Schools (Support Staff)
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to assess and sustain the levels of support staff in schools. (S4O-04294)
That is a matter for education authorities, as the employment of teachers and of support staff and recruitment practices are ultimately matters for local authorities. They have the statutory duty in relation to education expenditure and are responsible for providing a staff complement that meets the needs of their schools and pupils in light of the resources available.
I am sure that the minister appreciates that access to education is about more than teachers, books and buildings, so will he acknowledge the importance of learning support, behaviour support, classroom assistants, personal assistants, administration staff, attendance staff and all the support staff who are ensuring that children have an opportunity to learn and who allow teachers to focus on their teaching? I heard his comment that this is the responsibility of local authorities, but does he share my concerns about anecdotal evidence that there are fewer support staff, with heavier burdens, which has consequences for equality of opportunity in our schools? Will he commit at least to taking a proper view of what is happening with support staff and to working with local authorities to ensure that such support is there and to allow all our children to learn to their potential?
The Government has made a commitment to ensuring that our schools are staffed and staffed well; that is what lies behind some of the Government’s stances on the number of teaching staff across Scotland. We recognise the importance of support staff, not least for those who have additional needs, including additional learning needs. In the face of statistics that show an increase in such requirements, the Scottish Government is working hard with local authorities to ensure that those needs are being met.
Police Scotland (Community Engagement)
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the effectiveness of Police Scotland’s strategy for engaging with local communities. (S4O-04295)
The Scottish Government has the clear expectation that community engagement should be a key part of all public bodies’ functions. Local policing and local accountability are fundamental to policing in Scotland, and Police Scotland’s annual policing plan, which was launched just last week, sets out clear examples of the vital role that Police Scotland plays in our communities, including examples of where our police service is working closely with communities not only to solve crime but, importantly, to prevent it from taking place.
Police reform has led to an almost 150 per cent increase in the number of local elected members across Scotland who are scrutinising the police service and shaping local delivery. Around 360 local councillors now attend local policing committees, compared with 146 local councillors who attended prior to the creation of Police Scotland.
Local policing and local accountability remain fundamental to policing in Scotland. Each of the 14 Police Scotland command divisions has a local commander who works with the council, the communities and local partners to shape and deliver policing through 353 ward-level policing plans that cover every community in Scotland.
I thank the cabinet secretary for his comprehensive answer. Does he recognise and value the excellent prevention work of and local intelligence provided by crime prevention panels and does he agree that the proposal to cut their budgets and remove police officer support from their meetings is a retrograde step?
As I said, the national annual policing plan sets out a range of measures that Police Scotland intends to take forward over the next year, including work with local partners to ensure that it delivers effective policing. I mentioned that a key part of that is action on prevention. I have no doubt that, if the member has concerns about the way in which Police Scotland is operating in partnership with some local crime prevention bodies, she will be more than willing to engage with it directly on how she feels that the situation can be improved. I am always open to suggestions from members on how such matters can be better addressed, but the member can be assured that Police Scotland recognises the importance of local engagement and working with partners in the community to deliver effective policing in communities.
In recent correspondence with the chief constable, I ascertained that he will review the opening times of police stations following the closure and curtailment of many of them last year. Will the minister join me in urging the chief constable to ensure that community councils and other community groups are not just able to take part in that consultation but positively encouraged to take part in it and to understand that their views are critical to understanding the effect that those changes have had in communities?
Local engagement is an important part of policing at a community level. I expect Police Scotland to engage with a range of stakeholders that have an interest in how it operates locally.
As the member stated, she has engaged with the chief constable on the matter. She may also wish to pursue the issue with the Scottish Police Authority, which has oversight of how our police go about such matters and how the chief constable handles them.
However, I recognise the points that the member has raised. It is extremely important that all stakeholders that may have a view on the issues are given the opportunity to participate in the discussion. I encourage her to continue to support the organisations that may wish to express their views on such matters.
Self-directed Support (Guidance)
To ask the Scottish Government what guidance it provides to local authorities on the purposes for which self-directed support may be used. (S4O-04296)
Self-directed support involves a rights-based approach that enables eligible individuals, their families and carers to have flexibility, choice and control of their care and support in order to meet their health and social care outcomes. The Social Care (Self-directed Support) (Scotland) Act 2013 is accompanied by statutory guidance, which was launched in April 2014. That guidance supports local authorities to take an approach in which personal needs are assessed as part of a collaborative conversation. If eligibility for support from the local authority is agreed on, a care and support plan will be developed that is based on what the person wants to achieve—their personal outcomes. The person also has choice in and control over how the care and support are delivered.
What commonsense flexibility can be deployed in that regard? I ask that question in relation to a situation that a constituent of mine has found themselves in. They want to use SDS to fund a course of applied behaviour analysis therapy, in the hope that that will help their child to communicate and thereby ease the considerable difficulties that the family face, will provide respite from those challenges and, in turn, will ensure that the child perhaps has a more productive educational experience than at present. Could such a use of SDS be permissible?
Flexibility and creativity are essential to making the best use of support within available budgets. Local authorities provide social care and support to children and families as part of the wider policy and practice framework of getting it right for every child. The local authority has a duty under the Social Care (Self-directed Support) (Scotland) Act 2013 to offer flexibility and choices in relation to a child’s care and support. If the member has not already done so, he may wish to direct his constituent to contact Angus carers centre or Dundee Carers Centre for information and support on access to self-directed support. Jointly, those organisations have been awarded £143,000 for 2015-16 from the Scottish Government’s support in the right direction fund to ensure that the people of Scotland have access to high-quality information, support and advocacy services.
Disclosure Scheme for Domestic Abuse Scotland
To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made with the implementation of the disclosure scheme for domestic abuse Scotland, which was piloted in Aberdeen and Ayrshire. (S4O-04297)
The disclosure scheme for domestic abuse Scotland is still being piloted. The six-month pilots in Aberdeen and Ayrshire will formally end on Sunday 31 May and will be independently evaluated by the University of Glasgow. I confirm that the schemes will continue to operate in Aberdeen and Ayrshire pending the outcome of that evaluation.
I am optimistic that the learning from those pilots will support a roll-out across Scotland. Although the practical implementation of the scheme is for Police Scotland to determine and take forward, the Scottish Government will of course continue to work with it and to support that work.
The two pilots are welcome but, in the rest of the United Kingdom, the scheme was rolled out on international women’s day in 2014, bringing huge help and support to potentially vulnerable partners. How soon can we provide the same degree of protection to potential victims across Scotland?
I am sure that the member recognises that it is important to ensure that the scheme is fit for purpose and suitable for the Scottish justice system, which is why the two pilots were established and why the independent evaluation will take place to assess their effectiveness. As I said, I am optimistic about being able to take the scheme forward nationally, and the chief constable has stated that he is optimistic about doing that once Police Scotland has the findings from the independent evaluation, which will be done quickly.
I assure the member that we are keen for the project and the pilots to be taken forward nationally. Once we have the evaluation, we will be able to determine the final timescale for that.
NorthConnect Power Scheme
To ask the Scottish Government what progress is being made with NorthConnect’s £2 billion power scheme between Aberdeenshire and Scandinavia. (S4O-04298)
NorthConnect KS has made an application to Aberdeenshire Council for planning permission relating to a converter station for the proposed link to Norway. The council received the application on 14 April and a public consultation will run until 21 May. It would not be appropriate to comment on a live planning application.
Does the cabinet secretary welcome—within the limits of there being a live planning application—the fact that the scheme will draw significantly on green energy developments in both Scotland and Norway? Does he agree that we will need to see similar cross-country initiatives if we are to meet electricity demand in Scotland? We should be encouraging more investment in renewable energy projects.
On the policy questions that Mr Stevenson raises, I agree whole-heartedly. Increasing interconnection and transmission upgrade activity is a necessity for us. It is a generic process that is inherent in changing the sources of power generation on which we rely. The Government has taken forward a number of sustained investments in the renewable energy sector, and it has taken the policy initiatives to enable the renewable energy sector to thrive in Scotland. We look forward to taking policy decisions that enable us to continue that activity in the years to come.
Police Scotland (Control Centre Responses)
To ask the Scottish Government how many complaints Police Scotland has received from Fife residents regarding police response and call-out times since services were moved from the Fife control centre to Bilston Glen. (S4O-04299)
As the member is aware, the Police Scotland review of contact, command and control across the country has been on-going since early last year. There has been a phased approach, with the latest stage being the transfer of the operation from Glenrothes to Bilston Glen in March. Police Scotland has been engaged with local authorities, local partnerships and unions on the impact of the change.
Issues surrounding performance at the Bilston Glen control centre have been raised previously in the chamber, and the First Minister committed to looking into them. That has been done and both Police Scotland and the Scottish Police Authority have taken direct action to address any issues surrounding the Bilston Glen operation. I have met Police Scotland and have been given an assurance that the situation at Bilston Glen is now much improved and that appropriate steps have been taken to ensure that the public continues to receive a high-quality service.
