- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 February 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 8 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what funding has been given to local authorities to provide supported accommodation in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority area.
Answer
Local authorities are not given a specific budget for supported accommodation. The spending review 2004 invested £1.2 billion over three years in housing support services through the Supporting People programme to local authorities for vulnerable people, and an additional £50 million per year for preventing and alleviating homelessness. All these resources go towards supporting a variety of tenancies, including supported accommodation, but a breakdown by local authority of the total amount invested locally in supported accommodation is not held centrally.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 February 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Robert Brown on 8 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive how many children have been in foster care in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority area.
Answer
The numbers of looked after children in foster care on the 31 March each year since 1999, broken down by local authority area, are shown in the following table.
Number of Children Looked After by Foster Carers on the 31 March
| | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 |
| Aberdeen City | 210 | 156* | 119* | 132* | 97 | 124* | 157 |
| Aberdeenshire | 91* | 116 | 112 | 116 | 114 | 128 | 121 |
| Angus | 73 | 73 | 66 | 85 | 94 | 102 | 118 |
| Argyll and Bute | 37 | 30 | 27 | 32 | 39 | 45 | 35 |
| Clackmannanshire | 33 | 32 | 35 | 36 | 33 | 33 | 45 |
| Dumfries and Galloway | 119 | 105 | 127 | 127 | 144 | 120 | 111 |
| Dundee City | 125 | 151 | 118 | 122 | 127 | 149 | 137 |
| East Ayrshire | 32 | 56 | 72 | 66 | 84 | 86 | 82 |
| East Dunbartonshire | 7 | 9 | 10 | 15 | 9 | 18 | 18 |
| East Lothian | 54 | 65 | 79* | 74 | 81 | 74 | 64 |
| East Renfrewshire | 12 | 6 | 6 | 12 | 11 | 13 | 13 |
| Edinburgh City | 304* | 330 | 326 | 318 | 339 | 370 | 349 |
| Eilean Siar | 12 | 10 | 8 | 7 | 16 | 16 | 12 |
| Falkirk | 91 | 87 | 98 | 84 | 107 | 104 | 104 |
| Fife | 182 | 158 | 191 | 185 | 201 | 203 | 239 |
| Glasgow City | 657 | 686 | 640 | 714 | 706 | 800 | 804 |
| Highland | 178 | 117 | 111 | 103 | 96 | 99 | 107 |
| Inverclyde | 31 | 32 | 23 | 24 | 27 | 33 | 33 |
| Midlothian | 49* | 56 | 40 | 46 | 51 | 58 | 61 |
| Moray | 95 | 56 | 58 | 54* | 61 | 69 | 31 |
| North Ayrshire | 61 | 45 | 77 | 53 | 59 | 64 | 74 |
| North Lanarkshire | 118 | 134 | 145 | 142 | 134 | 136 | 123 |
| Orkney Islands | 5 | 5 | 10 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 6 |
| Perth and Kinross | 64 | 48 | 53 | 66 | 63 | 54 | 65 |
| Renfrewshire | 79 | 70 | 80 | 87 | 104 | 127 | 128 |
| Scottish Borders | 73 | 67 | 69 | 81 | 79 | 83 | 69 |
| Shetland Islands | 12 | 11 | 15 | 14 | 13 | 11 | 9 |
| South Ayrshire | 18 | 32 | 34 | 50 | 54 | 47 | 46 |
| South Lanarkshire | 82 | 82* | 70* | 74 | 80 | 78 | 78 |
| Stirling | 61 | 61 | 59 | 56 | 56 | 57 | 52 |
| West Dunbartonshire | 68 | 68 | 60 | 68 | 70 | 73 | 69 |
| West Lothian | 122 | 104 | 146 | 118 | 134 | 82 | 133 |
| Scotland | 3155 | 3058 | 3084 | 3170 | 3288 | 3461 | 3493 |
Notes:
Figures exclude children on short-term placements only.
*Estimated due to missing or incomplete data.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 February 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Robert Brown on 7 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance it issues to local authorities in respect of transitional arrangements for vulnerable children moving from foster care to adult status.
Answer
Regulations and guidance onthe support and assistance for young people leaving care in Scotlandcame into force on 1 April 2004. In addition, the Scottish Executive commissionedmaterials to assist local authorities in carrying out this duty effectively.These were published under the title Pathways and disseminated to alllocal authorities.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 February 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 7 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what analysis has been done of the availability of low rise buses, in light of 20% of the population having mobility difficulties.
Answer
We encourage bus operators toprovide a range of buses including low floor buses.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 February 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Robert Brown on 7 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive how many foster carers there have been in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority area.
Answer
The information requested isnot held centrally.
However, the ScottishExecutive is currently collating information about the number of foster carersand any shortfall of foster carers in each local authority area in order toevaluate the impact of the extra £12 million in funding being provided toimprove local authority fostering services.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 February 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 6 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it is having with local authorities and transport providers to ensure equity of access for people with nationwide concessionary travel passes.
Answer
The Confederation of PassengerTransport (CPT) and local authority representatives were included on the seven taskgroups set up to advise on the development of the Scotland-wide Free Bus schemefor Older and Disabled people. These included task groups which considered aspectsof equity of access including which coach and bus services would be eligible inthe scheme and the eligibility criteria for individuals.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 February 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 6 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it is taking to ensure, so far as practicable, equity of access to transport for which the national concessionary travel scheme is available.
Answer
The Scotland-wide Free Bus Schemefor Older and Disabled People which begins on 1 April 2006 willprovide access to card holders from anywhere in Scotland to a very wide range ofservices. The scheme will encompass bus and coach available to the general public,both local registered bus services and long distance scheduled coach services.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 February 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 6 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive why it did not extend the concessionary fare scheme to community transport services.
Answer
The introduction on 1 April 2006 of theScotland-wide Free Bus Scheme for Older and Disabled People 2006 meets the PartnershipAgreement commitment to a national free off-peak bus scheme for older people andpeople with disabilities.
The scheme includes bus and coachservices available to the general public including those community transport serviceswhich are also local registered services.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 February 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 6 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what research has been undertaken into the health benefits of a concessionary travel scheme.
Answer
None.
It is widely accepted thatone of the benefits of a concessionary travel scheme is that it will have apositive health benefit by enabling those eligible to travel to visit friendsand relatives, access services and generally to be more actively involved inthe community.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 30 January 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 6 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is aware of, or has been involved in, the carrying out of abductions in Scotland by foreign secret services.
Answer
No.