Social care - Practitioner and Stakeholder Panel minutes: October 2022

Attendees and apologies

Chair of the meeting

• Stuart Currie (Vice Chair, Independent Review of Inspection, Scrutiny and Regulation IRISR) 

Practitioner and Stakeholder Panel members (the panel)

• Adoption UK
• British Association of Social Workers
• Care Home Relatives Group
• Carer Centres Managers’ Network/PKAVS
• Centre for Excellence for Children's Care and Protection (CELCIS)
• Coalition of Carers in Scotland
• Early Years Scotland
• National Day Nurseries Association
• People-Led Policy Panel
• Queen’s Nursing Institute Scotland
• Royal College of Nursing Scotland
• Scottish Adoption
• Scottish Childminding Association
• Self-Directed Support Scotland
• Social Work Scotland
• STUC

Scottish Government personnel and secretariat

• Kerry Brooks
• Arlene Crockett
• Susan Brodie
• Lian Boughen  

Apologies 

• Coalition of Care and Support Providers
• SACRO
• Scottish Families Affected by Alcohol and Drugs
• The Promise

Items and actions

Introductions

• Stuart Currie, Vice Chair of IRISR
• Kerry Brooks, Unit Head of Regulation and Improvement Unit
• Arlene Crockett, Team Leader of Regulation and Improvement Unit 
• Susan Brodie, Stakeholder Engagement Lead
• Lian Boughen, policy advisor and secretariat support 
• panel members

Background and context of the review

The Chair delivered a presentation on:

• social care regulatory bodies in Scotland
• current legislation that supports regulation and inspection
• the project times
• two advisory panels
• stakeholder engagement events 

Action point: the presentation to be shared with the panel and on the IRISR web page. 

Terms of reference 

The Chair advised that the panel’s principle role is to provide guidance to the Chair and Vice Chair and that their guidance will lead to an informed discussion which will contribute to the Review’s recommendations.

Action point: the Practitioner and Stakeholder Panel to suggest potential members to fill any gaps in representation on the panel to ensure that it is fully inclusive and recognises all voices.

Children’s voices

The issue of representation of children on the panel was raised.    

Action points:

• it was agreed the secretariat to invite the Commissioner of Children and Young People to join the panel
• the Chair agreed to consider bespoke consultation as part of the Review, also inviting a representative from The Young Carers’ Alliance to join the panel

IRISR advisory panels

Some questions were asked about the interaction and balance between Practitioner and Stakeholder Panel and the Independent Review Panel.     

Action points:

• terms of reference to be amended to take account of comments
• the Chair to investigate a potential joint meeting of the two panels
• Dame Sue Bruce (Chair, Independent Review of Inspection, Scrutiny and Regulation IRISR) and Stuart Currie (Vice Chair, Independent Review of Inspection, Scrutiny and Regulation IRISR) are happy to meet members separately

Stakeholder engagement strategy

The Chair shared an overview of the stakeholder engagement plans. 

Action points:

• call for evidence to be announced on Monday 24 October
• in-person events to be announced the week beginning 31 October
• panel members agreed to share with their networks to attend the stakeholder events, where at all possible
• draft stakeholder engagement strategy and event dates to be shared with the panel

Impact assessments

A question was raised about progress with impact assessments.    

Action point: work on Impact Assessments is in progress and the secetariat will share drafts with the panel.

Legal advice

It was asked who will provide legal advice to the panel.

Action point: the secretariat will investigate and confirm in due course.

Expenses

A question was raised in relation to the payment of expenses for people with lived experience who wish to attend engagement events and whether or not they cover the cost of replacement care.

A question was raised in relation to payments for people with lived and living experience.

Action points: 

• the secretariat is to clarify and confirm this point
• the Chair asked the secretariat to look into this

Agenda 

It was asked if the agenda for the panel will reflect that of the Independent Review Panel. 

Action point: the agenda for each panel meeting will reflect that of the Independent Review Panel and will be sent to members in advance of each meeting along with any papers – any differences in the discussions had by each panel will be highlighted in the minutes. 

Next meeting

The next panel meeting will take place on Friday 18th November via MS Teams.