Some three weeks ago in the town of Cowdenbeath in my constituency, a group of pensioners were terrified in their own homes as a result of antisocial behaviour. When they called the Bilston Glen centre and reported that, among other things that were happening, a wheelie-bin had been set on fire, they were told that the police “don’t put oot fires.” A chief superintendent has now confirmed that
“regrettably the calls received at the police station control room had not been logged correctly and local officers were not dispatched.”
The police never came. Is that acceptable?
In short, no, it is not acceptable. Police Scotland recognises that there have been some challenges around Bilston Glen, which is why it has taken robust action to address the issues and why I now receive weekly reports from Police Scotland on performance at Bilston Glen.
I want to make sure that the public can be reassured that when they make a 101 call, they get the type of response and service that they should expect from Police Scotland, and the measures that Police Scotland is putting in place will help to ensure that that happens. From the recent information that I have received from Police Scotland, a clear level of improvement is being achieved in that regard. However, I assure the member that robust measures are being taken to address issues of the type experienced by his constituents.
Ambulance and Health Services (Mull)
To ask the Scottish Government what progress it is making in ensuring that the ambulance and health services on Mull meet the needs and expectations of the local community as expressed to the Cabinet Secretary for Health, Wellbeing and Sport at a meeting in March 2015. (S4O-04300)
The Scottish Government is facilitating engagement between NHS Highland and the Scottish Ambulance Service to ensure that the healthcare needs of the Mull community are met. Both boards were encouraged during the meeting to work together in designing a multidisciplinary approach and a sustainable solution for the community.
The cabinet secretary is aware, as her predecessor was made aware at a previous meeting in October, that there is deep dissatisfaction on Mull with the Scottish Ambulance Service, and the fact that commitments have been entered into that have not been met is immensely regrettable. Will the cabinet secretary agree to meet me and the community again, because while the progress that NHS Highland has made and the encouragement of further progress that she has given to both boards is extremely valuable, the Scottish Ambulance Service has not yet come up to the mark?
I recognise the concerns that Mike Russell outlines. The Scottish Ambulance Service is currently working on an options appraisal, and it is working with the community council to develop it. The Scottish Ambulance Service is planning to carry out community engagements at the end of this month to discuss the options. It is currently finalising dates but anticipates that the options appraisal should take place in July. Officials are being kept up to date on the process and, in turn, they are keeping me up to date. They are in regular communication with the Scottish Ambulance Service to ensure that the work is progressing.
To answer Mike Russell’s question directly, I can say that I am happy to meet him and others as he sees fit to discuss the outcomes of the options appraisal process.
Out-of-hours Primary Care Services (Review)
To ask the Scottish Government when its review of out-of-hours primary care services will be published. (S4O-04301)
I announced a national review of primary care out-of-hours services on 30 January. Professor Sir Lewis Ritchie is leading the review and has been asked to report recommendations to me by the end of September.
What is the cabinet secretary’s view of how local health boards’ consultations on out-of-hours services will complement the national strategy? I place on the record concern in East Kilbride—Scotland’s largest town—that the local health board is considering taking out-of-hours services away from the town.
The national review of primary care out-of-hours services will report recommendations that are designed to reflect its findings. I recognise that responsibility for the design, implementation and management of out-of-hours services ultimately remains with NHS boards, so the recommendations will be in the form of guidance. However, I would expect any proposals for the redesign of out-of-hours services from any board to be in line with that guidance.
National Health Service (Waiting Time Guarantee)
To ask the Scottish Government whether Barnett consequentials arising from a mansion tax could help the NHS meet its waiting time guarantee. (S4O-04302)
This Government has passed on health resource consequentials in full since 2010-11 and allocates funding in line with its priorities. Additional consequentials would be dealt with in the same way. We have committed to increasing the NHS revenue budget in real terms for the remainder of this parliamentary session and for each and every year of the next session, too.
Of course the Scottish Government’s central policy in this election is to end the provision of consequentials, due to its policy of full fiscal autonomy, which would end the pooling and sharing of resources and scrap the Barnett formula. The most aggressive example of nationalism in this campaign—
Mr Smith, can I get a question?
The most aggressive example of nationalism in this campaign is the Scottish National Party’s policy—
Question!
—to cut off our nose to spite our face.
I will reply to Drew Smith in the gentlest of terms by quoting the Institute for Fiscal Studies—I know that he and the Labour Party like to quote the IFS. In its analysis of the manifestos, the IFS has concluded that real spending on the NHS in England in 2019-20 compared to 2014-15 would be £8.7 billion higher under the SNP’s plans. It is clear that, if Scots want the NHS to have the money that it needs, they must vote SNP tomorrow to deliver it.
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