information services

Citizen involvement in local governance

This report draws on the findings of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation's Governance and Public Services research programme and other related JRF work. It also looks at how citizens are involved, how they influence decisions and how diversity and population change affect citizen and community involvement.

The round-up outlines the challenges and dilemmas that local partners, central government, councillors, staff and communities must resolve if citizens are to have more power and influence over local services and their neighbourhoods.

Social Work Inspection Agency: Performance Inspection Summary: East Ayrshire Council 2009

The Social work Inspection Agency (SWIA) is carrying out performance inspections of all local authority social work services in Scotland. This leaflet summarises some key findings of the inspection of East Ayrshire Council’s social work services, which are set out in the full report published in June 2009.

Equality in later life: a national study of older people's mental health services

This study of older people's mental health services assessed available national data and visited specialist mental health trusts. The interview tool covered questions relation to several of the core standards used by the Healthcare Commission to assess trusts' performance. The key findings are reported in four main themes: age discrimination, the quality of inpatient care, the comprehensiveness of services; and working with other organisations (how specialist services worked with primary care, adult social services and acute hospitals).