Questions and answers

Question reference: S2W-32135

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 March 2007
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 15 March 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-31669 by Lewis Macdonald on 20 February 2007, whether it will provide information on the powers of direction in relation to the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968, in respect of the circumstances that would trigger their use and what measures may be taken.

Scottish ministers have thepower to issue directions to local authorities (either individually orcollectively) under section 5(1A) of the Social Work (Scotland)Act 1968 as to the manner in which they are to exercise their functions underthe 1968 act. A range of circumstances could trigger the use of a direction, includingthe need to formalise best practices or to intervene when local authorities arenot exercising their functions under the 1968 act in an appropriate way. Alocal authority has a statutory obligation to comply with a direction issued underthe 1968 act.

Question reference: S2W-32134

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 March 2007
Current Status: Answered by Robert Brown on 12 March 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-31673 by Robert Brown on 19 February 2007, whether it will provide the annual local financial returns for social work expenditure and income in respect of services for older people in Argyll and Bute from 1999-2000.

The main breakdown of socialwork expenditure and income in respect of services for older people in Argyll andBute obtained from the annual local financial returns is detailed in the followingtables.

Argyll and Bute Council -LFR 3 (Social Work) Older Persons (£000)

	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02
Expenditure
Employee Costs	2,581	3,045	3,559
Operating Costs	0	0	0
: Third party payments to private persons or companies	1,904	2,527	1
: Third party payments to voluntary bodies	15	0	0
: Other accounts within the authority	0	94	114
: Other Local Authorities	0	0	0
: Health Boards and Trusts	143	131	173
: Other Public Bodies	0	8	3,111
: Other operating costs	991	1,165	1,154
Total Operating Costs	3,053	3,925	4,553
Transfer payments
: Grants to private persons or organisations	0	0	0
: Grants to voluntary bodies	0	4	0
: Other transfer payments	0	0	0
Total Transfer Payments	0	4	0
Total Gross Expenditure	5,634	6,974	8,111
Income
Grants (other than RSG)
: Specific Grants	0	0	0
: Other Grants	113	114	247
Total Grants	113	114	247
Rents, fees and charges	750	674	688
Sales	9	8	9
Other accounts within the authority	0	31	70
Other Local Authorities	0	0	0
Health Boards and Trusts	0	117	200
Other Public bodies	1	0	0
Interest and Other Income	29	11	83
Total Income	902	955	1,297
Distribution Of RCC and Support Service Costs
Revenue contributions to capital (RCC)	0	0	0
Support service costs	324	278	304
Total Net Expenditure Met from Council Tax, Non-Domestic Rates and Revenue Support Grant	5,056	6,297	7,119

Argyll and Bute Council -LFR 3 (Social Work) Older Persons (£000)

	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Expenditure
Employee Costs	9,691	9,020	9,968	10,227
Operating Costs	9,783	17,654	19,626	12,271
Third-party payments (gross)	8,450	14,149	15,836	10,999
Gross payments to private persons	0	102	276	0
Gross payments to private companies	10	1	49	0
Gross payments to voluntary bodies	0	45	60	39
Gross payments to Health Authorities	218	299	329	409
Gross payments to other local authorities	5	0	0	0
All other Third party payments	8,217	13,702	15,122	10,551
Premises, transport, supplies and services and other operating costs	1,333	3,505	3,790	1,272
Transfer payments	152	120	132	0
Grants to private persons or organisations	0	0	0	0
Grants to voluntary bodies	144	120	132	0
Other transfer payments	8	0	0	0
Support Services	626	586	725	3,476
Total Gross Expenditure	20,252	27,380	30,451	25,974
Income
Specific Grants	167	15	207	158
Other Central Government Grants (excl RSG)	0	4,411	6,382	0
Sales, Rents, Fees and Charges	1,289	1,770	1,781	1,623
Income from charges to service users	1,177	1,764	1,572	1,623
Other	112	6	209	0
Other Income	1,740	2,610	2,435	3,055
Contributions from other local authorities	0	0	0	100
Recharges (income from other accounts within the authority)	1,740	2,610	2,435	2,955
All other grants, reimbursements and contributions	338	1,075	1,406	1,734
Contributions from Health Authorities	292	1,075	1,406	1,730
Other grants, reimbursements and contributions	46	0	0	4
Total Income	3,534	9,881	12,211	6,570
Net revenue expenditure	16,718	17,499	18,240	19,404
Capital Charges	667	440	726	482
Net Revenue Expenditure Including Capital Charges	17,385	17,939	18,966	19,886
Revenue Contributions to Capital (RCC)	0	0	0	0
Net Revenue Expenditure Including RCC (Excluding Capital Charges)	16,718	17,499	18,240	19,404
Add back specific grants	167	15	207	158
FRS 17	N/A	9	274	284
Net Revenue Expenditure Including RCC (Excl Capital Charges) with Specific Grants Added Back	16,885	17,514	18,447	19,562

Question reference: S2W-31668

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 February 2007
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 20 February 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is aware of the current underspend in relation to Grant Aided Expenditure by Argyll and Bute Council in respect of care services and what its position is on any further reductions in such services in the area.

