Planning Manager
Job title: Planning Manager
Salary: £38,553 - £42,597
Hours: 35 hours per week
Location: Flexible (Any Care Inspectorate office)
Contract: Temporary for up to 12 months
About us
We are the national regulator and scrutiny body responsible for providing assurance and protection for people who experience care services, their families, carers and the wider public, as well as supporting delivery partners to improve the quality of care for people in Scotland. Our vision is that people across Scotland experience high quality care that meets their needs, rights and choices.
We are a scrutiny body that supports improvement. We inspect individual care services and we also work with other scrutiny bodies to inspect the social care and social work services people are experiencing in their local areas.
Our desire is to achieve an effective and balanced way of working, that enables us to meet organisational needs and achieve a work-life balance that promotes wellbeing and collaboration opportunities. We are moving towards an expectation that all staff will work collaboratively, within and across teams, in person, for approximately 40% of their working week.
About the role
Due to a period of absence a temporary vacancy has arisen within our planning team. In this demanding and challenging role, reporting to the head of business change, you will manage and co-ordinate the delivery of national inspection planning across a wide range of social care services and services for children and adults to ensure that the Care Inspectorate makes the best use of its resources and performs effectively and efficiently as an independent scrutiny and improvement body. This will include the management, co-ordination of inspection activities and national and team plans for the current year and draft plans for subsequent years, ensuring inspection planning activities are consistent with the Care Inspectorate’s objectives and targets.
About you
The successful applicant will have an operational background in planning activities, and system and processes, together with workload planning and prioritisation.
You will be educated to standard grade level and hold a relevant HNC qualification. You will have excellent communication skills and be able to demonstrate a broad level of knowledge of working within inspection/regulation of care and associated IT systems alongside the ability to translate plans into action.
Next steps
You’ll find more information in the job profile and person specification.
If you would like more information or an informal chat about the role please contact Deborah Holyroyd at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. - please include a contact telephone number and times that would be best to reach you in your email.
If you believe that you are a suitable candidate for this post, please download and complete an application form and equal opportunities form and submit it by email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by 08:00 on Monday 22 April 2024.
It is anticipated that interviews will be held no sooner than Wednesday 24 April at our Stirling office.
Policy Assistant
Location: Any Care Inspectorate office
Salary: £25,320 - £26,877
Contract: Temporary for one year
The successful applicant will provide an efficient and effective support service to the Policy Team, reporting to the Senior Policy Adviser.
You will be required to provide a confidential tailored support service. Duties will be varied and include overseeing email traffic to the Policy Team’s shared mailboxes, supporting the Policy Analysts to maintain the Hub website, updating routine papers and undertaking small research projects with support from the Policy Analysts.
The role will also include regular policy and parliamentary scanning activities, alerting staff to relevant developments.
You will have excellent interpersonal, organisational and research skills, be highly skilled in all Microsoft Office packages and be able to work on your own initiative and enjoy a challenge.
You’ll find more information in the:
For an informal chat prior to applying, please contact Claire Neary, Senior Policy Adviser on 07818588721.
If you believe that your expertise, skills and motivation make you suitable for this post, please complete an application form (and an Equalities Monitoring Form where you are an external applicant) and return by email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by no later than 8am on Monday 6 December 2021.
Procurement
Supplier payments
We are committed to the ‘Confederation of British Industry Prompt Payment Code’ for the payment of bills for goods and services we receive. It is our policy to make payments in accordance with the Scottish Government’s instructions on prompt payment and a target payment within 10 days.
Procurement has a significant role to play to achieve the Care Inspectorate’s objectives, and our seven key principles are reflected in our procurement strategy.
Our 2023-2026 Procurement Strategy:
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sets out our priorities and proposals for procurement over the planning period
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identifies those factors that will influence the way in which we manage the procurement process
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describes the arrangements for monitoring and evaluating the strategy.
