Interim National Care Service Advisory Board: Advice to Scottish Ministers and Council Leaders - Scope of the final NCS Advisory Board

Background

Scottish Ministers had originally intended to establish a National Care Service Board in legislation: transferring legal functions for delivery to Ministers and establishing new bodies in law, including a National Care Service Board as a public body.

Not everybody agreed with that approach. Ministers reflected on all feedback, so that they could decide how to continue the work.

On 23 January, the Minister for Social Care, Mental Wellbeing and Sport set out a new approach.^[1]

Scottish Ministers decided that the National Care Service work should continue without making legal changes to the structures and governance arrangements already in place. A National Care Service Advisory Board would be established. This would not be a public body established in law. Rather than the advisory board having a governance role or taking actions independently of ministers, it was established with advisory status. To achieve this, the board would still bring together leaders and people who have lived experience, to make improvements that will lead to consistent, fair, high-quality services.

Having agreed not to establish a Board through legislation, the scope of the Advisory Board has been aligned to:

• the key legislation which governs the way health and social care services are planned and delivered in Scotland – the Public Bodies (Joint Working) (Scotland) Act 2014 (2014 Act)
• the services falling under functions which can be delegated through the 2014 Act and associated regulations to integration authorities.

Under the 2014 Act, councils and health boards are required by law to work together to plan and deliver certain community health and social care services by delegating them to integration authorities. This includes all adult social care services, adult primary and community health care and unscheduled adult hospital care.

The 2014 Act also permits councils and health boards to voluntarily integrate other services. These are sometimes referred to as ‘may’ delegate functions and include:

• children’s health, social care and social work
• justice social work
• homelessness

Scottish Ministers and COSLA agreed that the scope of the Board should include those services which must be delegated to integration authorities under the 2014 Act.

The interim Advisory Board was asked to lead a review of the services which may be delegated under the 2014 Act – children’s services, justice social work and homelessness services – and to provide advice to Ministers and COSLA Leaders following that review.

Because individual councils and health boards can choose whether to delegate these services to their integration authority, the landscape across Scotland is varied. In some areas, these services have been included within the planning arrangements of the relevant Health and Social Care Partnerships. In other areas, these services have been included partially, or have not been included at all.

Children’s Services

We know that children’s outcomes are significantly shaped by adult-facing services, including adult mental health, addictions, housing, employability, community justice and carer support. Effective support for children therefore depends on coordinated planning and delivery across children’s services, adult services and wider local authority functions.

Children’s services planning legislation recognises that duties extend beyond services provided directly to children, and include related services delivered to parents or carers where these have a significant effect on children’s wellbeing.

Transitions between children’s and adult services — particularly for disabled young people and care experienced young people — also highlight the interdependent nature of the system. Where these interfaces are not properly aligned, there is a risk of gaps in support, duplication or poor outcomes.

20 out of 31 integration authorities have had some children’s services delegated to them. Out of these, 10 have full structural integration of children’s health and care services. However, some councils have embedded social work and family support staff directly in schools, allowing for early identification of issues and quicker, more coordinated responses. Some Health Boards have chosen to delegate certain children’s community health services to their integration authorities. The current Children and Families National Leadership Group (NLG) plays a key role in supporting improvements across children’s services. This group is co-chaired by the Scottish Government and SOLACE (Society of Local Authority Chief Executives and Senior Managers). NLG provides collective leadership and strategic oversight of key areas of change to improve outcomes for children, young people and families. The Education and Childcare Assurance Board was established in 2025 to consider national and local level data. It discusses and sets strategic priorities for education and early learning and childcare. It also helps to develop a shared understanding of these priorities and a joint approach to their delivery. There are other governance structures with interest in improving wellbeing outcomes for all children, young people and families across Scotland. A high-level mapping exercise (2024) of existing groups across the children and families policy landscape found around 80 different groups. The Local Government annual report on the Promise 2024 includes examples from councils of how different services and organisations work together to support children and families, regardless of delegation arrangements and internal structures.

