Scottish Government

3. Background information on the collection of the data

3.1 Data Sources

Audit Scotland

This data is provided to Audit Scotland by all Local Authorities in Scotland as one of the Statutory Performance Indicators ( SPIs). The information is collected and published locally by each council in Scotland. Audit Scotland publishes information about the comparative performance of councils across Scotland in a compendium of all the data. These are available from www.audit-scotland.gov.uk/performance/index.php, but please note that the figures have been superseded with those presented in this publication.

3.2 Understanding the Statistics in this Report.

All information in this Statistics Release is based on a year from 1st April to 31st March.

In order to provide an estimate of total respite provision across Scotland, respite nights and respite hours have been converted into respite weeks. In order to calculate this, seven respite nights equal one respite week and 52.5 hours equal one respite week. This standard method was agreed by CoSLA and the Scottish Government.

The figures published in this Statistics Release were first published on 15 December 2009 as provisional. Since December 2009, comprehensive validation of these figures has been carried out with all 32 Local Authorities in Scotland.

This involved an initial questionnaire being sent to all Local Authorities asking for further details regarding the methods they use to extract this data, what they count as respite and the reasons for any large increases/decreases in figures between 2007/08 and 2008/09.

As part of the validation exercise, Local Authorities were asked to confirm that the data they had previously published was correct.

Overnight respite

Six Local Authorities identified errors in the previously published overnight respite data and provided revised figures for final publication. They are:

• Aberdeenshire - revised Older Adults (aged 65+) and Adults (aged 18 to 64) figure for 2008/09
• Dundee City - revised Adults (aged 18 to 64) figure for 2007/08
• Moray - revised Adults (aged 18 to 64) figure for 2006/07 and Young people (aged 0 to 17) figure for 2006/07 and 2007/08
• Stirling - revised Young people (aged 0 to 17) figure for 2008/09
• West Dunbartonshire - revised Older Adults (aged 65+) figure for 2006/07
• West Lothian - revised Older Adults (aged 65+) and Adults (aged 18 to 64) figure for 2008/09

Daytime respite

Four Local Authorities identified errors in the previously published daytime respite data and provided revised figures for final publication. They are:

• Dundee City - revised Adults (aged 18 to 64) figure for 2007/08 and 2008/09
• East Renfrewshire - revised Adults (aged 18 to 64) figures for 2007/08
• Moray - revised Older Adults (aged 65+), Adults (aged 18 to 64) and Young people (aged 0 to 17) figure for 2007/08
• Orkney Islands - revised Adults (aged 18 to 64) figure for 2007/08

3.2.1 Methodology used by Local Authorities

Local Authorities were asked to provide full details of the methodology they use to identify respite provision based on the Audit Scotland guidance.

The collection of respite data is something that has proved to be very complex for Local Authorities to capture. This means that each Local Authority may use a variety of data collection methods and sources of information to collect the required information as specified in the Audit Commission guidelines. (Refer to Annex 7). The data is collected from either management/financial information systems, from manual records or direct from private/voluntary respite suppliers and is most commonly a combination of these data sources. The data will also incorporate a number of different services depending on the services available within a Local Authority, examples of the services included are;

• Day Care
• Home Care
• Short Breaks/Holiday breaks
• Direct payments

The Audit Commission Guide for 2005/06 and 2006/07 stated "Where a single episode of respite care involves both daytime and overnight support, count both the nights and the daytime hours" (p50). This sentence was removed from the guidance for 2007/08 onwards.

Our investigations show that seven Local Authorities are counting respite as both daytime and overnight support, when the services are received in the same episode of respite care. These are:

• Clackmannanshire
• East Renfrewshire
• Edinburgh
• Fife
• Inverclyde (only for Respite provided to a small number of clients)
• Moray (only for Respite provided in the home)
• West Dunbartonshire (only for Respite provided to Young people (aged 0 to 17))

On 19 May 2010, the number of local authorities has been changed from eight to seven due to a question being misinterpreted during the data validation exercise.

Overall respite provision in these areas may appear to be higher than other areas because they are, in effect, more than double counting their Care Home and Homecare respite provision. If a client has a week of respite in a Care Home, then most Local Authorities simply count this as 7 nights (=1 respite week). If a Local Authority counts this as 7 nights and 12 hours for each of 7 days then this is equal to 2.6 respite weeks.