Public Contracts Scotland
Our contracts register for all competitively advertised contracts exceeding £50,000 is published on the Public Contracts Scotland portal. We publish high value tenders on the Public Contracts Scotland (PCS) advertising website. We encourage businesses to register for free on this site. It will give you access to a large number of high and low value public authority contract opportunities across Scotland, including the Care Inspectorate. You can also view our profile.
We do not maintain an internal register of suppliers or have an approved supplier list.
It covers lower value contract opportunities but also those above the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA) threshold.
Our conditions of contract
- Conditions of contract for the purchase of goods
- Conditions of contract for the supply of services
- Conditions of contract for the supply of consultancy services
- Conditions of contract for the supply of goods and related services
Our procurement practices - values and promotion of tenders
As a public sector organisation our procurement activity is guided by legislation and best practice, with the route being determined by the potential total value of the contract.
- Less than £10K - the principles of adequate competition apply
- Between £10K and £50K – most commonly advertised on the Public Contracts Scotland portal, utilising the Quick Quote facility
- Greater than £50K but below the GPA threshold - most commonly advertised on the Public Contracts Scotland portal, utilising the Notice facility
- GPA threshold and above - Advertised in both Find a Tender Service and the Public Contracts Scotland portal, utilising the Notice facility
Supplier opportunities, guidance and support - useful websites
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A national Dynamic Purchasing reserved for Supported Businesses has been established to provide products and services to the Scottish public sector.
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The Online Supplier Journey makes it easier for Scottish companies to bid for work in the public sector.
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The website guides firms, large and small, through each step in the process – setting out what to expect from buyers and what is expected of them, simplifying guidance, making it easier to understand. It is particularly useful for small businesses.
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The journey guides businesses through the process of applying for contracts, making the system more streamlined and easier to understand and has been developed with the help of Scottish companies who have already gone through the process.
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The Single Point of Enquiry is an independent, impartial and confidential service for suppliers to the public sector in Scotland. The service offers advice on the procurement rules which must be followed by public bodies in Scotland and information on how contracts are advertised and awarded. If you have concerns about a specific tender exercise, they can work with you and the buying organisation to try and resolve your concerns. They do not have formal powers to investigate suppliers’ concerns or change decisions made by buying organisations. Feedback from suppliers contributes to improvements in public procurement practices in Scotland.
- Scottish Enterprise Net Zero Accelerator Tool – this is designed to help businesses work towards a net zero future using practical, inclusive and data-led solutions.
The Supplier Development Programme (SDP)
Scotland’s free tender training service for SME’s is a programme of tender training events.
The programme has been designed to ensure that SME’s can easily progress through the various different course levels with free events in or near their business location, plus many of the courses can be accessed online via webinar, reducing the time burden on small businesses being out of the office.
The programme includes a wealth of courses, including “hot topics” such as Community Benefits and Sustainable Procurement, as well as core issues such as finding contracts and completing ESPDs. So whether you are just starting out and wish to find out about how to work with the public sector or need to improve your tender skills, SDP will have a course for you. Please click on the following link to browse and book a course and get tender ready: https://www.sdpscotland.co.uk/events-training/
Supplier Cyber Security
Cyber-attacks (such as phishing, ransomware, hacking, etc.) are becoming an increasing threat to our economy and society. No internet-connected organisation, however large or small, is immune.
Cyber-attacks may be targeted at specific organisations or individuals, or untargeted, where attackers indiscriminately attack as many vulnerable machines or users connected to the internet as possible. These attacks are as real a risk to the small business that relies on a database of customers to distribute its goods as they are to multinational banking organisations.
As part of the Scottish Public Sector Action Plan on Cyber Resilience Scotland’s public sector organisations are encouraged to adopt a common approach to supplier cyber security. Links to authoritative sources of advice and support can be found at the Scottish Government Cyber Resilience website.
The NCSC’s small business and charities guides can be found at National Cyber Security Centre - NCSC.GOV.UK
You can get a free digital health check and 1:1 support at Business Gateway's Digital Boost.
Annual Procurement Report
Our progress towards achieving our strategic procurement priorities has been published in our CI Annual Procurement Report 2022-23. This report also provides information on our regulated procurement activity for 22-23 and our planned procurement activity for the two year period 2023-25.
