Inspection Process
Our purpose in carrying out inspections is to:
- provide an objective, evidence-based assessment of how well people are being served by their social work services:
- make a constructive contribution towards the further improvement of the services provided;
- help safeguard the interests of people who use services, and carers; and
- help councils to develop their own approach to improving services.
PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT HANDBOOK 2010-11
The initial performance inspection programme of all 32 council social work services has now been completed - culminating in the publication of an overview report in March 2010. Whilst the purpose of SWIA inspection remains unaltered, the method by which we carry out inspections has changed significantly.
Our revised methodology, set out in the performance improvement handbook, has three key components.
· It is fully compliant with the Scottish Government’s approach to inspection, as shaped by the work of the Crerar review. This means a proportionate, risk-based approach to inspection. Our intention is to operate with minimum impact on councils, with a planned overall reduction in direct scrutiny of between 30% - 50%.
· It marks the transition from the previous programme of performance inspection to a new approach - performance improvement. This includes both scrutiny and supported self- evaluation.
· It feeds directly into the Audit Scotland-led shared risk assessment process. As such, this will enable us to work collaboratively with other scrutiny bodies – both in terms of assessing risk /improvement need, and cutting down on external scrutiny by developing more innovative, joint approaches to inspection.
The performance improvement handbook has been revised to take account of changes and improvements arising from the first year of operation. Development of the 2010-11 edition has involved extensive consultation with the ten councils participating in the first round of initial scrutiny level assessments, with people who use services and carers, and with staff and equality groups.
SWIA Performance Improvement Handbook 2010-11 (PDF,608kb)
We would welcome your comments on the handbook content.
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