Chamber and committees

Local authorities will now be accountable for the outcomes they agree to deliver through single outcome agreements. The single outcome agreements reflect the priorities and agreed outcomes for each council and include relevant supporting indicators and targets. We would expect them to be working with their partners and service users to ensure the outcomes reflect the expectations of all service users.

The Scottish Government will commission a major piece of research for early 2010 to look at how The same as you? has improved the quality of life for people with learning disabilities and their families.

The Accountability and Governance Action group was one of five groups set up last year. The final action group to report published its report on 13 January 2009. I expect to publish a composite response to the Accountability and Governance Action Group, and the other four action groups, shortly. This composite response from the Scottish Government will address the interconnected issues, addressed by all the action groups in their work.

It is for individual local authorities to identify and meet the eligible needs of people in their area within a reasonable timescale according to relevant welfare and housing legislation and guidance. If individual clients are unhappy about the timescale or any other aspect of the delivery of services or equipment, they can raise this through the local authority''s complaints procedures.

Discussions are currently being held with the existing health and social care bodies to help establish the relevant scrutiny bodies and decisions on their structure and functions have yet to be made.

We have provided £9.5 million of funding to date to housing associations in 2008-09 for medical adaptations. Total spend in 2008-09 for medical adaptations will be available during April 2009.

The Scottish Government does not measure unmet need. It is for individual local authorities to identify and meet the eligible needs of people in their area within a reasonable timescale according to relevant welfare and housing legislation and guidance and to monitor their own performance.

Members of a reference group on self-directed support are currently considering a draft strategy to radically increase the uptake of self-directed support in Scotland for all client groups including individuals with a learning disability. Recommendations for action will be published spring 2009. A key part of this strategy will be running test sites in three local authorities over two years to consider how well specific interventions improve uptake. This work builds on the research A Review of Self Directed Support in Scotland published in June 2008 which demonstrated the flexibility, choice, control and independence that self-directed support is able to offer individuals. In addition, there are recognised health inequalities faced by people with learning disabilities, and we are funding an NHS Lothian project to consider how to improve the use of health monies as part of a self-directed support package. http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2008/05/30134050/0

Council funded local support services exist in most parts of Scotland to help service users, including those with a learning disability, to receive the support they need to access self-directed support. Officials will be undertaking visits to local authorities in 2009 to identify particular local obstacles that are preventing a more radical increase in the uptake of self-directed support, which will include consideration of the support mechanisms available to those accessing self-directed support.

Guidance published by the Scottish Procurement Directorate in August 2008 made clear that councils should have a strategy for the commissioning/procurement of social care services which recognises the need to maintain quality and continuity and addresses the concerns of service users. The Scottish Government is continuing to work with local authorities to promote best practice in the consideration of self-directed support in the context of wider commissioning strategies. The Social Work Inspection Agency is also developing self-evaluation guidance on commissioning.

There is no regulatory body that considers the treatment of service users receiving direct payments. The Social Work Inspection Agency considers practice of local authorities in their delivery of direct payments in conducting performance inspections. Complaints about the practice of local authorities in their treatment of service users with learning disabilities are handled in the same way as any other complaint against the council.