Registrations
Time limited conditions expiration (Added 25 September 2020)
We are aware that many of you will have time limited conditions that were applied to your existing registration, to allow you to provide care services in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Many of these time limited conditions will be due to expire soon. We would like to remind you that if you wish to extend or amend the previous agreement (as detailed in the time limited condition), you are required to submit a variation for assessment.
This can be done through eForms.
If you no longer require the time limited condition, and wish for this to be removed from your registration certificate, please submit a variation for its removal.
Deferment of continuation of Registration Fees (added 8 April 2020)
The Care Inspectorate and Scottish Government recognise the financial and other pressures that providers of care services are currently under. To support service providers and assist with alleviating cash flow problems service providers are encountering at this difficult time the Care Inspectorate will delay the collection of continuation of registration fees due by care services until July 2020. We will review this position again in June 2020 before any fee collections are made.
This will mean care service providers need not pay any balance of the fees due for the 2019/20 financial year until July 2020.
Service providers normally due to receive fee invoices in April 2020 will not receive an invoice for the 2020/21 financial year until July 2020 (position subject to review in June 2020).
We are happy to make arrangements with service providers that would prefer not to defer the balance of 2019/20 fees. We are issuing more detailed guidance directly to care service providers.
Staffing in services during coronavirus outbreak (updated 20 March 2020)
Child to adult ratios feature in our registration and inspection of early learning and childcare (ELC). However, for other service types, including care homes, the Care Inspectorate stopped issuing staffing schedules at the point of registering a service in 2018. Instead, we expect the staffing numbers, and skills and experience of staff to reflect the needs of people who use services.
At this extremely challenging time, we will support all services in their need to apply flexibility and judgement around staffing to ensure the safety and wellbeing of people using the service. We recognise that services will need to be creative and make use of a wider range of resources. This could potentially include staff from other public services and volunteers. We recognise that this will mean services may not be able to undertake all normal recruitment checks as quickly and easily as they did before.
However, during this period it is important that providers put in place structures to support and oversee staff in their role, including any volunteers and unregistered staff. The Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) is responsible for registering the social care workforce. People can work in registrable roles for a period of 12 months without being registered, which enables services to adopt a flexible approach.
This highlights the six-month period after starting work to obtain registration. This applies to:
- new staff you might recruit
- workers covering other roles due to staff shortages
- students who seek work to help with shortages.
Safe Staffing Adviser
Role: Safe Staffing Adviser – Safe Staffing Programme
Location: Any Care Inspectorate office (hybrid working is currently trialled)
Salary: £45,102 - £49,881 plus excellent benefits
Hours: 140 hours over 4 weeks
Contract: Temporary / Secondment until 31 March 2024
About us
We are the national regulator and scrutiny body responsible for providing assurance and protection for people who experience care services, their families, carers and the wider public, as well as supporting delivery partners to improve the quality of care for people in Scotland. Our vision is that people across Scotland experience high quality care that meets their needs, rights and choices. We are a scrutiny body that supports improvement. We inspect individual care services and we also work with other scrutiny bodies to inspect the social care and social work services people are experiencing in their local areas.
About the role
The Health & Care (Staffing) (Scotland) 2019 legislation will impact on social care services that support children and adults when it is enacted in April 2024.
We are commissioned by Scottish Government to promote safe, high-quality services and appropriate staffing across all social care settings. We are looking to recruit Safe Staffing Advisers to join our Safe Staffing Programme.
The programme team works with key partners to provide support to care services, and the Care Inspectorate, in preparation for changes to the statutory basis for the provision of appropriate staffing in all care settings.
We are looking for experienced, enthusiastic and highly motivated social care professionals to support this national programme. If you are passionate about supporting quality improvement for people experiencing or working in care services, we want to hear from you.
About you
You will bring an improvement perspective, be confident and have the ability to build relationships and influence others.
