are submitted before the closing date of 13/12/2019.

Alternatively, you can e-mail your response and the completed Respondent Information Form, which is also available separately on the Scottish Government website (see "Handling your Response" below) to: carerspolicy@gov.scot

If you are unable to respond online, please complete the Respondent Information Form (see "Handling your Response" below) and send it to:

Consultation on Draft Carers Strategic Policy Statement
Carers Policy Branch
Scottish Government
St Andrew's House, GE.15
Regent Road
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG

Handling your response

If you respond using the consultation hub, you will be directed to the About You page before submitting your response. Please indicate how you wish your response to be handled and, in particular, whether you are content for your response to published. If you ask for your response not to be published, we will regard it as confidential, and we will treat it accordingly.

All respondents should be aware that the Scottish Government is subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and would therefore have to consider any request made to it under the Act for information relating to responses made to this consultation exercise.

If you are unable to respond via Citizen Space, please complete and return the Respondent Information Form included in this document.

To find out how we handle your personal data, please see our privacy policy: /privacy/

Next steps in the process

Where respondents have given permission for their response to be made public, and

after we have checked that they contain no potentially defamatory material, responses will be made available to the public at http://consult.gov.scot. If you use the consultation hub to respond, you will receive a copy of your response via email.

Following the closing date, all responses will be analysed and considered along with any other available evidence to help us. Responses will be published where we have been given permission to do so. An analysis report will also be made available.

Comments and complaints

If you have any comments about how this consultation exercise has been conducted, please send them to the contact address above or to : carerspolicy@gov.scot

Scottish Government consultation process

Consultation is an essential part of the policy-making process. It gives us the opportunity to consider your opinion and expertise on a proposed area of work.

You can find all our consultations online: http://consult.gov.scot . Each consultation details the issues under consideration, as well as a way for you to give us your views, either online, by email or by post.

Responses will be analysed and used as part of the decision making process, along with a range of other available information and evidence. We will publish a report of this analysis for every consultation. Depending on the nature of the consultation exercise the responses received may:

• indicate the need for policy development or review
• inform the development of a particular policy
• help decisions to be made between alternative policy proposals
• be used to finalise legislation before it is implemented

While details of particular circumstances described in a response to a consultation exercise may usefully inform the policy process, consultation exercises cannot address individual concerns and comments, which should be directed to the relevant public body.

Consultation on Draft Carers Strategic Policy Statement

The Respondent Information Form is available within the supporting documents of this publication