Part 1: Main Provisions Section 16: Duty of local authority to assess needs: Scotland
Under this section, the duty on Local Authorities to conduct a needs assessment under the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968 is relaxed to allow Local Authorities the discretion to dispense with the requirement in order to provide services and support for those most in urgent need without delay. It provides that Local Authorities can dispense with the requirement if conducting an assessment would be impractical or cause undesirable delay.
	The section also amends the duties under the Carers (Scotland) Act 2016 and associated regulations, to convert the duty to prepare an adult carer support plan/young carer statement to a power to do so.
	The territorial extent and application of this section is Scotland only.