Social care - Self-directed Support improvement plan 2023-2027: monitoring, evaluation and learning framework

Scope

The process of monitoring, evaluation, and learning as defined in this framework will provide information on how Improvement Plan activities have been delivered, what we have learnt from their delivery and how any external influences have affected delivery, positively or negatively. The reporting from this process will be used to influence further improvement in SDS, ensuring that activities within the plan are well suited and relevant going forward.

The framework has been designed to align with other improvement work within Scottish Government, such as the Scottish Learning Improvement Framework (SLIF,) which sets out the vision and priorities for improvement in Adult Social Care Support, Social Work and Community Health. The data and reporting from the monitoring and evaluation of SDS Implementation Plan activities, alongside the SLIF and other workstreams, will support national accountability and oversight functions to assess progress and drive consistency in the delivery of social care across Scotland. The below diagram illustrates this link.

This SDS Improvement Plan Monitoring and Evaluation Framework is designed in anticipation of the SLIF’s plan to move from a predominant focus on scrutiny and measuring performance, to an approach which builds improvement and quality management into the system.

At this point it is not possible to assess the impact of the Improvement Plan on the wider social care system. The activities within the plan have been designed to lead to improvement in the medium to long term and many of the benefits from year one will not yet have had the chance to make an impact on the system.

This is why we have agreed in discussion with delivery partners and those representing lived experience, to bring the focus for this framework down to activity level. This will allow for important learning to influence decision making on future activities within the SDS Improvement Plan.

The below diagram shows how our work sits in the wider social care context, with this work on monitoring feeding directly into wider social care improvement mechanisms.