Scotland's independent social care watchdog, the Care Inspectorate, has published two new reports into services for children and young people in two local authority areas.
The reports are the first to be created following the successful pilot of a new method of inspecting services for young people, using the expertise of specialist inspectors from across a range of Scottish scrutiny bodies.
The inspection teams were made up of inspectors from the Care Inspectorate, Education Scotland, Healthcare Improvement Scotland and Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary for Scotland.
They investigated services in East Dunbartonshire and Midlothian local authority areas.
While the inspections found clear evidence of good practice in both areas, both reports have also made recommendations for improving services for children and young people.
Annette Bruton, the Care Inspectorate’s Chief Executive said: “Protecting young people and ensuring that the services they and their families access are of the very highest standard is a crucial part of the work we do as Scotland’s care regulator.
“By working with our partners we can ensure we build up an accurate picture of how services are performing.
“We want to answer the key question ‘how well are these services improving the lives of children, young people and their families?’
“These inspections are a robust and useful way of coming up with meaningful answers to that question.
“We know that the vast majority of services for young people in Scotland are performing well.
“However, where there is room for improvement we do not hesitate to take action to ensure that everyone in Scotland can access services which meet their needs and respect their rights.”
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Notes to Editors
The joint inspection report into services for children and young people in East Dunbartonshire, published today, said services “work very well together to make a difference to the lives of children, young people and families.”
The report praised “sound leadership and a clear, shared vision with a focus on early intervention and prevention”, which it said was ensuring that vulnerable children and young people get help and support at the earliest oportunity.
It also pointed to key areas where further improvements could be made.
The report said East Dunbartonshire Community Planning Partnership and the Delivering for Children and Young People Partnership should take into account the need to “continue to improve the process for assessing and planning to meet the needs of individual children and young people.”
It recommended partners “implement systematic approaches to jointly evaluate performance across services.”
And it also said the partnerships should provide “strong collaborative leadership to improve the planning framework and increase the pace of change across services."
Across nine “quality indicators” used to assess services, two were found to be “very good”, six were found to be “good,” and one “adequate.”
The report on services in Midlothian, also published today, said there was a “high degree of commitment at all levels to improving the lives of children and young people.”
It said services are having a “largely positive” impact on children, young people and families in Midlothian.
And it said leaders have made significant improvements to services for children, young people and families who are vulnerable and whose wellbeing is at risk.
The report said Midlothian Community Planning Partnership and the Getting it Right for Every Midlothian Child Board should take account of the need to provide readily available support for all children, young people and families to ensure they get the help they need at the right time.
It said they should continue to improve the quality of assessment and planning for all children and young people; implement a comprehensive and effective joint commissioning strategy for services for children and young people; and maintain strong leadership and clear direction for integration and continuous improvement “in order to realise the vision and aspirations for children and young people.”
Across nine “quality indicators,” used to assess services, one was found to be “very good,” three were found to be “good,” while five were found to be “adequate.”
Both inspection reports are available to download from here:
Services for children and young people in East Dunbartonshire (pdf)
Services for children and young people in Midlothian (pdf)