Chamber and committees

The new Disclosure Scotland applicationform is set out in the Schedule to Scottish Statutory Instrument (SSI) 2006 No 521.The SSI came into force on 15 December 2006 after completing the normal Parliamentaryprocess for Instruments that are subject to negative procedure. The new form wasintroduced following criticism by users that the previous form was too complicated.The top 35 users of Disclosure Scotland, including the Central Registered Body forScotland (CRBS), which processes free checks for the voluntary sector, were consultedon the planned revisions. The new form is simpler and more logical. It includestwo new questions. The first ensures that the Disqualified from Working with ChildrenList and its English counterpart is checked for all childcare posts and the Protectionof Vulnerable Adults list from England checked for posts working with protectedadults. The second allows free checks for volunteers working with children and protectedadults in the voluntary sector to be processed without the involvement of the CRBS.

The new form can be used for applications for disclosures underthe Police Act 1997 for at least the next seven years. It will also be used by thoseapplicants who will in future join the vetting and barring Scheme proposed in theProtection of Vulnerable Groups (Scotland) Bill until such time as the scheme isup and running, which is expected to be during 2008.

The Scottish Funding Councilfor Further and Higher Education is responsible for issues relating to the fundingof colleges and higher education institutions in Scotland. I have asked the Chairof the Funding Council to respond directly.

Information on physiotherapywaiting times is not routinely collected nationally.

Aone-off census of Allied Health Professional (AHP) services was carried out on 14 September 2005 to help ascertain the magnitude, variety and diversityof AHPs’ caseloads. A broad range of information, including information on waitingtimes, was gathered, and the report Waitingfor AHP Services - A Review Of The Numbers Waiting And Possible Waiting Times ForAn Appointment With An AHP was published on 6 July 2006. This is availableat:

http://www.isdscotland.org/isd/collect2.jsp?pContentID=3896&p_applic=CCC&p_service=Content.show&.

The report provides summary dataconcerning waiting times and numbers of patients waiting for appointments on a particularday. The data suggests that 94% of patients could expect a first appointment within18 weeks and 75% of patients could expect a first appointment in less than 10 weeksif they are to attend a clinic, six weeks if they are to be seen at home and twoweeks if they are to be seen while an in-patient.

The following table highlightsthe number of bursaries awarded by the Student Awards Agency for Scotland to studentswho were domiciled in the (a) Argyll and Bute and (b) West Dunbartonshire local authority area in eachyear since academic year 2003-04 and the total value of these bursary payments:

	(a) Argyll and Bute Local Authority Area		(b) West Dunbartonshire Local Authority Area
	All Students Receiving a Bursary	Total Amounts of Bursary Paid Out (£)	All Students Receiving a Bursary	Total Amounts of Bursary Paid Out (£)
2003-04	955	1,342,421	1,210	1,776,498
2004-05	895	1,229,940	1,170	1,576,421
2005-06	895	1,488,599	1,170	1,979,106

Source: Student Awards Agencyfor Scotland (SAAS).

Note: All student numbers inthis table are rounded up or down to the nearest five.

Students can receive a numberof different financial awards/bursaries, including Travel Expenses, Young StudentsBursary, Lone Parents Grant, Standard Maintenance Allowance, Disabled Students Allowance,Lone Parents Childcare Grant, Young Students Outside Scotland Bursaryand Dependants Grant.

We have committed over £339 millionfrom 2000-01 to 2007-08 under the Strategic Waste Fund and made indicative awardsof over £720 million from 2008-09 onwards. This totals over £1 billion to localauthorities to improve recycling and divert waste from landfill.

The Scottish Executive’s SchoolsFund capital grant allocations to Argyll and Bute and to West Dunbartonshire are set out in table 1. The money is used for schools capital investmentprojects both large and small. In addition, the Executive has offered revenue supportof £5.73 million per annum to Argyll and Bute and £7.15 million per annum to West Dunbartonshire towards the costs of their respective PPP projects, once the schools becomeavailable for use.

Authorities also have generalresources at their disposal, principally through borrowing and capital receipts,for capital expenditure on infrastructure, including school buildings. The Executiveprovides loan charges support for such borrowing, which is not specific to particularservices. Total gross capital expenditure by Argyll and Bute and West Dunbartonshire on Education is set out in table 2. The full details of how all the capitalresources for schools have been used by the two authorities are not held by theExecutive.

Table 1: Schools Fund CapitalGrant Allocations (£000)

	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07
Argyll and Bute	600	600	860	576	737	1,541	1,943	2,639
West Dunbartonshire	550	550	797	550	746	1,560	1,967	2,671

 

Table 2: Education - Total GrossCapital Expenditure (including payments funded from revenue) (£000)

	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Argyll and Bute	3,336	2,530	2,894	3,003	2,563	2,350	4,551
West Dunbartonshire	5,034	3,034	3,974	2,271	3,875	1,821	2,863

Source: As reported by localauthorities on Capital Payment Returns (CPR5).

Notes:

1. Education includes nursery,primary, secondary and special schools

2. Figures do not include expenditureon Public Private Partnership (PPP) schemes, where the capital expenditure is incurredby the private sector partner, not the local authority. Authorities make annualpayments to their PPP partners over the contract period in respect of capital works,services and on-going maintenance.

3. Figures in Table 2 includeSchools Fund capital grant expenditure.

The information requested iscontained in the following table:

Number and Proportion ofSchool Leavers Entering Full-Time Higher or Further Education

	2003-04	2004-05
Argyll and Bute	442 (48%)	491 (47%)
West Dunbartonshire	503 (47%)	646 (52%)

 

Information on the destinationsof young people leaving school in 2005-06 is due to be published on the 6 December 2006.

Direct payments are a meansto allow an individual to purchase the support that would otherwise be arrangedby the local authority, and must be made from within existing overallresources. However, in recognition of additional costs incurred whilst directpayments schemes are developed in tandem with more traditional services, the2004 spending review allocated an additional £1.8 million expenditure during2006 to Scottish local authorities and £2 million annually thereafter to bringdirect payments fully into mainstream service provision.

In addition, the ScottishExecutive awarded £210,000 in grants in 2006-07 for information, support workand training to national direct payments support organisations such as the Scottish Consortium of Direct Payments Support Organisation (SCDPSO), apartnership of the Centres for Integrated Living, and the Scottish PersonalAssistant Employers Network (SPAEN).

The annual statisticspublication on education maintenance allowances at Scottish level will be publishedon 14 November. The breakdown by local authority, published annually on theinternet, will be updated in the same week.

The Executive monitors localauthorities’ activities on direct payments in two ways.

Local authorities are requiredto complete the quarterly statistical return DP1 of key monitoring information,which the Scottish Executive compiles into an annual statistical return. Thelatest national figures are available on the Scottish Executive website at thefollowing link:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2006/09/25160444/0.

In response to the HealthCommittee’s recent Care Inquiry, the Scottish Executive issued in September draftguidance for public consultation which highlights that Local ImprovementTargets (LITs) of the Joint Performance Information and Assessment Framework(JPIAF) are used to monitor local authority performance. It is an expectationof the grant aided expenditure (GAE) for direct payments for 2006 onwards thatlocal authorities provide local information, support and training, both fordirect payments recipients and personal assistants (PAs,) and local authoritystaff involved in financing and delivering care locally. We shall use LITs tomonitor progress on delivery. Further information on LITs can be found on the Scottish Executive Joint Future website at the following link:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Health/care/JointFuture/LITS.