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Scottish Government Links
The Changing Lives programme has links with a number of Scottish Government areas
» Children’s Hearings
Scotland’s Children’s Hearings system represents one of the radical changes initiated by the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968, now incorporated in the Children (Scotland) Act 1995.
» Community Care
The government is working in partnership with users, carers, local authorities, the NHS, the Care Commission and the voluntary and independent sectors to improve community care services across Scotland, covering areas including Joint Future/Partnership, Improvement and Outcomes, Future of unpaid care in Scotland, Adult Support and Protection, Free personal care and more.
» Community Justice Authorities
Eight local Community Justice Authorities (CJAs) were established in 2006 to provide a co-ordinated approach to planning and monitoring the delivery of offender services by planning, managing performance and reporting on performance by local authorities or groups of local authorities. Their aim is to target services to reduce reoffending and to ensure close co-operation between community and prison services to aid the rehabilitation of offenders.
» Criminal Justice Social Work
Ever since 1968, when the Social Work (Scotland) Act merged the separate probation service in Scotland with other welfare services, Criminal Justice Social Work Services within local authorities have been responsible for the delivery of pre-sentence reports to courts, provision of community sentences, post release supervision of those offenders on statutory licence and voluntary throughcare. The one exception are Restriction of Liberty Orders ("electronic tagging"), where responsibility lies with a private contractor, Serco Ltd.
Alongside Probation, Community Service Orders remain the most commonly used community sentences. An offender given a community service order is required to carry out unpaid work of benefit to the community for between 80 and 240 hours in summary proceedings (i.e. where the Sheriff sits without a jury) and 300 hours in solemn proceedings (i.e. before a Sheriff and jury). The law restricts Community Service Orders to offences which would otherwise have resulted in imprisonment or detention.
Since 1968 many changes have influenced the scope and current shape of criminal justice social work services. In addition new legislation has brought new responsibilities eg the provision of such community sentences as supervised attendance orders, and Drug Treatment and Testing Orders.
Domestic Abuse and The National Strategy to Address Domestic Abuse in Scotland
The National Strategy to Address Domestic Abuse in Scotland (2000) was developed in response to recommendations made by the Scottish Executive’s Scottish Partnership on Domestic Abuse Group which were required to ensure that women children and young people who had experienced domestic abuse received a consistent service throughout Scotland. In June 2001, the National Group to Address Domestic Abuse in Scotland was established to oversee the implementation of The National Strategy. The remit of the group was extended in 2003 to examine and advise on the wider issues relating to violence against women and was renamed the National Group to Address Violence Against Women (NGAVAW).
The National Group prioritised the work to be carried out and the particular initiatives within the Strategy to be taken forward. Other publications were developed from sub-groups of the National Group, namely:
- Preventing Domestic Abuse – A National Strategy (2003)
- Domestic Abuse: A National Training Strategy (2004)
- Children and young people experiencing domestic abuse: Guidance Note for Planners (2004)
More recently, the National Domestic Abuse Delivery Plan for Children and Young People (2008) has been developed to take forward the 4 Ps which have been identified as essential in addressing the issues faced by children and young people affected by domestic abuse. These are Provision, Protection, Participation and Primary Prevention through Education.
For more information, please go to the Scottish Government’s Violence Against Women website, or contact the Violence Against Women Team at VAWT@scotland.gsi.gov.uk or on 0131 244 8233.
» Early Education and Childcare
Good quality education and childcare services are vital in helping children to develop and grow, and in supporting their families in moving into or sustaining employment, training or education.
The Government works with a range of bodies across the public, private and voluntary sectors in taking forward the delivery of these services.
» Getting it Right for Every Child
- Getting it right for every child promotes a shared approach to meeting the needs of all children and young people. It builds from universal services through existing policies, strategies, legislation and practice. It is the foundation for all action by practitioners, whether working in early years, health, education, the police, schools, housing, the voluntary sector or adult services where parents are involved.
- Getting it right for every child provides the tools that will support practitioners to adopt this way of working. It expects anyone working with a child to identify and plan action to address the needs and risks faced by the child in a way which looks at the child as a whole and builds solutions with and around children and families.
- Getting it right for every child supports a positive shift in culture, systems and practice so that children get the help they need when they need it. It calls for processes to be streamlined, practitioners to be alert to all the needs of a child, to share information as needed and deliver appropriate, proportionate and timely help with integrated action as necessary.
» Homelessness
Tackling homelessness is a key part of fighting poverty and inequality in Scotland. The Scottish Government is putting in to place policies and legislation to prevent and alleviate homelessness and to ensure that every homeless person gets help according to their needs.
For further information, contact: Anna Donald - email: anna.donald@scotland.gsi.gov.uk, tel: 0131 244 0933
» Joint Improvement Team (JIT)
The Joint Improvement Team (JIT) was established in late 2004 to work directly with local health and social care partnerships across Scotland. Their main focus is to provide practical support and additional capacity to partnerships to help address the issues and challenges they face. The ultimate goal is to deliver better health and social care services to those who need them.