Educated to degree level, you will have experience of working within children or adult care services. The diversity of our work requires an adaptable approach that can be applied to any setting including early learning and childcare, children and young people and adult services.
You will also have experience in successfully using improvement tools and methods and have excellent communication skills.
You will be experienced in developing, supporting and delivering learning to a variety of groups and individuals is preferable.
You understand the importance of involving people experiencing care in quality improvement initiatives.
To apply
You’ll find more information in the job profile and person specification.
If you would like any further information, or an informal chat, please contact Stephanie Thom, Programme Team Lead via email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Please download and complete an application form and an equalities monitoring form and return by email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by no later than 8am on Monday 5 June 2023.
It is anticipated that interviews will take place on Wednesday 21 June 2023.
Senior Improvement Adviser - AHP
Location: Any Care Inspectorate office
Salary: £48,453-£53,502
Hours: 35 hours per week
Contract: Permanent
About the role
We are looking for a colleague with a strong background in a variety of health and social work roles and a passion in quality improvement to join the new Health and Social Care Improvement Team (HSCIT) on a permanent basis.
Reporting to the AHP Consultant but working closely with the Care Inspectorate’s Chief Nurse, under the umbrella of Improvement Support and with close collaboration with Scrutiny and Assurance the post holder will provide specialist skills and knowledge in AHP with a focus on falls, frailty, rehabilitation and reablement.
You will work internally to strengthen the capability and confidence of inspectors across inspection, complaints, and registration teams, in specific topic areas, supporting their learning and development and keeping the evidence base of practice current and develop resources to support the health and wellbeing of people experiencing care for use both internally and externally.
You will build and develop strategic partnerships across the health and social care landscape to support the delivery of health and wellbeing improvement advice and quality improvement support.
About you
Educated to degree level in a relevant field, registered with the aligned professional body together with the NES Scottish Improvement Leader (ScIL) programme (or willingness to work towards), or an equivalent improvement qualification, you will have significant immediate influence in working across the health or social care sector. You will also work strategically across several organisations.
You will have significant specialist subject matter expertise and be able to combine it with an understanding of quality improvement theory/change management and its practical application in health and social care settings.
Current work delivery methods will be timely reviewed against the Covid-19 national position and public health guidance. Whenever face to face work activities recommence, the role may require extensive travel and involve some overnight stays and unsocial hours.
To apply
You’ll find more information in the:
For an informal chat please contact Heather Edwards, AHP Consultant on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
If you believe that you are a suitable candidate for this post, please download and complete an application form, (and equal opportunities form where you are an external applicant), and submit it by email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by 8am on Monday 31 May 2021.
Interviews for this role are anticipated to take place on either 15 or 16 June through MS Teams.
Senior Improvement Adviser (Registered Nurse)
Job title: Senior Improvement Adviser (Registered Nurse)
Salary: £55,530 to £61,314 (Pro rata)
Hours: Part Time 17.5 hours
Location: Flexible (Any Care Inspectorate office)
Contract: Permanent
About us
We are the national regulator and scrutiny body responsible for providing assurance and protection for people who experience care services, their families, carers and the wider public, as well as supporting delivery partners to improve the quality of care for people in Scotland. Our vision is that people across Scotland experience high quality care that meets their needs, rights and choices.
We are a scrutiny body that supports improvement. We inspect individual care services, and we also work with other scrutiny bodies to inspect the social care and social work services people are experiencing in their local areas.
Our desire is to achieve an effective and balanced way of working, that enables us to meet organisational needs and achieve a work-life balance that promotes wellbeing and collaboration opportunities. We are moving towards the expectation that all staff will work collaboratively, within and across teams, in person, for approximately 40% of their working week.
About the role
We are looking for a colleague who is a registered nurse with a passion for quality improvement to join the Health and Social Care Improvement Team (HSCIT) permanently.
Our team have quality improvement and health expertise. We use this to work strategically and operationally, with internal and external colleagues and frontline care staff. We do this so that people who experience care achieve improved health and wellbeing outcomes that matter to them.
