Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government does not collect data on the alcohol intake of people following a Keep Well check.

It is up to individual boards to decide what data to collect locally, which helps them in planning their local service needs.

As part of the Keep Well health check, individuals are assessed for their alcohol consumption and where appropriate individuals are referred to alcohol services for further support.

While the Scottish Government provides funding for Alcohol and Drug Partnerships (ADPs) via their respective health boards, the government does not performance manage them as ADPs are accountable to local Community Planning Partnerships.

On 20 April 2009 we launched a new joint Framework, signed jointly by Scottish Government, the NHS and Convention Of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA), for delivering action on alcohol and drugs at local level. 30 Alcohol and Drug Partnerships (ADPs) were created as a result of the framework and are anchored in Community Planning Partnerships. This document is available at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2009/03/04144703/0.

Scottish Government, COSLA and NHS Scotland issued ADP Planning and Reporting Guidance for 2012-15 to local areas on 5 April 2012. It identifies seven core outcomes which ADPs are expected to deliver on and are augmented by a set of core indicators, which are available at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Health/Services/Alcohol/treatment/Partnership-Outcomes.

This Guidance aims to support the embedding of outcomes based planning and reporting at local level, helping ADPs to self-assess their performance (including benchmarking against other ADPs) and to articulate their contribution to their local Single Outcome Agreement, as well as contributing to a national picture of our overall progress in supporting alcohol and drug prevention, support and treatment.

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

There is not a Direct Enhanced Service (DES) for alcohol screening and brief interventions in Scotland. Alcohol Screening and Brief Interventions across Scotland are delivered across a range of settings.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-12803 on 4 March 2013, which contains details of all the Alcohol Brief Interventions carried out between 2010 and 2012 by NHS board.

All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

Scottish Government Ministers and officials regularly engage with alcohol treatment providers via Alcohol and Drug Partnerships (ADPs). When engaging with ADPs, Scottish Government Ministers and officials cover a range of topics given the broad remit and function of ADPs.

ADPs are strategic partnerships, established in 2009 and are responsible for: developing local strategies for tackling problem alcohol and drug use and promoting recovery, based on an assessment of local needs; and, putting in place an evidence based process for agreeing how funds should be deployed with a clear focus on the outcomes that the investment will deliver. ADPs are embedded within Community Planning Partnership structures and contribute to the delivery of local Single Outcome Agreements.

Alcohol and Drug Partnerships (ADPs) are strategic partnerships, established in 2009 and are responsible for: developing local strategies for tackling problem alcohol and drug use and promoting recovery.

ADPs are responsible to undertake routine and on-going needs assessment of their local communities which should then inform decision-making for the provision of appropriate services for their area. This assessment of need should take into account the impact problem alcohol and drug use has on families and the need for related services to provide appropriate support.

There are a number of voluntary organisations and mutual aid groups such Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) across Scotland that support individuals in their recovery and also helps to catalyse the growth of recovery communities that support families and individuals to overcome the problems associated with problem alcohol use.

Alcohol Focus Scotland provides a search facility to identify support services throughout Scotland on their website. This is available at: http://www.alcohol-focus-scotland.org.uk/getting_help/

The Scottish Government has provided funding to the Partnership Drugs Initiative (PDI) since 2001.

The PDI funds voluntary organisations delivering different projects across all 30 Alcohol and Drug Partnership areas working with families, vulnerable children and young people affected by substance misuse.

Over the period from 2010 to the present date, the Scottish Government has sought concessions to the UK Government’s housing benefit reforms on numerous occasions since DWP first announced its welfare reforms. These are that:

Responsibility for housing benefit be devolved to the Scottish Parliament

The proposal to reduce housing benefit for benefit recipients unemployed for twelve months or more be withdrawn

The regulations on under-occupation deductions be withdrawn

Under-occupation deductions should not apply where there is no alternative accommodation available

Under-occupation deductions apply only to benefit recipients with two or more spare bedrooms

Vulnerable tenants be safeguarded against direct payments

Working families, disabled people, foster carers and parents who shared responsibility for children be safeguarded from under occupation penalties

The flexibility afforded to the Northern Ireland Assembly on direct payments be extended to the Scottish Parliament

People living in supported exempt accommodation be exempt from the benefits cap

The UK Government increases its discretionary housing payments allocation to local authorities.

Over the same period, DWP withdrew the proposal to reduce housing benefit for benefit recipients unemployed for twelve months or more; and decided to maintain current arrangements for covering the housing costs of benefit recipients in supported exempt accommodation for the next one to two years.

In respect of direct payments, DWP has committed to provide budgeting support and make payment exceptions to a proportion of tenants. It has funded six direct payment demonstration projects to inform practice on direct payments. We are closely monitoring progress in this area.

Although DWP has increased the discretionary housing payment (DHPs) budget, this constitutes less than 4% of the overall cuts to housing benefit. In respect of under-occupation, DWP intends that local authorities prioritise DHPs to people living in substantially adapted accommodation and foster/kinship carers.

The Scottish Government and Scottish housing stakeholders continue to engage with DWP to seek to influence the UK Government’s welfare reforms.

The following table shows the estimated numbers of households in Scotland affected by housing benefit changes which have been implemented by the United Kingdom Government to date and those which are scheduled to be implemented from April 2013.

Assessments of the possible impacts of these changes are published on the Scottish Government website at:

Impact of Housing Benefit Changes in Scotland

Notes:

1. Since some households may have been affected by more than one of the changes it is not possible to provide an estimate of the total number of households affected.

2. Figure shows the total number of households receiving local housing allowance at the latest available date. The effect on households will depend on whether private landlords continue to rent to households on housing benefit at LHA rates restricted in this way.

This information is not held centrally. While Scottish Government does not collect consolidated statistics for services provided to disabled children and young people by local authority, figures are available for disabled children and young people in a number of areas. These include: