- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 January 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 23 January 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what period the #150,000 announced by the Minister for Education and Young People on 14 January 2003 for the Inclusive Learning Network for children with special educational needs will cover.
Answer
The Inclusive Learning Network was formally launched on 14 January 2003. The Equity Group were awarded £150,000 to take forward this project within the period June 2002 to March 2004. Funding is paid through the Special Educational Needs Innovation Grants Programme.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 10 January 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Hugh Henry on 23 January 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what its response is to the statement in paragraph 139 of the Audit Scotland report, Dealing with offending by young people, that "a serious problem is the lack of throughcare and aftercare" and "prisoners serving less than four years are not subject to statutory aftercare and may receive no support after leaving prison".
Answer
We have recognised the need for improved throughcare and aftercare of prisoners in a major new policy development based on the Tripartite Group's report, Developing the Service. The report, which is to be published later this month, identifies young offenders as a priority group. Membership of the Tripartite Group is drawn from the Scottish Executive, the Scottish Prison Service and local authorities.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 22 January 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what funding it provides (a) to Capability Scotland and (b) towards the costs of schools such as Westerlea School in Edinburgh.
Answer
The Scottish Executive is providing direct funding to Capability Scotland in 2002-03 as set out in the table:
| Project/Purpose | Amount | Paid Under |
| Parents as Partners Project | £73,600 | Educational Development, Research and Services (Scotland) Grant Regulations 1999 |
| Supporting the Inclusion of Pupils with Physical Disabilities | £51,500 | Educational Development, Research and Services (Scotland) Grant Regulations 1999 |
| Chatability Project | £7,000 | Educational Development, Research and Services (Scotland) Grant Regulations 1999 |
| Core Funding | £45,000 | Section 10 (1) Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968 |
| Total | £177,100 | |
The Scottish Executive does not provide funding for Westerlea School but provides grant aided funding to Capability Scotland for Corseford School, Kilbarchan and Stanmore House School, Lanark. Grant aid in 2002-03 is £1,020,200 for Corseford School, and £1,408,200 for Stanmore House School for running costs, with £47,957 and £59,007 respectively, for capital expenditure.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 10 January 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 22 January 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive when it will publish its new national youth justice standards, as referred to by the Minister for Education and Young People on 5 December 2002 in its press release SEED153/2002.
Answer
The
National Standards for Scotland's Youth Justice Services report was published on 19 December 2002. It is available in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. number 25683) and on the Scottish Executive website at:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/library5/justice/nssyjs-00.asp
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 10 January 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 22 January 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to recruit retired staff, sessional staff and train other professionals to deal with young people who offend, in the light of the finding in paragraph 219 of the Audit Scotland report, Dealing with offending by young people.
Answer
We are currently in the second phase of the Care in Scotland Life Changing Work campaign launched in October 2002. The campaign deals with all areas of social care, which includes young people who offend. In June 2002 I announced new funding of £400,000 for postgraduate bursaries and a further £800,000 will be made available this year. These measures have already attracted additional graduates into social work training. The Executive is working with COSLA to identify further measures.I also announced in December 2002 that £3 million would be made available from the Intensive Support Fund. Part of this funding will improve the aftercare of young people leaving secure accommodation to return to residential units or the community.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 10 January 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 22 January 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what data it has on the number of young people in residential and secure units and young offenders institutions that have mental health difficulties and on the staffing provision in such units and institutions, as referred to in paragraph 166 of the Audit Scotland report, Dealing with offending by young people.
Answer
In 2001-02 there were two admissions to secure care for children with a clinically diagnosed mental health illness. In the same year, 103 young people with a clinically diagnosed mental health illness were admitted to residential accommodation. Many young people in residential care are reported to have mental health issues and there are specialist resources available that care establishments draw from to support these young people. This support should be included in the young person's care plan. In the secure estate an independent child care psychologist provides services at St Mary's Kenmure and NHS Glasgow provides sessional psychological support at Kerelaw and at Rossie implementation of an improved mental health assessment and care package has commenced.The Health Department is also conducting a review of the need for a secure facility for young people with a clinically diagnosed mental health illness. In relation to Young Offenders Institutions (YOI), Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service has responded as follows:Approximately 10% of the young offender population at Polmont YOI have mental health problems. 2-3% of those are in receipt of prescribed psychiatric medication. HM YOI Polmont has a dedicated mental health team.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 10 January 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 22 January 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what its response is to the statement in paragraph 163 of the Audit Scotland report, Dealing with offending by young people, that "there is no national information about the number of children in residential schools".
Answer
The statement in the Audit Scotland report reads in full:There is no national information about the numbers of young people in residential schools where offending is one of the difficulties that needs to be tackled.The Executive publishes annually figures on looked after children in residential schools. Those for 2001-02 were published on 28 November 2002 and are available via the link:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/bulletins/00199-00.asp.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 10 January 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 22 January 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive in the light of the statement in paragraph 190 of the Audit Scotland report, Dealing with offending by young people, that "information about the progress of young people under supervision of local authorities is limited", what data it has and what action it has taken, or plans to take, to improve the collection and collation of such data.
Answer
Information on young people on a supervision requirement is held locally by local authorities. On 19 December, we allocated £3 million to local authorities to invest in IT to improve the information on and assessment of young people who offend.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 10 January 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 22 January 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what its response is to the statement in paragraph 204 of the Audit Scotland report, Dealing with offending by young people, that, because the costs of custody in young offenders institutions are met by the Scottish Prison Service and the local authority meets the costs of secure accommodation which is five times more expensive, "this means that financial incentives and the objective of minimising costs could conflict with the objective of achieving the best results for young people who have offended" and whether it will accept the recommendation in the joint report by the Justice 1 and 2 Committees, Report on the Budget 2003-04, that funding for secure accommodation should come from the justice budget.
Answer
Audit Scotland has made no recommendations on this point.Where a child has been sentenced to be detained under section 205 or section 208 of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995, the place and conditions in which the child is detained are subject to the direction of ministers. Normally, as a matter of policy, the place of detention is secure accommodation.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 10 January 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 22 January 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has responded formally to the Audit Scotland report, Dealing with offending by young people, and, if so, whether it will make copies of its response publicly available.
Answer
The Executive responded to the Audit Scotland report
, Youth Justice in Scotland on 5 December 2002. The news release containing this response, SEED 153/2002, is available at
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/pages/news/2002/12/SEED153.aspx.