About you
You will have all round knowledge of the health and wellbeing of adults and older people and be educated to degree level or equivalent in Nursing.
You will have significant specialist subject matter expertise and be able to combine it with an understanding of quality improvement theory/change management and its practical application in health and social care settings.
On appointment as Improvement Support Adviser (Registered Nurse), you will be a secondary authorised officer and be registered with the appropriate registration body, in this case NMC.
Registration
The successful applicant will be registered with NMC.
Next steps
You’ll find more information in the job profile and person specification.
If you would like more information or an informal chat about the role, please contact Lynn Flannigan at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
To apply
If you believe that you are a suitable candidate for this post, please download and complete an application form and equal opportunities form and submit it by email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by 08:00 on Monday 17 June 2024.
It is anticipated that interviews will be held no sooner than 2 July at our Dundee Headquarters office.
Solicitor
Salary: £42,954 - £47,505 pro rata
Location: Flexible
Hours: 21 hours per week
Contract: Temporary until 20 February 2024
About us
We are the national regulator and scrutiny body responsible for providing assurance and protection for people who experience care services, their families, carers and the wider public, as well as supporting delivery partners to improve the quality of care for people in Scotland. Our vision is that people across Scotland experience high quality care that meets their needs, rights and choices.
We are a scrutiny body that supports improvement. We inspect individual care services and we also work with other scrutiny bodies to inspect the social care and social work services people are experiencing in their local areas.
About the role
Reporting to the Head of Legal Services, you will have the opportunity to play an influential role in the regulation and improvement of care services. You will provide legal advice to operational staff within the Care Inspectorate. You will provide legal support for a wide range of team based corporate projects and contribute to the development of policy and guidance. You will also undertake some appearance work, representing the Care Inspectorate at Court hearings and inquiries.
About you
The ideal candidate will be confident, articulate and have excellent communication skills. You will have at least 2 years’ post qualifying experience but could be an experienced solicitor interested in a challenging and varied post. You should have Sheriff Court experience, preferably in relation to statutory licensing or regulatory matters and you will hold, or be entitled to hold, a full Practising Certificate issued by the Law Society of Scotland.
To apply
You’ll find more information in the:
For an informal chat about the role please contact Kenneth McClure, Head of Legal Services on 07979 060716 or email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
If you believe that your expertise and motivation make you suitable for this post, please download and complete an Application Form (and an equalities monitoring form where you are an external applicant) and return by email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by no later than 8am on Monday 14 November 2022.
Subcategories
Inspector - Early Learning and Childcare (ELC)
The early learning and childcare expansion…
Role: Inspector - Early Learning and Childcare (ELC)
Location: Forth Valley, Borders, Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire, Edinburgh & Glasgow
Salary: £31,083 - £39,069 plus excellent benefits
Hours: 140 hours to be worked over a 4-week period
Contract: Permanent or 2-year secondment (would be considered)
Join us and make a difference – for you, for everyone
It’s our job to ensure care for everyone, everywhere in Scotland is as good as it can be. If you are as passionate about high-quality care as we are, and you’re experienced in your field, we’d love to hear from you.
About us
As a national scrutiny body that supports improvement. We inspect care services and partnerships across Scotland, report on the quality of care people experience, and support improvements in services to facilitate improvements in outcomes for people.
We inspect care services individually. We also work with other scrutiny bodies to inspect the social care and social work services people are experiencing in local areas.
We champion high-quality care whenever we encounter it across the thousands of inspections, we carry out each year, and we work closely with all care providers to support them to improve all the time. We collaborate with other organisations too, supporting improvement across public services. Our work plays a big role in reducing health and social inequalities between people and communities.
We are looking for talented people to join us in making a difference - specialists who understand how to put people’s needs, rights and choices at the heart of delivering social services – and how to lead improvement too. Our 600 staff work with services across the public, voluntary and private sectors. We have offices across Scotland and many of our staff work from home.