» National Strategy for the Management of Offending
Scotland's first National Strategy for the Management of Offenders was launched on 23 May 2006. The strategy covers all of those in the criminal justice system, including those coming into the adult system from the youth justice system. It sets the strategic direction for the work of the Community Justice Authorities (CJAs) and for local authority Criminal Justice Social Work and the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), the agencies with the core responsibility for managing offenders, working in statutory partnerships with the voluntary sector, Police, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, Scottish Courts Service and Victim Support. It also encourages links with other parts of the criminal justice sector such as sentencers, legal professionals such as local legal faculties or bar associations and other specialist bodies, such as the Risk Management Authority, the Accreditation Panel and the Parole Board; and provides a framework for CJAs in developing their area plans. A National Advisory Board (NAB) was also established to review the strategy in the light of progress made by the CJAs and wider reforms to the criminal justice system.
Enquiries regarding the SPS contribution to the National Strategy for the Management of Offenders should be referred to the Directorate of Partnerships and Commissioning, SPS.
» New Health Strategy (Better Health, Better Care)
Nicola Sturgeon, Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing launched the Scottish Government's strategy for a healthier Scotland - Better Health, Better Care: Action Plan - on 12 December 2007.
The Action Plan outlines the actions the Government will take to improve health. The central themes of the Action Plan are patient participation, improved healthcare access, and a focus on the twin challenges of improving Scotland's public health and tackling health inequalities.
» Protection of Vulnerable Groups (Scotland) Act 2007 Vetting and barring scheme
The Scottish Government is taking forward a comprehensive implementation programme to deliver the provisions outlined in the Protection of Vulnerable Groups (PVG) (Scotland) Act 2007
The PVG scheme will ensure that those who have regular contact with vulnerable groups through the workplace do not have a history of harmful behaviour and deliver a fair and consistent system that will be quick and easy for people to use and the end the need for multiple, written disclosure checks. For more information:
PVG Implementation Team
The Scottish Government
Tel: 0131 244 4907
Email: pvg.enquiries@scotland.gsi.gov.uk
» Self directed support
Self-directed support in Scotland is part of the mainstream of social care delivery, targeted at empowering people and putting the principles of independent living into practice. It enables individuals to direct the care or support they need to live more independently at home and can be instead of, or in addition to, services that might be arranged by their local authority. These might be community care and children's services, housing support services and equipment and temporary adaptations.
For more information, please contact Dorothy Warren: email Dorothy.Warren@Scotland.gsi.gov.uk tel 0131 244 4778
» Shifting the balance of care
The Shifting the Balance of care work stream aims to improve the health and wellbeing of the people of Scotland by increasing our emphasis on health improvement and anticipatory care, providing more continuous care and more support closer to home. This requires a partnership approach across the whole care system between the NHS, Local Authorities and the third sector.
» Social Inclusion
Social inclusion is about reducing inequalities between the least advantaged groups and communities and the rest of society by ensuring that support reaches those who need it most.
Supporting Children’s Learning (Additional Support for Learning)
Some children need extra support to help them learn. This might be because of reasons like temporary medical conditions, family circumstances, bullying, language and communication disorders or sensory impairment. These needs can be short or long-term.
The Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004 provides a framework for local authorities and other agencies to support all children. It came into force in November 2005 and its main provisions introduce:
- the concept of additional support needs
- new duties on local authorities and other agencies
- rights for parents
- resolving differences for families and authorities, mediation, dispute resolution and the Additional Support Needs Tribunal
» Support for Children and Families
The Scottish Government is committed to providing early support to parents and it has a range of policies and programmes that provide support for parenting either directly or indirectly. This includes funding for a range of national parenting projects which promote positive parenting skills and support to parents, especially at challenging times. The Scottish Government has recognised the central importance of parenting and family capacity in delivering improved outcomes for children and families by making this one of the four strands of the proposed early years framework.
Further information can be obtained from Margaret Tod on 0131 244 7024 (» margaret.tod@scotland.gsi.gov.uk)
We can and must do better (Improving outcomes for looked after children)
In partnership with the Looked After Children Education Forum and Learning and Teaching Scotland, the Looked After Children website » www.ltscotland.org.uk/lookedafterchildren was launched on the 6th May 2008 by Adam Ingram, Minister for Children and Early Years, at a Corporate Parent event in East Lothian.
The aim of the website is to support improved outcomes for all looked after children, young people and care leavers through the provision of information, useful resources and networking opportunities to those who support them and others who have an interest in this area- including children and young people as well as parents and carers.
Youth Justice
Working to ensure that the barriers are removed that prevent too many young people in Scotland from realising their full potential and leading successful and fulfilling lives. This policy area includes preventing offending by young people, early and effective intervention, managing high risk young offenders, victims and community confidence, planning and performance improvement, and youth justice co-ordinators.