3.2.2 Methodology changes over time

Local Authorities were asked whether they used exactly the same methodology to measure respite provision in 2007/08 and 2008/09. The majority of Local Authorities used the same methodology for both years which means that their figures should be comparable over time. Please note that the Local Authorities were not asked if any methodology changes were made between 2006/07 & 2007/08, therefore these figures may not be comparable for all Local Authorities.

Ten Local Authorities said that they had changed their methodology between 2007/08 and 2008/09. In many cases, Local Authorities began counting services which had been running for some time but which had not previously been included in the figures. In these cases, we asked the Local Authorities to provide figures for 2008/09 using the same methodology they had used in 2007/08. This allows us to see any genuine increase in services provision in 2008/09.

This means that two sets of figures are published for 2008/09 as follows:

• 2008/09 (Comparable) -This figure is produced using the same methodology as was used in 2007/08 and is therefore comparable with 2007/08.
• 2008/09 (New) - This figure may use different methodology from 2007/08, but is believed to be an improved count of respite by the Local Authorities concerned and will be comparable with the 2009/10 figure when published.

Further details on the Local Authorities who changed their methodology is given below:

• Aberdeen City - Prior to 2008/09, included Direct Payments, after school clubs and play schemes in the Children daytime respite figure. From 2008/09 these were excluded. Revised Young people (aged 0 to 17) daytime figure to allow for comparison with 2007/08.
• Aberdeenshire - Additional methods of recording respite were included in the 2008/09 figures. Older Adults (aged 65+) and Adults (aged 18 to 64) daytime figures have been revised for 2008/09 to allow for comparison with 2007/08.
• Angus - In 2008/09, respite provided in day centres was included for the first time. Older Adults (aged 65+) daytime figure has been revised for 2008/09 to allow for comparison with 2007/08.
• Dundee City - In 2008/09, Home Care enablement services were included for the first time. Adults (aged 18 to 64) daytime figure has been revised for 2008/09 to allow for comparison with 2007/08.
• East Ayrshire - In 2008/09, started to include adult day care respite not in a day centre. Adults (aged 18 to 64) daytime figure has been revised for 2008/09 to allow for comparison with 2007/08.
• Fife - In 2008/09, Adult day care centres were included for the first time. Also began recording daytime hours in conjunction with overnight respite, so overnight respite in a Care Home would count as 1 night and 12 hours. Provided revised figures for all daytime respite to allow comparisons to be made with 2007/08.
• Inverclyde - In 2008/09, began counting respite provided by contracted services and included additional homecare services. Older Adults (aged 65+) and Adults (aged 18 to 64) daytime figure has been revised for 2008/09 to allow for comparison with 2007/08.
• Orkney Islands - In 2008/09, began counting respite provided by Crossroads, through direct payments and Childcare summer play scheme. All daytime figures have been revised for 2008/09 allowing comparison with 2007/08.
• Renfrewshire - In 2008/09, began recording Intensive Domiciliary Support Service though this service was providing respite before 2008/09 but wasn't included in figures. Revised Older Adults (aged 65+) daytime figure to allow for comparison with 2007/08.
• West Dunbartonshire - In 2008/09, improvements made to how home care respite captured. Unable to provide revised figures for 2008/09.

3.2.3 Reasons for large increases/decreases in respite provision

Any large increases or decreases (+/- 20%) in respite provision for each of the six categories below were queried with the Local Authorities concerned:

• Older Adults (aged 65+), overnight respite
• Older Adults (aged 65+), daytime respite
• Adults (aged 18 to 64), overnight respite
• Adults (aged 18 to 64), daytime respite
• Young people (aged 0 to 17), overnight respite
• Young people (aged 0 to 17), daytime respite.

Some of the reasons identified for the increase or decreases within Local Authorities are detailed below:

Increases in provision

• Due to additional places, beds and funding being made available from existing services
• As a result of new units/services being made available
• Due to the shift in the balance of care making more flexible/alternative respite available.

Decreases in provision

• Due to budget and staffing pressures within the Councils.
• Due to a drop in demand or clients preferring to opt for non-respite services.

3.3 Further information

Further details and analysis of the data presented in this Statistics Release are available on request from the address given below. The Statistics Release is available on the Internet by accessing the Scottish Governments web site: - http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Health/Publications

Information at local authority level is shown in the annex to this Statistics Release.

Contact: Steven Gillespie
Tel: 0131 244 3777
E-mail: SWStat@scotland.gov.uk

This statistics release was published on 23 ^rd February 2010.