About you
Whether early or established in your career, you will share our determination that care, social work and justice services should work well for people – every time. You’ll be confident about what good-quality care looks like and how to deliver it. You’ll be good at analysing information and evidence. You will have excellent writing skills for narrative inspection reports that are clear, concise and focused on outcomes. You will be confident in working with a wide range of people and at supporting and advising on improvement.
You’ll currently be working, or have significant experience in, social care, social work, health, children’s services, early learning, child protection, or community learning and development. You will be registered or eligible to register with a professional body like the SSSC, NMC or GTC.
About the role
Our care inspectors work with care services: childminders, nurseries, care homes, care at home, housing support and a host of other specialist services. A specialist in your field, you may have helped lead a service and have a strong track record in delivering quality. You’ll be adept at leading improvement and influencing others. You will work with people experiencing care, and care service providers, managers and staff.
Why join us?
We strive to be a great employer, knowing that competitive salary, leave and pension schemes are only part of that. We pride ourselves on the values we hold, person-centred; fairness; respect; efficiency and integrity - all supported with a culture of care and kindness.
We believe in collective leadership and innovation. You’ll have a lot of autonomy to manage your own work and use the professional skills you’ve honed during your career – but in new ways. Starting on day one, our learning and development support will help you become confident in the craft of scrutiny and in supporting improvement. Because a lot of your role is about sharing effective practice across Scotland, the impact you can have on experiences and outcomes for people is significant. You will draw on management and leadership skills you’ve developed in the past.
We’re proud to be a progressive, supportive employer – we’re happy to talk about flexible working with you and we’re members of the Disability Confident Scheme, aiming to make the most of the talents disabled people can bring to the workplace.
New appointments will normally be placed on the minimum grade for the role; a higher starting salary may be offered in exceptional circumstances only.
ELC expansion
The Scottish Government is committed to expanding the provision of funded Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) from 600 hours to 1140 hours per year by 2020. The expansion of ELC is aimed to support the reduction in the poverty-related attainment gap and improve long term outcomes for children and families.
Due to the ELC expansion programme we are looking for 7 further ELC Inspectors in addition to the “business as usual” Inspector campaign launched recently.
Principles and aims
The priority for the expansion to 1140 hours is to improve children's outcomes and close the poverty-related attainment gap. In addition, the expansion aims to support parents into work, study or training. The Scottish Government's four principles of the ELC expansion are: quality, flexibility, affordability, and accessibility.
The Scottish Government has stated that quality is 'at the heart' of the expansion and that achieving a high-quality ELC experience for children is a key objective.
Use and provision
A 2018 survey found that the main reason why parents use funded ELC is that they consider it beneficial for their child's learning and development. In addition, parents reported using the funded hours to either work, increase the number of hours they work, or look for work.
Funded ELC in Scotland is delivered by a wide range of providers including nurseries, crèches and playgroups, from across the public, private and third sectors. A small number of childminders also deliver funded ELC, but the Scottish Government hopes this number will increase under the expansion to 1140 hours.
Criteria to apply
- We require you to hold a relevant qualification (minimum SCQF Level 9), register with either the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) or any other relevant professional body and undertake PVG checks.
- You must also be prepared to do a Professional Development Award in Scrutiny and Improvement (Social Services) at SCQF level 10 with appropriate support from the organisation.
- You will have a minimum of three years recent and demonstrable management experience in a relevant field. You must also be willing to travel with overnight stays as required.
Before you apply
- Please contact the relevant body directly to resolve any queries you have regarding registration or eligible qualifications for registration (SSSC, NMC and so on) before submitting your application.
- For an informal chat about the job role, please contact (Who?) You or Kim Connolly, Team Manager on 07766133161
- For all other queries, please contact Human Resources at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
To apply
- If you are interested, please see the minimum criteria to apply as an Inspector and the specific guidance and directions to apply. Thereafter, click on the gateway questions link to apply.
- Your completed application form (campaign number C39 only forms) and equal opportunities form should be returned to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.no later than Monday, 14 October 2019 at 8.00am.
- We anticipate that selection days will take place in the week commencing Monday, 18 November 2019.