Parliamentary questions

Andy Kerr

326 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.

4 Dec 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, under the terms of its concordat with COSLA, what “allowance for subsequent years” means in relation to the provision of free personal care.

Answer · Shona Robison: We will bring forwardregulations to increase the payments for personal and nursing care in care homesin line with inflation from April 2008. We have agreed with COSLA that this upliftand any further inflationary increase to the standard payment levels over th…

4 Dec 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, under the terms of its concordat with COSLA, what “through care homes fees” means in the context of improving care home quality.

Answer · Shona Robison: To improve the qualityof care within care homes, the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities is workingin partnership with the Care Commission and care providers to develop a model tolink the level of fees paid to providers to the quality of care.

4 Dec 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, under the terms of its concordat with COSLA, whether the cash settlement set by the concordat is expected to cover the introduction of kinship carers’ allowances.

Answer · Adam Ingram: The funding packageoffered to local government, as part of the joint concordat between the ScottishGovernment and COSLA, contains adequate allocation for local authorities to meetthe commitment and outcomes contained within the concordat.

4 Dec 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, under the terms of its concordat with COSLA, how eligibility for a kinship carers’ allowance will be assessed.

Answer · Adam Ingram: Allowances will bepaid to approved kinship carers of looked after children. The term “looked after”is defined in the Children (Scotland) Act 1995. The approval process for kinshipcarers will be developed by the reference group established by Getting it rig…

4 Dec 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, under the terms of its concordat with COSLA, what its estimate is of the number of kinship carers likely to be eligible for new allowances.

Answer · Adam Ingram: In accordance withthe concordat, it is for a local authority to determine the number of kinship carerseligible for allowance. Eligibility criteria are set out in Getting It rightfor every child in kinship and foster care.Data on the numberof kin…

4 Dec 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, under the terms of its concordat with COSLA, what “equivalent” means in relation to kinship carers’ allowances and foster carers’ allowances.

Answer · Adam Ingram: As set out in theNational Fostering and Kinship Care Strategy, “equivalent” means the rate paid bya local authority to foster carers less child benefit. That is based on the factthat foster carers, unlike kinship carers, cannot claim child benefit.

4 Dec 2007 · Written Question

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: The Scottish Governmentand COSLA are committed, through the concordat, to provide more school pupils withopportunities to experience vocational learning. We have not imposed specific targets,rather it is for each local authority to determine, on the basis of …

4 Dec 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, under the terms of its concordat with COSLA, whether it accepts that there may be variations between local authorities in the number and breadth of skills for work and other vocational courses that local authorities might make available and whether there is any limit to the level of vari…

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: The Scottish Governmentand COSLA are committed, through the concordat, toprovide more school pupils with opportunities to experience vocational learning.It is for each local authority to determine, on the basis of local needs, how bestto deliver that commitme…

4 Dec 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, under the terms of its concordat with COSLA, whether it has any targets for the number of additional skills for work courses that it wants to be made available in the next three years.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: The Scottish Governmentand local government are working in partnership with colleges, local employers andothers as appropriate to give more school pupils opportunities to experience vocationallearning.

4 Dec 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, under the terms of its concordat with COSLA, whether colleges will be expected to meet any additional costs to local authorities in providing more vocational learning opportunities.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: Giving more schoolpupils opportunities to experience vocational learning is one of twelve specifiedcommitments in our concordat with COSLA and the Spending Review settlement to localauthorities reflects this. Funding for the Scottish Funding Council also refl…

4 Dec 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, under the terms of its concordat with COSLA, whether colleges have been given extra resources as part of the spending review to meet any additional costs of extending vocational learning opportunities to school students and, if so, how much has been provided.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: Funding for the ScottishFunding Council reflects its responsibilities to fund college courses, includingcourses for school pupils. Thecollege sector has been allocated additional resources as part of the 2007 SpendingReview. We are currently in discussions wi…

4 Dec 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, under the terms of its concordat with COSLA, whether local authorities will be expected to share the costs of colleges assisting them to deliver more vocational opportunities from within the cash settlement set under the concordat.

4 Dec 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, under the terms of its concordat with COSLA, whether local authorities will have to find the cost of giving more school pupils more vocational learning opportunities from within the cash settlement set under the concordat.

4 Dec 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, under the terms of its concordat with COSLA, how funding costed in the SNP manifesto for free school meals compares with the amount allocated in Scottish Budget: Spending Review 2007 and what the reasons are for any differences in the two figures.

Answer · Adam Ingram: The concordat makesclear that the vast majority of the funding allocated through the Scottish Budget,including the funding for free school meals, will be provided by means ofa block grant. It is the responsibility of each local authority to allocate th…

4 Dec 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, under the terms of its concordat with COSLA, what it estimates the annual cost will be of extending entitlement to those on maximum child tax credit and how that cost will be arrived at.

