Time to Live Applications Now Open
The Scottish Government has made the Short Breaks Fund available to help support and sustain Scottish carers, including young carers and kinship carers, through enabling better access to short breaks or respite care.
The Time to Live strand of the Short Breaks Fund will provide funding to voluntary organisations within local authority areas which carers and those they support can access directly to enable them to have a short break.
Applications are now open and the deadline for applying is 5pm, 8 August 2011.
For more information, visit Short Breaks Fund or contact Christi Orr, the Short Breaks Fund Manager on 01383 622 462 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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Performance Improvement Handbook 2011-12 for local authority social work inspection
The handbook that SCSWIS uses for its inspection of local authority social work services has now been published on our website.
The Performance Improvement Handbook provides information and guidance on our approach to performance improvement. Performance improvement comprises: (1) the initial scrutiny level assessment (ISLA); (2) targeted and proportionate scrutiny responses to ISLA findings; and (3) assistance offered to local authorities in supporting self evaluation and improvement. This is the third edition of the handbook, covering the current year - 2011-12.
You can view and download the handbook by clicking here.
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Issues in the healthcare sector: SCSWIS Statement
A spokesman for SCSWIS said:
SCSWIS is aware of the financial issues surrounding Southern Cross Healthcare and we continue to pay close attention to the quality of all care services in Scotland, in order to ensure that residents continue to receive acceptable standards of care.
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Latest update for Providers on various PVG scheme issues
1. ALL providers to be PVG scheme members
From today all new applications to register a care service or changes to providers (changes to board, committees chairperson) will require to be PVG scheme members as part of SCSWIS’s ‘fit person’ assessment. This will replace the previous Standard Disclosure Scotland checks. See updated guidance.
2. PVG applications
2a – new staff and promotions
Disclosure Scotland due to the volume of staff eligible to be PVG scheme members have introduced a phased approach and are only processing PVG membership applications for new starts/promotions. Providers are to identify that the individual is new to the post (question:E1) by indicating that the person is not already in regulated work (even if they have come from another care service post).
2b - Existing Staff
Over the next 2-4 years all staff in regulated work will be eligible to apply Providers should start to consider how they will process these applications. SCSWIS will monitor this from 2012.
Providers should however be aware that in addition to staff working directly in services with children or protected adults, the committee/board members may also be eligible for PVG scheme membership.
Providers may wish to access the Central Registering Body in Scotland (CRBS) website for guidance and information on the PVG scheme. www.crbs.org.uk
3. Identifying SCSWIS as regulatory body (Question: B 83)
Whilst the intention of the PVG scheme was to alert relevant agencies to changes in peoples circumstances (if they were beig considered for barring from the PVG scheme) only the SSSC and the Teaching council are entitled to receive this information. SCSWIS does not regulate individual staff members and as such should not be ticked as a registering body.
Dislosure Scotand are aware of this issue and are making procedural changes to prevent this occurring. Any confidential reports received by SCSWIS have/will be destroyed.
4. PVG applications turnaround times
Disclosure Scotland advise of present timescales for completion of checks on their website. They KPI is 14 days. This includes weekends. At present there are no significant delays to routine applications. Applications with errors or which warrant further investigation may take longer as is normal. SCSWIS has advised that it is in discussion with DS regarding any possible additional delays but there are no plans to flex on recruitment arrangements for staff at present. However this will be kept under regular review and arrangements put in place should this become problematic for recruitment.
5. Suppliers and contractors – providers responsibilities
Providers of care services are also advised that where they use other suppliers and agencies – that they should ensure that the contractor is carrying out the relevant police checks on staff. For example nurse agencies should be seeking PVG scheme membership for new staff and suppliers such as pharmacy services should be carrying out Disclosure Scotland checks as part of their recruitment processes.
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Argyll and Bute Council scrutiny report
We have now published our scrutiny report on Argyll and Bute Council's delivery of social work services.
Click here to read the report.
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