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

Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Framework

There are two phases to this framework which will take place annually.

The first is the evaluation phase, conducted by the grant funded organisations, with the intention of giving a light touch overview of the delivery of activities. This will take the form of a short template to complete, covering two aspects of evaluation:

• Process evaluation: Are the activities being implemented and/or delivered as intended? How have they been delivered? How were the golden threads of the plan considered? How is the national context influencing delivery?
• Learning evaluation: What have been the barriers and facilitators to delivery? Has this activity had the outcome we anticipated, has it done something different, or is it too early to tell? Are there any unintended consequences, either good or bad?

The second phase is in relation to bringing together all of the information collected above to allow us to sense-make together:

• The M&E Sub-group will meet to assess the activity evaluations, using the same two-pronged approach as above to produce a highlight report, drawing themes and hypotheses from across the plan.
• This highlight report will then be presented to the wider National SDS Collaboration in a session that will aim to understand if there is general consensus on the key themes, seek to find real world examples of the utilisation of plan deliverables from members of the collaboration, and discuss how the plan may need to flex going forward in order to accommodate our findings.
• Findings from this meeting will be incorporated into the highlight report, with additional annexes including case studies.
• This report will be used by Scottish Government to inform decision making on the prioritisation of activities within the plan.

In turn and importantly, it is also envisaged that these reports will inform the considerations of the NCS Board, subject to the NCS Bill's parliamentary passage, in respect of progress towards improving the delivery of social care across Scotland.