- Asked by: Jenny Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 June 2011
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 21 July 2011
To ask the Scottish Executive when it will revise the child protection guidance for health officials to bring it in line with the new national child protection guidance.
Answer
Work by officials to update Child Protection Guidance for Health Professionals (The Pink Book) is underway and is expected to be completed in early 2012.
- Asked by: Jenny Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 June 2011
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 21 July 2011
To ask the Scottish Executive when it will develop a national competency framework to set out a common set of skills and standards for child protection professionals.
Answer
The draft national competency framework is expected to be ready for public consultation in 2012; following the completion of the detailed scoping for the development of the framework.
- Asked by: Jenny Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 June 2011
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 20 July 2011
To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made on expanding nursery education in each year since 2007.
Answer
Since August 2007, as part of the Concordat agreement between Scottish Government and COSLA, the minimum entitlement to pre-school education for all three and four year olds changed from 412.5 hours to 475 hours per annum.
Local authorities have the flexibility to go further in order to meet their local priorities. Several councils across Scotland therefore offer additional entitlement such as offering free pre-school education closer to a child’s third birthday or extending the entitlement to cover vulnerable two-year-olds.
- Asked by: Jenny Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 June 2011
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 20 July 2011
To ask the Scottish Executive what progress will be made over the next five years on expanding nursery education.
Answer
We will continue to work with our local government partners so that we continue to enhance and improve pre-school education.
- Asked by: Jenny Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 June 2011
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 11 July 2011
To ask the Scottish Executive when it will introduce legislation to create an obligation for local authorities, NHS boards and the Scottish Government to deliver early years services.
Answer
The Cabinet Secretary for Education & Lifelong Learning made a commitment to introduce legislation during this session of Parliament at the Education Debate on 16 June. The content and timing of the legislation is yet to be confirmed and pre-legislative consultation on the subject is planned to commence after the summer recess.
- Asked by: Jenny Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 June 2011
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 11 July 2011
To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made in developing a caring for carers employers’ kitemark and when it will be introduced.
Answer
The Caring for Carer Employers’ Kite-mark is an important Manifesto Commitment requiring a great deal of development work with employer bodies, the National Carers Organisations and other interests. Officials are working up a scoping paper for discussion with these interests. The kite-mark will be introduced when we are satisfied that we have a workable scheme of real benefit to carers.
In the meantime, work is underway to take forward the actions in the Carers Strategy, published last year, to promote the benefits to employers of carer-friendly and flexible working practices.
- Asked by: Jenny Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 June 2011
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 11 July 2011
To ask the Scottish Executive when it will develop a national risk assessment toolkit for professionals working in child protection.
Answer
Work on the national risk assessment toolkit is currently progressing. A draft version of the toolkit will be ready for pilot-testing in August 2011 and the final version is expected to be ready for dissemination in April 2012.
- Asked by: Jenny Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 June 2011
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 11 July 2011
To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made on developing new guidance for professionals working in child protection regarding disabled children.
Answer
Work on developing guidance and materials to support professionals working in child protection where disability is a significant issue within a family will begin in autumn 2011. It is anticipated that the outputs of this work will be available for consultation in late 2012 with a view to publication in 2013.
- Asked by: Jenny Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 June 2011
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 11 July 2011
To ask the Scottish Executive when it will publish new guidance for professionals working in child protection regarding disabled children.
Answer
Work on developing guidance and materials to support professionals working in child protection where disability is a significant issue within a family will begin in autumn 2011. It is anticipated that the outputs of this work will be available for consultation in late 2012 with a view to publication in 2013.