Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-01771 on 5 August 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/Apps2/MAQASearch/QAndMSearch.aspx.

The Scottish Government has asked NHS Health Scotland to lead on monitoring and evaluating the implementation and impact of current alcohol strategy in Scotland. A study specifically on implementation of the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 was started in January 2010 and is due to finish in March 2013. A first interim report was published in June 2011.

The guidance on National Eligibility Criteria and Waiting Times for the Personal and Nursing Care of Older People includes specific reference to moderate and low level needs and the provision of preventative or other support services is addressed. The guidance states that councils and their partners should consider whether the provision of services or equipment or other interventions might help prevent or reduce the risk of an individual’s needs becoming more intensive. It also asks councils to ensure that they have in place clear arrangements for meeting, managing or reviewing the needs of individuals who are not assessed as being at “critical” or “substantial” risk, including provision of preventative or other support services appropriate to the clients’ needs.

We have also invested £70 Million in the Change Fund to assist Reshaping Care for Older people to ensure we accelerate the progress of shifting the balance from acute settings to the care in the community and get better at early intervention.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-01771 on 5 August 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 Scottish Government measures progress against reducing poverty through its national poverty indicator within Scotland Performs. Information on this can be accessed at:

http://scotland.gov.uk/About/scotPerforms/indicators/poverty.

The source of information is the Department for Work and Pension's Family Resources Survey, Households Below Average Income datasets.

The Scottish Government has also signed up to the UK Child Poverty Act which contains four measures of child poverty. Progress on these measures are reported on in the annual Poverty and Income Inequality in Scotland publication at:

www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/933/0116722.pdf.

Work to gather statistics in relation to the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 is currently being undertaken and will be published in due course.

The view of the Scottish Government is that conditions will apply on the date the conditions come into force although ministers could choose to commence a particular condition in such a way that it applied only to licences granted after a specified date.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-02562 on 15 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/Apps2/MAQASearch/QAndMSearch.aspx.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-02562 on 15 September 2011. All answers to written parliamentary uestions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/MAQASearch/QAndMSearch.aspx.

I refer the member to the answer to questions S4W-01633, S4W-01634, S4W-01635, S4W-01636 and S4W-01637 on 2 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/Apps2/MAQASearch/QAndMSearch.aspx

The delay in answering these written questions occurred as a result of the time necessary to retrieve information from the human resources systems across the range of bodies in respect of which the information was sought.