Question reference: S4W-24372
- Asked by: Michael Russell, MSP for Argyll and Bute, Scottish National Party
- Date lodged: 6 February 2015
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Current status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 19 February 2015
Question
To ask the Scottish Government how it encourages local authorities under the Social Care (Self-directed Support) (Scotland) Act 2013 to support third sector and community organisations that provide services in rural areas where individual demand for services might be low.
Answer
The Scottish Government is committed to developing self-directed support as a way of giving individuals and their families flexibility, choice and control over the support services they receive. The Social Care (Self-directed Support) (Scotland) Act 2013 gives people a range of options for how their social care is delivered and places firm duties on local authorities to give people informed choice as to how they will receive their support.
The Scottish Government has invested £28.52 million between 20110-12 and 2015-16 in service transformation within local authorities to enable individuals to direct their own support. A requirement of this funding is that local authorities work closely with users, carers, providers and wider communities to plan, agree and implement local strategies to support self-directed support. It is vital that the approach is co-produced. The Scottish Government recognise co-creation of local delivery is a major strategic challenge that will take time to establish.
Allocation of the transformation funding is at the discretion of local authorities. Some local authorities have funded user and carer engagement activity to build their capacity and skills to engage with local council self-directed support strategies.