Justice Social Work

17 councils delegate justice social work services to their integration authorities and 14 councils do not. The Highland council operates a lead-agency model. This is a model is where NHS Highland leads adult care and Highland Council leads children’s and justice services, instead of using a joint board. Justice social work is an important part of the overall model of community justice in Scotland. Local authorities are statutory partners in The Community Justice (Scotland) Act 2016. This is the legal framework for Community Justice in Scotland and aims to reduce reoffending, improve rehabilitation outcomes, and increase public safety through locally-led, nationally-supported collaboration.

Local authorities are part of local community justice partnerships. These bring together statutory partners, third sector organisations, and community representatives locally. Their purpose is to plan, coordinate, and improve community justice services locally. This activity is overseen by Community Justice Scotland with outcomes and recommendations for improvement reported to the Scottish Government each year. Justice social work is also part of the remit of the Criminal Justice Board and Community Justice Programme Board.

Justice social work services are funded by the Scottish Government. This funding is ring-fenced by law, meaning it can only be used for particular purposes. Justice social work services have to report annually on their activity to Scottish Government and to Community Justice Scotland. They also provide quarterly reports to Scottish Government on how they have spent this funding.

Justice social work services are independently scrutinised by the Care Inspectorate. They have undertaken a range of justice social work related scrutiny, assurance and improvement activities, often in collaboration with partners.

Homelessness

Only 3 integration authorities currently have responsibility for homelessness services. There are specific structures at a national and local level overseeing the delivery of homelessness services and performance against actions in the national homelessness strategy and housing emergency action plan.

Duties to homeless households are set out in legislation and monitored by the Scottish Housing Regulator, and official statistics are published twice a year. The Scottish Government and COSLA report annually to the Scottish Parliament on progress towards ending homelessness.

The Scottish Housing Regulator also monitors housing adaptations. In September 2025, the Cabinet Secretary for Housing committed to review the current housing adaptations system to make recommendations on how best to improve and streamline the system and better target resources.

Advice to Scottish Ministers and Council Leaders

The interim Advisory Board recommends to Ministers and Council Leaders that:

• in principle the final Advisory Board should be able to consider advising on matters relating to children’s:
• social work
• social care
• community health
• In agreeing the above in principle, as with all its work, the Advisory Board will consider the lived experiences of children and young people when reviewing areas of work that impact them. This will include exploring and reflecting on the work of dedicated programmes and structures already in place with a focus on the improvement of Children’s services and embedding their lived experiences in the process.
• given existing governance and leadership in this sector, the remit of the Advisory Board should not include a specific focus on Justice Social Work. The remit should, however, be sufficiently broad to ensure that the Board:
• recognises and takes careful account of the interfaces between justice social work and wider issues such as mental health, drugs and alcohol and autism
• ensures an integrated approach, including in relation to the need for support for the families of those involved with justice social work
• considers any issues relating to the social work and social care workforce as a whole
• In considering any of the above issues, the Advisory Board should take full account of other activity being progressed by existing groups or bodies, with a view to adding value, and not duplicating efforts.
• given existing national and local oversight of delivery of homelessness services, the remit of the Advisory Board, like children’s and justice services, should allow for a sufficiently broad approach to ensure the Board could, only when considered necessary, offer advice on:
• homelessness services
• housing adaptations
• the interfaces between homelessness and relevant services (including drugs and alcohol, mental health, justice social work and children’s services)
• In agreeing the above in principle, as with all its work, the Advisory Board will consider the lived experience of people experiencing homelessness when reviewing areas of work that impact them. This includes:
• considering ways in which barriers to access and engagement with services can be reduced
• being mindful of existing governance, oversight and reporting arrangements which focus on the improvement of homelessness services, to ensure that the Board adds value and does not duplicate efforts
• monitoring the progress and outcomes of the Scottish review of housing adaptations, with a view to deciding whether to prioritise any further work in this area