About The Care Inspectorate
The Care Inspectorate was established under the Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act 2010 (referred to as the ‘Act’) and is the independent scrutiny and improvement body responsible for regulation and inspection of care and support services, scrutiny of criminal justice social work services and joint inspections with other scrutiny partners of services for adults and children. In all our scrutiny activities we are required under statute to take into account the National Care Standards and the Scottish Social Services Council’s codes of conduct and practice in making our judgements and decisions on the quality of care.
We are an executive non-departmental public body and our functions, duties and powers are set out in the Act and in the Management Statement and Financial Memorandum (MSFM) drawn up by the Scottish Government Directorate for Health and Social Care Integration. We operate independently and at arm’s length from Scottish Ministers but are accountable to them through the Scottish Parliament. The Care Inspectorate is governed by its Board which holds responsibility for setting the strategic direction of the organisation, executing good governance and managing performance while taking account of legislation and policy guidance from the Scottish Government to contribute to national outcomes and priorities.
Vision
The Care Inspectorate believes that people in Scotland should experience a better quality of life as a result of accessible, high quality services that are designed and delivered to reflect their individual needs and promote their rights.
Purposes
The Care Inspectorate will contribute to this vision by:
- providing assurance and protection for people who use services and their carers;
- delivering efficient and effective regulation and inspection;
- acting as a catalyst for change and innovation; and
- supporting improvement and signposting good practice.
Values
Person-centred - we will put people at the heart of everything we do.
Fairness - we will act fairly, be transparent and treat people equally.
Respect - we will be respectful in all that we do.
Integrity - we will be impartial and act to improve care for the people of Scotland.
Efficiency - we will provide the best possible quality and public value from our work.
The Care Inspectorate was established under the Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act 2010 (referred to as the ‘Act’) and is the independent scrutiny and improvement body responsible for regulation and inspection of care and support services, scrutiny of criminal justice social work services and joint inspections with other scrutiny partners of services for adults and children. Its formal, statutory title is “Social Care and Social Work Improvement Scotland”.
In all our scrutiny activities we are required under statute to take into account the National Care Standards and the Scottish Social Services Council’s codes of conduct and practice in making our judgements and decisions on the quality of care. We are an executive non-departmental public body and our functions, duties and powers are set out in the Act and in the Executive Framework document drawn up by the Scottish Government Directorate for Health and Social Care Integration.
The Care Inspectorate is governed by its Board which holds responsibility for setting the strategic direction of the organisation, executing good governance and managing performance while taking account of legislation and policy guidance from the Scottish Government to contribute to national outcomes and priorities.
We expect that every adult or child will receive high quality, safe and compassionate care throughout their whole care experience, based on an appropriate assessment that reflects his or her rights and individual needs and choices.
Relationship with Scottish Government
The Care Inspectorate is an executive non-departmental public body and our functions, duties and powers are set out in the Act and in the NDPB Executive Framework drawn up by the Care Inspectorate and Scottish Government Directorate for Health and Social Care Integration. We operate independently and at arm’s length from Scottish Ministers but are accountable to them through the Scottish Parliament. The Chief Executive is the accountable officer.
In all our scrutiny activities we are required under statute to take into account the National Care Standards and the Scottish Social Services Council’s codes of conduct and practice in making our judgements and decisions on the quality of care. Each year, Scottish Ministers agree a scrutiny and improvement plan which sets out the priority areas of work for the Care Inspectorate.
Our vision:
The Care Inspectorate believes that every person in Scotland should receive high quality, safe and compassionate care that reflects their rights, choices and individual needs through the whole care experience.
Our purpose:
The Care Inspectorate will contribute to this vision by:
- Providing assurance and protection for people who use services and their carers.
- Delivering efficient and effective regulation and inspection that meaningfully involves people who use care services and their carers.
- Supporting improvement and signposting good practice acting as a catalyst for change and innovation.
- Working in partnership with people who use care services and their carers, scrutiny, delivery and policy partners.
Our values:
- Person-centred - we will put people at the heart of everything we do.
- Fairness - we will act fairly, be transparent and treat people equally.
- Respect - we will be respectful in all that we do.
- Integrity - we will be impartial and act to improve care for the people of Scotland.
- Efficiency - we will provide the best possible quality and public value from our work.
Main activities
In pursuit of its aims, the Care Inspectorate carries out a programme of inspection across 14,000 regulated care services and amongst all community planning partnerships in Scotland. Because inspections are planned according to a dynamic assessment of risk and intelligence, the annual number of inspections varies, with some services inspected annually or more frequently and others on a multi-year cycle. Joint inspections of the strategic provisions of services take place in partnership with other scrutiny partners.
In addition, the Care Inspectorate acts as the gatekeeper to the social care market, by requiring registration of all new care services. It is an offence to provide a care service that is not properly registered. The Care Inspectorate also investigates complaints involving registered care services, and last year received 3,700 complaints.
Significant, and growing, emphasis is placed on the improvement agenda: not just assessing quality, but supporting change and improvement where that quality is found to be deficient or of an insufficient standard.
Section 44 of the Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act 2010 clarifies that the Care Inspectorate has "the general duty of furthering improvement in the quality of social services".
The Care Inspectorate also undertakes specific scrutiny and improvement activities at the request of Scottish Ministers around the deaths of looked after children, criminal justice serious incident reviews, intra-country adoption, child and adult protection arrangements, public protection arrangements, and other forms of social work provision.
Additionally, the Care Inspectorate is engaged in a wide range of strategic developments in the care sector to support national policy, improved outcomes and the development of a world-leading and integrated care sector across all age ranges and settings.
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