Care homes: further provision
70.Section 53 of the Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act 2010 (“the 2010 Act”) provides that Social Care and Social Work Improvement Scotland (otherwise known as the Care Inspectorate) may inspect registered care services, and sets out the purpose of inspections.
71.Paragraph 22 adds section 53A to the 2010 Act, requiring that the Care Inspectorate must lay a report before Parliament every two weeks during the emergency period (the period for which paragraph 22 is in force). These reports must set out which care home services it has inspected in the two week period as well as the findings of those inspections.
72.Paragraph 23 inserts section 79B into the 2010 Act which introduces new duties about the reporting of deaths in care homes services from or attributable to coronavirus.
73.Section 79A(1) of the 2010 Act requires that care home service providers must provide certain information to the Care Inspectorate each day in relation to the numbers of deaths which have occurred in a care home service, whether caused by or attributable to coronavirus or not.
74.Section 79A(2) of the 2010 Act requires that the Care Inspectorate must prepare a report of the information provided by care home service providers as soon as practicable at the end of every seven day period during which the Care Inspectorate has been receiving such information. This report is to be shared with the Scottish Ministers.
75.Section 79(3) of the 2010 Act requires the Scottish Ministers to subsequently lay reports prepared by the Care Inspectorate under section 79A(2) before Parliament as soon as practicable after having received these from the Care Inspectorate and in any event no later than seven days after receipt.