Chamber and committees

Data on the number of kinship carers of looked after children is not held centrally.

The Act does not affect the assessment duty to meet a person's needs, as set out in Section 12A of the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968. The guidance will however contain a strong steer on the need for the processes surrounding assessment to be outcome focused and to be conducted in line with the principles of collaboration, informed choice and involvement contained in Section 1 of the (SDS) 2013 Act. The Scottish Government will conduct a consultation on the guidance in Spring 2013. The target date for publication of the final version of the guidance will be determined in due course however it will be published prior to the commencement date for the 2013 Act.

The age limit for IVF treatment in each NHS Board is currently as follows:

NHS Ayrshire and Arran – 39 years inclusive

NHS Borders - 39 years inclusive

NHS Dumfries and Galloway – 39 years inclusive

NHS Fife – up to 38th birthday

NHS Forth Valley – 39 years inclusive

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde – 39 years inclusive

NHS Grampian – 39 years inclusive

NHS Highland – 39 years inclusive

NHS Lanarkshire – 39 years inclusive

NHS Lothian – 39 years inclusive

NHS Orkney – 39 years inclusive

NHS Shetland – 39 years inclusive

NHS Tayside – 39 years inclusive

NHS Western Isles – 39 years inclusive.

The National Infertility Group was set up in April 2010 to address the inequity of access to infertility treatment across Scotland. The group’s report, with final recommendations, including a recommendation on age, is currently with Ministers for consideration.

This information is published in the Family Resources Survey report 2010-11, Table 4.1 (page 64) and can be accessed via the following link:

http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/frs/2010_11/frs_2010_11_report.pdf.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-12966 on 13 March 2013. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

Funding of £58,000 is reimbursed by Healthcare Improvement Scotland to NHS Fife to reimburse staff costs for expert clinical advice to support the improvement of chronic pain services in Scotland.

Further to my previous responses of 29 January 2013 and 26 February 2013, regarding the National Chronic Pain Steering Group the group was convened by the Scottish Government and membership invited from healthcare professionals and relevant stakeholders with an interest in informing policy to improve services for people living with chronic pain in Scotland.

There have been no changes to eligibility criteria for wheelchair services since 2007-08.

The current criteria for wheelchair services are available from the Rehabilitation Technology Information Service (ReTIS) website:

http://www.retis.scot.nhs.uk/groups/scotretwc.php.

The information requested is not held centrally.