Supporting People Evaluation
Do we make a difference?
Supporting People funded local authorities to provide Housing Support Services for 170,000 people throughout Scotland during 2004-05 at a cost of £418 million. To monitor how money is spent on public services across Scotland, the Scottish Executive is carrying out a spending review in the summer of 2007- and part of this review will be a comprehensive evaluation of the Supporting People programme.
The Scottish Executive has already developed a strategy that pulls together research and evaluation exercises, both current and planned, to report back objectively to Ministers on the effectiveness of the programme. The coming evaluation will examine whether Supporting People has met the original aims of the programme, and whether it has contributed to the achievement of other national and local policy targets (such as supporting people to live in their own homes, and implementation of The Same as You initiative). It will also ask the key question, 'Has Supporting People made a real difference to people's lives?'
You can help
The evaluation will gather existing data supplied to the Executive by local authorities, the Service Review impact and monitoring process, and Care Commission reporting. However, it will also carry out new research to examine:
- the costs and benefits of the programme, including financial and 'softer' benefits like quality of life issues
- the unit costs of Supporting People and how they compare across Scotland, and with costs in England
- the development of an outcomes-oriented method of evaluation to identify how individuals have actually benefited from Supporting People assistance.
The Scottish Executive wishes to hear from providers and interest groups about what you think of these targets and methods of information collection. What do you think of the proposed outcomes approach? Do you think these targets will give a fair picture of the real value of Supporting People to clients and communities? The Executive will use your input to refine the strategy and ensure they are getting the most accurate possible picture of the difference Supporting People has made to people in Scotland for money spent.
Information including the full strategy and updates on findings from the research will be available on the SP website about the time you read this newsletter.