The Scottish Executive isaware of Argyll and Bute Council’s expenditure on community care services. Grant AidedExpenditure is neither a budget nor aspending target but a needs based method for apportioning funding to localauthorities. It is for Argyll and Bute Council to allocate funding according to their local priorities,taking account of their statutory obligations. However, I have met the counciltwice to stress the importance I attach to the effective delivery of communitycare services, and the role of the joint improvement team has been extended to helpthe council and health board partners secure improved delivery of theseservices.

Question reference: S2W-31669

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 February 2007
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 20 February 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any powers to intervene in respect of any underfunding of care services for the elderly by Argyll and Bute Council.

The joint improvement team hasbeen working with Argyll and Bute Council and NHS Highland on developing theirstrategic governance and local management arrangements to help address thechallenges of providing for the needs of elderly residents. In addition, the Social Work Inspection Agency is currentlyinspecting Argyll and Bute Council’s social work services and the inspectionreport will provide an indication of service quality together with anyrecommendations the council will need to address.

I am closely monitoring theposition and will consider using powers in relation to joint working by localauthorities and health boards or powers of direction in relation to the SocialWork (Scotland) Act 1968 if required.

Question reference: S2W-31670

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 February 2007
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 20 February 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what action it will take to address any failure of Argyll and Bute Council to provide for the needs of elderly residents.

Question reference: S2W-31672

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 February 2007
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 20 February 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what action it will take if there is an increased level of delayed discharge in the Argyll and Bute local authority area compared to rates for previous years.

Question reference: S2W-31671

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 February 2007
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 20 February 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what the level of delayed discharge was for residents in the Argyll and Bute local authority area and what the target discharge rate was in each year since 1999.

The following table shows thenumbers of patients ready for discharge at April each year since the first Aprilcensus in 2001.

NHS – Patients ready for discharge– Argyll and Bute local authority area.

Total Number and Number OverSix Weeks for each End of Year Census Point: April 2001 to April 2006.

Census³	Total¹	Over 6 Weeks²	Target – Total Delays⁴	Target – Over 6 Weeks
April 2001	53	38	-	-
April 2002	62	52	-	-
April 2003	71	50	-	-
April 2004	47	33	-	-
April 2005	35	18	38	28
April 2006	63	44	30	22

Notes:

1. Total number of patients readyfor discharge, in all specialties, reported as at October 2006 census.

2. Number of patients ready fordischarge with a duration of over six weeks (43 days or more), i.e. the common periodfor discharge planning agreement timescales across Scotland.

3. The figures in the table excludepatients whose principal reason for delay at the census point was due to awaitingplace/bed availability in a specialist residential facility where no facilitiesexist, or due to requirements of the Adults with Incapacity Act. Prior to the April2003 census awaiting place or bed availability where no appropriate facilities existwere included under awaiting place or bed availability. Therefore cannot be takenout of the census totals prior to April 2003 census. Prior to the July 2004 censusAdults with Incapacity Act were included under legal issues. Therefore cannot betaken out of the census totals prior to July 2004 census.

4. It is not possible to supplytarget information for 2002-03 or 2003-04 as these were not percentage targets norbroken down by local authority areas.

The Delayed Discharge ActionPlan, published in March 2002, set a national target of a reduction of 1,000 indelayed discharges across Scotland, by April 2003. For April 2004, partnerships agreed targetswith the department, based on local circumstances. For 2004-05 and 2005-06, partnershipswere expected to achieve a 20% reduction across the board.

All of these targets were agreedat health board area level and are not broken down by local authority area.

Argyll and Bute did makesignificant reductions in delayed discharges in 2003-04 and again in 2004-05. However,their performance in 2005-06 has been poor and we have had significant engagementwith the council over recent months to secure improved performance.

Question reference: S2W-31674

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 February 2007
Current Status: Answered by Robert Brown on 19 February 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made on the social work inspection of Argyll and Bute Council.

The Chief Executive of the SocialWork Services Inspection Agency has indicated that the performance inspection ofArgyll and Bute Council social work services began in November 2006 with file readingof older people’s cases. Arrangements are now in place for further file reading,fieldwork and survey work of local authority staff, people who use services, andcarers. This will take place between March and May this year. The report will bepublished in the autumn.

Question reference: S2W-31673

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 February 2007
Current Status: Answered by Robert Brown on 19 February 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it takes to monitor the spending of local authorities in relation to social work Grant Aided Expenditure.

Question reference: S2W-30829

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 January 2007
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 22 January 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that Disclosure Scotland should amend the existing disclosure application form without adequate consultation with service users, given the cost of amending the form and its possible obsolescence should the Protection of Vulnerable Groups (Scotland) Bill be enacted.

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.

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