National Care Service: Ethical procurement co-design report - easy read

Part 1: Ethical Procurement – seldom heard voices co-design work

Working with people to improve social care, community health and social work

The Scottish Government is working to improve social care support, community health and social work.

We are working with people across Scotland.

We want to make care experience better for everyone in Scotland.

This is why we are speaking to people who receive and deliver these kinds of services.

About ethical procurement

Procurement is the way public bodies buy things and services from someone else.

Ethical procurement means buying something in good and fair ways.

We have made a list of fair rules, called ethical principles.

We wanted people to help to check and improve these rules.

Ethical principles

The ethical principles are:

• people with lived experience must be involved

• workers must be treated fairly

• services must not harm the environment

• services must be high quality

• human rights, including choice, must be respected

• money must be used openly and fairly

Co-design sessions

We held 5 meetings with different groups:

• Glasgow Disability Alliance
• Scottish Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders (SACRO)
• Minority Ethnic Carers of People Project (MECOPP)
• Homeless Network Scotland
• Action for Children

These groups helped run the sessions for their members in person and online.

What people talked about

They talked about 3 big areas:

• people
• quality
• ethics

What we learned about people

People do not always feel heard when decisions are made.

They want to be part of the choosing and checking of care services.

They need good training and support to take part.

What we learned about quality

Good care should be flexible and based on what people need.

Care should help people live better lives.

Care staff should have stable, long-term jobs.

What we learned about ethics

Ethics is what is fair and right.

Some people said the rules were not clear enough.

They want human rights and fairness to be the most important parts.

They are unsure why climate and recycling are in the rules.

They want people’s needs to come first.

How we will use this information

We will use what people told us to improve the rules.

We will find ways to fix the problems people raised.

We will check how services are judged to make sure quality is valued.

We will study more examples and share them with our team.

We will update our guidance to make sure people are fully involved.

What’s next for ethical procurement

We will publish the new rules in summer 2025.

We will write guides and tools to help people get involved.

We hope to keep working with these groups in the future.