Chamber and committees

I meet with my officials in Communities Scotland on a regular basis to discuss progress with the implementation of our plans for regenerating our communities.

It is NHS boards’responsibility to plan and provide services to meet the needs of their residentpopulations. However, as I advised in my answer to question S2O-2030 on 22April, the Scottish Executive has established a national Child and Adolescent MentalHealth Workforce Group to consider strategic workforce planning issues, andthis met for the first time on 24 March. The group’s work will include anevaluation of current workforce data, identification of current gaps and futureneed, and identification of actions to address gaps. A project plan will thenbe produced to ensure implementation of identified actions, with clear timescales.

I also mentioned on 22 Aprilthat the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Development Group is developing a“template” to support local service planning, a draft of which is expected tobe published in the autumn. This will include services for vulnerable childrenand young people, such as those who are looked after.

The Scottish Executive VolunteeringStrategy, which aims to embed a robust culture of volunteering in Scotland, isbeing published today. The centrepiece of the strategy is Project Scotland, theprogramme proposed by the working group to encourage full-time volunteering by youngpeople. Scottish ministers have approved plans for the creation of a new deliveryagency, independent of government, to run the scheme and to source private sectorinvestment. This partnership between public, private and volunteering sectors willbe chaired by Julia Ogilvy. The Scottish Executive has allocated £1.9 million/£3.5million/£3.5 million of new funding over the next three years to take the schemeforward. Both the Scottish Executive Volunteering Strategy (Bib. number 32519) andthe working group report (Bib. number 32520) can be accessed at the Parliament’sReference Centre and can also be found at www.scotland.gov.uk/viu.

In 2002-03,education authorities reported 480 children being home educated through parental choice.

We are notaware of evidence that this has any implications for child protection. Childprotection is everyone’s responsibility whether children are educated at home or elsewhere.

Ministers welcome the Royal DunfermlinePartnership’s proposals for an Urban Regeneration Company (URC). Officials fromthe Executive will be working closely with the partnership over the coming monthsto develop these proposals. Further announcements on URCs will follow in due course. 

TheSentencing Commission chaired by Lord McLean is reviewing the use of bail andremand. I have asked them as part of this review to give me their views on moreeffective sanctions against offending on bail. In the meanwhile we have lodgedan amendment to the Criminal Procedure (Amendment) (Scotland) Bill which willintroduce a power for the court to impose a remote monitoring restriction onthe accused at its own hand in cases involving rape or murder.

Further tothis Reduce, Rehabilitate, Reform,  the Executive’s consultation onreducing reoffending, is currently seeking views on how we can improve theeffectiveness and consistency of the management of offenders across Scotland.

We supportbodies such as Envirowise which provide advice to business on waste minimisation.On domestic waste, we are funding a programme by the Waste and Resources ActionProgramme which includes work on real nappies; home composting and work withretailers. We also support the public awareness work of the Scottish WasteAwareness Group and local authority activities through the Strategic WasteFund. The NationalWaste Plan states that the Executive will aim to stop growth in the amount ofmunicipal waste produced by 2010.

The table details how many Distinction Awards were made from 1999–2003 inclusive. The breakdown includes the number of awards made to those employed by the Common Services Agency and those employed in primary care trusts. A breakdown of the number of awards made to those in teaching and non teaching hospitals is not available.

Awards	Awards Granted				Awards Granted to	Employed
Year	A+	A	B	Total	Consultants in PCTs	by CSA
1999	8	19	33	60	6	2
2000	5	19	47	71	7	1
2001	12	34	67	113	13	1
2002	5	22	41	68	9	0
2003	6	17	37	60	3	2

 

We have asked the ScottishChildren Reporters Administration to identify any such cases. Should any casescome to light we will announce any furtheraction after this investigation is complete.

Distinctionawards (or merit awards) are determined by the Scottish Advisory Committee onDistinction Awards (SACDA). A guide to the scheme can be found on ScottishHealth on the Web (http://www.scot.nhs.uk/sehd/pcs.asp).More general information relating to SACDA can be found on http://www.show.scot.nhs.uk/sacda.