National Care Service Charter of Rights: Island Communities impact assessment

Step Three – Consultation

Evidence was gathered from consultations about the development of the National Care Service, and from engagement events with a specific focus on the Charter.

3.1 National Care Service engagement

The National Care Service consultation ran from 9 August to 2 November 2022. It received almost 1,300 responses from individuals and organisations. In addition to individual consultation responses, over 100 engagement events and meetings took place, in which around 3,000 people participated.

The consultation included five engagement sessions aimed at island communities, including:

• 3 public engagement sessions open to all members of island communities
• 2 meetings with local authorities: one with Argyll and Bute Council and one with Shetland Islands Council

An independent analysis of the consultation was published on 10 February 2022.^[1]

In addition, following the consultation, engagement about the NCS was subsequently undertaken with the following groups:

• Islands Assessment Impacts Group
• Islands Strategic Group
• National Islands Plan Delivery Group

3.2 Charter of Rights engagement

Engagement that was specifically focused on the development of the NCS Charter of Rights took place with the following groups:

• Islands Engagement Group: the group was asked for their views on what the charter can contain to make sure it meets the needs of people from island communities and how to make sure that people from island communities can access the charter
• NCS regional forum: this included a co-design session where people were asked about what they wanted from a charter

In 2024, at a later stage of development, views on an early draft of the Charter were provided through the Scottish Parliament’s Call for Views and analysed, including from island stakeholders such as Island authorities, including local councils and Integration Joint Boards.