Chamber and committees

What would be a more accurate costing?

You mentioned decluttering, and then you outlined lots of different bits of legislation that will be brought under the bill. Are the good transition principles, which are now in place, not being delivered? Is that the honest answer here, and is that what the committee needs to follow up on? In other words, what does a good transition look like in practice for young people accessing services? For example, I have highlighted the removal of compulsory supervision orders as a trigger for people just to say, “You’re on your own now.” How can that change?

Ms Allison, you have outlined the workforce challenge. I would point out that the concept of a national social work agency sat within the National Care Service (Scotland) Bill, as it was originally called, and is being progressed only now, at the end of this session of the Parliament and at the midway point of delivering the Promise.

Having spoken to social workers, I worry that there does not seem to be much space for additional work to come their way. What do you think could be a better model for delivering outcomes? The young people to whom I spoke last night suggested having teams in services—be it health, housing or education—that would have some understanding and would be a point of contact. The university sector is probably in a better place in that respect. How will we meet that workforce challenge? In the time that I have been in the Parliament, social work has not been in a good space, and we are about to add more to its workload.

I wanted to ask about the register of foster carers. I know that Maree Allison mentioned it earlier, but I note that, in its response to the committee, Social Work Scotland has said that the register has the potential to create additional tasks for agencies and local authorities, while the Care Inspectorate and others have highlighted the need to ensure that the register does not exacerbate the decline in the numbers of foster carers, which is a point that John Trainer has touched on, too.

What assurances would you seek on how such a register would work in practice? The young people whom we spoke to last night made quite interesting points about what they saw it doing, such as tracking people moving across local authorities and ensuring that training was documented. In fact, all of the young people whom I spoke to said that it would provide an opportunity to highlight good practice and to celebrate foster carers themselves. What are your views on that and how the Government might improve the proposals? Perhaps Maree Allison can answer that first.

That is just in one local authority, though.

Good morning. I want to ask a number of questions about aftercare. In its submission to the committee following our call for views, SOLACE cautioned against

“creating a system that incentivises formal care measures”

as a requirement for accessing support, and it suggested that assessment of need would be more appropriate. How could the bill be amended to reflect that? How can the system ensure that the needs around aftercare are met?

I will bring in Mr Savege first.

You will be aware of the case in Aberdeenshire—it was in the Sunday Post—involving Callie Thomson, who had been in formal secure care since the age of 14. When she was discharged from the Rossie institution in Montrose, Aberdeenshire Council declared her homeless and she was placed in homelessness services without a care package. How is the Promise delivering the change that is needed for Callie?

Good morning. I want to ask a few questions about aftercare. We had a good session last night with some care-experienced young people, and I want to ask about the principle of care-experienced young people accessing support. Social Work Scotland’s response to the committee’s call for views expressed significant concerns about the proposal in the bill around assessment, given that the group concerned would be huge and it would be difficult to resource the necessary work, especially as we have no good relevant data or numbers. Therefore, I am interested in what the witnesses would like to see in the bill, especially around eligibility for aftercare assessments and support.

I will put on record that, last night, a few young people said that they had been trying to progress moves towards the establishment of an opt-out system, which has not been taken forward in the bill. I would like to hear people’s comments on that, too.

That is a two-part question. John Trainer, could you respond first?

Jackie Dunbar touched on this when we were seeking views from Who Cares? Scotland members last night: do you think that it is appropriate that the young people leaving the care system are directed towards homelessness services? That question is for all the witnesses.

COSLA and Social Work Scotland state in their responses to the committee that the figures that were used for the costs of aftercare assessments are out of date. What work is being done to update the cost estimates and the resources needed? What planning around that would be beneficial ahead of the bill?