Answer · Adam Ingram: I refer the memberto the answer to question S3W-6744 on 3 December 2007. All answers to written parliamentaryquestions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for whichcan be found at <a href="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa…

4 Dec 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, under the terms of its concordat with COSLA, whether local authorities will have to meet the costs of extending the entitlement to free school meals to those on maximum child tax credit from August 2009 from within the sums agreed as part of the concordat.

Answer · Adam Ingram: I refer the memberto the answer to question S3W-6744 on 3 December 2007. All answers to written parliamentary questions are availableon the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at <ahref="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa…

4 Dec 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, under the terms of its concordat with COSLA, what legislation is required to extend free school meals to the recipients of maximum child tax credit.

Answer · Adam Ingram: Regulations undersection 53(3) of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 arerequired to extend free school lunches to the recipients of maximum child tax credit.These regulations will be subject to negative procedure in the Scottish Parliament.

4 Dec 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, under the terms of its concordat with COSLA, whether any individual local authority will have discretion on whether to introduce free school meals for all primary 1, 2 and 3 pupils if the pilot is deemed to have been successful and the Scottish Government wishes it be rolled out.

Answer · Adam Ingram: Under the terms ofconcordat there will be a move to an agreement for every local authority, basedon the agreed set of national outcomes. For the entire package to remain intact,the Scottish Government and local government will each do what is required to ensu…

4 Dec 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, under the terms of its concordat with COSLA, whether local government will be able to veto any extension to the free school meals pilot.

Answer · Adam Ingram: As stated in the concordat,for the entire package to remain intact, the Scottish Government and local governmentwill each do what is required to ensure delivery of key government policies andprogrammes. That includes delivery of the commitment that local auth…

4 Dec 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, under the terms of its concordat with COSLA, what powers it has to act when any local authority consistently fails to meet its single outcome agreement.

Answer · John Swinney: I refer the memberto the answer to question S3W-7256 on 14 December 2007. All answers to written parliamentary questions are availableon the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at <ahref="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/w…

4 Dec 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, under the terms of its concordat with COSLA, whether it sees a role for the Parliament and its committees in oversight arrangements to manage and monitor the concordat.

Answer · John Swinney: I refer the memberto the answers to questions S3W-6578 and S3W-6660 on 12 December 2007. All answers to written parliamentary questions are availableon the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:<ahref="http://www.scottish.…

4 Dec 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, under the terms of its concordat with COSLA, whether funds have been allocated as part of the local government settlement for respite for 1,000 young carers.

Answer · Shona Robison: The Scottish Governmentwill be providing local government in Scotland with record levels of funding overthe spending review period, as set out in the concordat. While it is for each local authority to allocate its resources on the basisof local needs and prio…

4 Dec 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, under the terms of its concordat with COSLA, whether it has no means of intervening and will not intervene in the actions of local authorities to redeploy funds previously directed to particular client groups.

Answer · John Swinney: Under the terms of the concordat, it is the responsibility of each local authority to allocate thetotal financial resources available to it on the basis of local needs and prioritieshaving first fulfilled its statutory obligations and the agreed set of nation…

4 Dec 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, under the terms of its concordat with COSLA, whether it accepts that removing ring-fenced funding may mean that funds previously guaranteed to support particular client groups may now be redeployed by local authorities for other purposes and to meet funding pressures in other areas of ac…

4 Dec 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, under the terms of its concordat with COSLA, how it will monitor and assess whether local authorities individually or collectively are meeting their 2% per annum efficiency target.

Answer · John Swinney: I refer the memberto the question S3W-7267 on 14 December 2007. All answers towritten parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the searchfacility for which can be found at <ahref="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search">h…

3 Dec 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what health-related centres of excellence it supports or has supported since 1999.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The term “centre ofexcellence” could be applied to many types of organisation and facility in healthrelated areas.In terms of the research,the following centres are currently supported through the Chief Scientist’s Office:The Health ServicesRese…

3 Dec 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what responses it is making to Inquiry into the status of CFS/ME and research into causes and treatment, the Gibson Report, published in November 2006.

Answer · Shona Robison: The Gibson Reportwas produced by the Group on Scientific Research into ME, which consists of a numberof members of the UK Parliament at Westminster. It deals with an issue which isdevolved to the Scottish Parliament, but has not, so far as I am aware, been pr…

3 Dec 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what funding has been given to bio-medical research into chronic fatigue syndrome and myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) since 1999.

Answer · Shona Robison: The Chief ScientistOffice (CSO), of the Scottish Government’s Health Directorates, which has responsibilityfor encouraging and supporting research into health and health care needs in Scotland, is collaborating with the Medical Research Council (MRC)on the im…

3 Dec 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide contact details for all managed clinical networks.

Answer · Shona Robison: I refer the memberto the answer to question S3W-7384 on 12 December 2007. All answers to written parliamentary questions are availableon the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at <ahref="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/w…

3 Dec 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list all managed clinical networks, showing the disease groups covered by each.

Answer · Shona Robison: The information availablecentrally is given in table Managed Clinical Networks, a copy of which isavailable in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 44254).