Publication: Improving care experience: Delivering The Promise - audit scope

All children need help to thrive, including a stable home, strong support and secure, loving relationships, and some children and families need extra support from public services. In Scotland more than 12,000 children receive extra support including foster, kinship, adoptive or residential care, and over 2,000 children are recorded on the child protection register. Supporting people with care experience into adulthood is also important, in areas such as health, education, and employment.

In February 2020, an Independent Root and Branch Review of Care (the Care Review) identified the changes needed to transform services across the whole system, for people with care experience, and their families. The Scottish Government committed to delivering this change through ‘The Promise’. Five years on from the Care Review, assessments of progress have highlighted positive examples of change, but many risks remain in delivering The Promise by 2030.

The purpose of this performance audit is to assess the enablers and barriers to improving people’s care experience by delivering The Promise. It will look at how public bodies are responding to these and, where appropriate, make recommendations to support improvement. We plan to publish the report on behalf of the Auditor General and the Accounts Commission in October 2025.