Council to seek assurance on national care service proposals
Date: 15 September 2021
Orkney Islands Council will be writing to the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care seeking confirmation that a full island communities impact assessment will be undertaken with regards to National Care Service proposals.
The move came after the Council’s Leader, James Stockan, and Chair of Orkney Health and Care and the Integration Joint Board, Rachel King, lodged a ‘Notice Of Motion’ for today’s (15 September) Special General Meeting, calling for the Council to write to the Scottish Government minister ‘as a matter of priority’.
Speaking after the meeting, Leader James Stockan said: “We are looking to try and use the Act which was hard fought and won by island communities through the Our Islands Our Future campaign and bring it to bear on what must be the single most important issue – the wellbeing of our communities.
“Every service we provide as a Council links up to the health and wellbeing of our residents.
“So much work has gone into things like the Integrated Joint Board and Orkney Health and Care and I think we have shown – with new enhanced builds and facilities – that we can actually do better for Orkney if we are given the power and responsibility for our own community’s wellbeing.
“If local decision making gets disjointed, our ability to coordinate these services is also diminished.”
Councillor Rachel King added: “This is the most significant proposed legislative change in our generation – I would urge as many people as possible to engage in the Scottish Government’s current consultation.”
The Scottish Government plans to begin legislating for a National Care Service by Autumn 2021 and is currently consulting the public for their views.
Their consultation follows on from the Independent Review of Adult Social Care, which was commissioned to recommend improvements to adult social care in Scotland, primarily in terms of the outcomes achieved by and with people who use services, their carers and families, and the experience of people who work in adult social care.
Significantly, the Scottish Government’s consultation has extended the scope of the Review to other service areas including children and families, community justice, alcohol and drug services and social work. Should responsibilities for these services be removed from local government, it would represent the most significant change to local government since local government reorganisation in 1996.
Under the Islands (Scotland) Act 2018, an Islands Communities Impact Assessment is required before legislation which has the potential to affect island communities is drafted – with Scottish Ministers also bound to publish their reasons if a request for an assessment is declined.
The full Notice of Motion heard at Council today is as follows:
“Orkney Islands Council notes:
- The Scottish Government plans to begin legislating for a National Care Service by Autumn 2021.
- The significant investment that the Council and our partners have made in provision of care services in our community over decades, and the dedicated and committed staff delivering these crucial frontline services.
- That to improve outcomes, reform is often necessary. However, a move towards a National Care Service should not be merely accepted as the only means of reform without proper consideration of its scope, resourcing and implications for local decision making.
- That the Orkney Islands model of care and strong partnership working has been developed and modified as local needs have changed and is significantly different to many areas of Scotland.
- That the Council’s extant position is that it supports the establishment of a Single Authority Model for public services delivery in Orkney in the context of the current Local Governance Review in Scotland and remains committed to community empowerment and local democracy and is concerned that some versions of the National Care Service proposal could diminish, rather than enhance, the community, fiscal and functional empowerment we seek.
- This extant position was informed by the work undertaken across statutory services to support the manifesto commitments offered by the Scottish Government in the last parliament to all islands communities.
Orkney Islands Council therefore resolves:
- That as a matter of priority, the Council will write to the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care seeking confirmation that a full island communities impact assessment will be undertaken, as required by the Islands (Scotland) Act 2018, before any legislation is drafted.
