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We heard last week that the multidisciplinary team approach to supporting people in the community is absolutely vital, and a national social work agency could help to engage and support the wider multidisciplinary team, as well as set standards for future social workers. Could such an agency be part of delivering a graduate apprenticeship model to bring social workers into the profession?

I have a couple of questions about the establishment of a national social work agency and the role of chief social work adviser. I am interested in hearing your opinions on that. For instance, how should a national social work agency complement the work of current social work regulators? I see that Maree Allison has her hand up.

Good morning to you all. Do you think that using language such as “dead in the water” is helpful? Is this not about co-design? The bill is a framework bill and it is about what the people with lived experience want. They want what Derek Feeley recommended, which is reform of social care. Is this not about all the regulatory bodies and the folk like you coming to the table to get this right? We know that bills get amended after stage 1, through stage 2 and even stage 3 amendments. Is this not about everybody working together and not using language that is not helpful?

We have heard that. That takes me back to my earlier question about the bill not being “dead in the water” and how we should not use that language. We have heard that the social work profession sees the creation of a new agency as critical to the survival of the profession. The witnesses in the previous session talked about the need for parity and for people to understand what social workers actually do. We also need to look at how we support standards in social work education.

There is lots of really good language in the documentation about empowerment, co-production, person-centred care and the values that we would like to be upheld for anybody who receives care in Scotland. I would be interested in any specific ideas that you might have about what the national social work agency could do in addition, which relates to another issue that has been brought up: the difference between an executive agency and a non-departmental public body that is completely separate from the Government. Do our witnesses have any thoughts on that?

I have a couple of questions on the creation of a national social work agency and a chief social work adviser. What do you think the purpose of a national social work agency would be?

The issue is complex. Remote and rural care and urban care might be delivered differently, and there are issues around accepting and valuing what social workers and the multidisciplinary team that we heard about earlier do. It is complicated, and the bill is part of addressing that. It is looking at how care is delivered, to prevent folk from going into hospital in the first place, for instance, or to address delays in discharging folk from hospital. That is what I am saying. The whole system is complicated and the bill is part of the process of better supporting care in Scotland.

Good morning to the witnesses. I have a couple of questions about the establishment of a national social work adviser and an agency. It is proposed that the national social work agency would be an executive agency, closely aligned with the Scottish Government, to deliver on Government policy. Is that the right way to proceed? During an earlier session and during last week’s evidence taking, we talked about non-departmental Government bodies versus the establishment of a new agency. What are your thoughts on that?

A new agency could take the lead in further collaboration, co-design and co-working with other agencies. Earlier in the session, we spoke about how NHS Ayrshire and Arran is one health board, but there are three local authorities—East Ayrshire, South Ayrshire and North Ayrshire—and they do things differently. For example, some of them are performing well in relation to delayed discharge. Is there a potential role for the national social work agency in considering what is working really well and supporting the dissemination of best practice through collaboration with other agencies?

Good morning. I am thinking about the aims of the national care service, including improving the prevention of admissions to hospital, supporting reablement to improve delayed discharge and so on, and I am thinking about how integration is supposed to work. For example, East Ayrshire Council, South Ayrshire Council and North Ayrshire Council are all under one health board but they are three different local authorities. One of them—East Ayrshire Council—is absolutely amazing at reducing the level of delayed discharge, but the others are not so good at that. Would the aims of the bill help us to look at, for example, how East Ayrshire is doing really well and the others are not doing so well or could do better, so that we can learn from other areas? Is that part of the intention behind the bill?

The “Standards in Social Work Education in Scotland” document talks about the principles of innovation, co-production, taking a person-centred approach and empowering people. There are standards for ethical principles such as partnership and participation, and for

“promoting the full involvement ... of people receiving the services”.

Would the creation of a national social work agency with an adviser in the lead role enable the creation of a Scotland-wide standard for education, which would create parity of esteem and provide support, as Julie Murray said?