Chamber and committees

On 6 April a multi-agency meeting, including representatives from the City of Edinburgh Council, NHS Lothian and the Care Inspectorate was held to discuss care arrangements within Elsie Inglis. Following that meeting it was agreed that the City of Edinburgh Council staff together with support from NHS Lothian staff would undertake a systematic review of all residents within the care home.

Between periods 6 April until the end of May, the City of Edinburgh Council social work staff together with nursing staff from NHS Lothian were regularly in attendance at the home to ensure that the residents' needs were being met and to make recommendations as appropriate. During this period regular multi-agency meetings were held as well as meetings with the owners of the care home.

On the 11 of May the City of Edinburgh Council approached the care home owners and informed them that it was felt necessary for the Council to have permanent presence within the home to observe practice and advise. The Council had no legal powers to undertake such an action, however consent was granted by the owners of the home.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-02397 on 22 September 2011. 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.

The UK Government has not provided sufficient detail on the implementation of its proposed welfare reforms for the financial impact on future Scottish local government expenditure to be known. The Scottish Government has made repeated requests to the UK Government for further detail and will continue to press for this to be made available.

The legislation for free school meals is currently linked to a number of prescribed benefits and it is expected that a number of these will be repealed under the proposed UK Government welfare reforms. The Scottish Government will therefore consider making changes to the entitlement criteria in light of the UK Welfare Reform Bill and its regulations. School clothing grants are not linked to benefits by legislation, they are awarded subject to entitlement criteria set by local authorities.

The proposed UK Government welfare reforms will not change the entitlement criteria for Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA), which are based on household income, age, residency and validity of the student’s course.

Local authorities are best placed to make decisions about the entitlement criteria for the payment of kinship care allowances and the level of the rate paid, taking account of the child’s needs and the carers’ overall financial circumstances. The Scottish Government is working with COSLA to develop a shared understanding of the likely impact of the UK Government’s proposed welfare reforms.

The UK Government has not provided sufficient detail on the implementation of its proposed welfare reforms for the impact on future Scottish budgets to be known. The Scottish Government has made repeated requests to the UK Government for further detail and will continue to press for this to be made available.

The Scottish Government welcomes the devolution of responsibility for a successor to council tax benefit, although the timescale imposed by the UK Government poses significant operational challenges, especially given the continuing lack of detail around universal credit. We are also deeply concerned about the UK Government’s 10 per cent budget reduction for the devolved council tax benefit which will potentially reduce household incomes for over half a million people on the lowest incomes in Scotland. The Scottish Government will consult on the options for implementing a successor to council tax benefit later in the autumn of this year.

The legislation for free school meals is currently linked to a number of prescribed benefits and it is expected that a number of these will be repealed under the proposed UK Government welfare reforms. The Scottish Government will therefore consider making changes to the entitlement criteria in light of the UK Welfare Reform Bill and its regulations.

School clothing grants are not linked to benefits by legislation, they are awarded subject to entitlement criteria set by local authorities. However, local authorities’ entitlement criteria for school clothing grants is often the same as the entitlement criteria for free school meals therefore the proposed UK Government welfare reforms are likely to require local authorities to reconsider their criteria.

The proposed UK Government welfare reforms will not change the entitlement criteria for Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) and all eligible young people whose household income falls within the EMA income thresholds will continue to receive EMA.

Local authorities are best placed to make decisions about the entitlement criteria for the payment of kinship care allowances and the level of the rate paid, taking account of the child’s needs and the carers’ overall financial circumstances. The Scottish Government is working with COSLA to develop a shared understanding of the likely impact of the UK Government’s proposed welfare reforms.

The Scottish Government’s guidance on the Procurement of Care and Support Services recognised the need for commissioning bodies to work in partnership with service providers to make the best use of available funding whilst maintaining the quality of services and meeting service users’ needs and expectations.

The guidance was published following a two-year review of the procurement of social services. In addition, Audit Scotland is currently undertaking a performance audit of the commissioning of social care services in Scotland. Pending the outcome of this work, we do not intend to initiate a further review of the procurement of social care services.

The Scottish Government published comprehensive guidance for local authorities on the Procurement of Care and Support Services in September 2010 after extensive consultation with stakeholders, including service user and carer representative organisations, independent, voluntary and public sector service providers and organisations which procure care and support services. The guidance is available on the Scottish Government’s website:

http://www.Scotland.gov.uk./Resource/Doc/324602/0104497.pdf.

The Scottish Government Health and Social Care Directorate requested that Scottish Futures Trust review the accounting and budgetary classification of the East Ayrshire Community Hospital PFI project contract signed with Cumnock Special Purpose Vehicle Limited. The preliminary assessment under European System of Accounts 1995 indicated that the asset should remain on the government’s balance sheet for national accounts purposes.

Scottish Government officials and Scottish Futures Trust have also assisted by providing advice and opinion at a number of the discussions held between one or more of the parties to the contract variation. The main parties to the discussions have been the board, the Special Purpose Vehicle parent company and the funding bank.