Chamber and committees

Through representation on the Safe and Sustainable review group we have had the opportunity to ensure that the views of Scottish Government and NHS Scotland are taken into account in the Department of Health’s consideration of the proposals for the future of paediatric cardiac surgery in England.

Whatever the outcome of that review, high quality, sustainable heart transplantation services will continue to be available for patients from Scotland.

The information requested has been provided by the Scottish Ambulance Service and has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 53208).

On 1 April 2010, the establishment numbers for the Care Commission was 595.78 FTE, extracted from SCSWIS records.

The Social Work Inspection Agency was 40 FTE (full-time equivalent) and HM Inspectorate of Education was 210 FTE; the figures for SWIA and HMIE have been extracted from the Office of National Statistics published Civil Service Employment data for 31 March 2010.

Ultimately employers are responsible for the training and continuous learning of their employees. Employers must ensure that all staff not only have the appropriate skills and knowledge to carry out their role, but also ensure that these skills and knowledge are continuously updated. The National Care Standards clearly state that services must have a staff development strategy and effective training plans in place for all staff. Bodies such as Skills for Care and Development, the sector skills council for the social services sector; the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC); the Care Inspectorate (SCSWIS), and the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) among others, support employers in training their workforce.

However, in line with the ambitions of Changing Lives, the Scottish Government has been driving forward a range of activities, particularly through the work of the Scottish Social Services Council, to ensure that Scotland has in place a competent, confident and valued social services workforce. The SSSC has only been in existence for 10 years but has already made significant progress from a baseline where around 80% of the care workforce did not have a relevant qualification. We will continue to focus on improvements. Scottish ministers, through the SSSC, regularly review the qualifications set for registration for each group of social service workers and can increase the rate of change and increase the levels and types of qualifications required. For example, the qualification requirements for managers of day care of children services have recently been raised and these managers are now required to gain the Scottish Credit and Qualification Framework Level 9 qualification in Childhood Practice.

As part of the drive to raise standards in the social service workforce, all workers registered with the SSSC must undertake post registration training and learning (PRTL) to ensure they continue to develop and progress their skills throughout out their career in social care.

Registrants are personally responsible for ensuring that they meet PRTL requirements. Employers of registrants are expected under the SSSC’s Code of Practice for Employers to assist registered workers to continue their professional development.

Guidance and tools are available to all employers in the social services sector which support the identification, level and quality of training required for their employees. This includes the SSSC Code of Practice, National Occupational Standards, Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework and the Continuous Learning Framework.

As indicated in the response to question S4W-02685 on 26 September 2011 registration of the social services workforce has been taken forward in a phased and clearly time-tabled way. Registration of these workers started at different times because of the agreement to phase registration of social care workers.

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/Apps2/MAQASearch/QAndMSearch.aspx.

Registration of the social services workforce has been taken forward in a phased and clearly timetabled way to allow employers to strategically plan their workforce development to meet registration requirements. Phasing provides an affordable approach for employers, government and the regulatory body.

The SSSC Register opened for residential childcare workers in July 2006 and to enable employers to phase workforce training and development the phased date for required registration of these workers was set at September 2009. Residential childcare workers were amongst the first set of social care workers to be eligible to register and so were also amongst the first to become subject to required registration.

Differences in the qualification levels required for registration reflect the differences in the type of work and responsibilities held by workers. Before setting the qualification levels for each part of the register the SSSC consulted with a full range of stakeholders, including relevant workers, their employers and service user and carer groups, on the type and level of qualifications that should be set for each group of workers. Feedback from these consultations informed the setting of the qualification criteria for registration.

All the qualifications specified for registration are derived from the National Occupational Standards for the sector. These standards represent the skills, knowledge and competence that employers define as necessary for the workforce and they are reviewed and revised regularly to ensure continued relevance.

The Scottish Government has established a Development Group with responsibility for supporting implementation of its 2010 guidance on the Procurement of Care and Support Services. The Development Group, which is chaired by the Scottish Government, has agreed a work programme which includes activity to identify and disseminate good practice. It involves all key stakeholder interests, including service user and carer representative organisations, service providers, local authorities, COSLA, Scotland Excel and the Care Inspectorate.

As part of its wider powers to scrutinise social work services, the Care Inspectorate is able to consider local authorities' commissioning practices and make recommendations in its reports.

Lung cancer survival by age groups is available at Scotland level on ISD's website at:

http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Cancer/Cancer-Statistics/Lung-Cancer-and-Mesothelioma/.

Comparative survival for lung cancer is shown in the following table. It is important to note that survival depends on many factors, including data quality, characteristics of the patients and their tumours (case-mix), and health service factors. Survival estimates are also subject to random variation, especially when based on relatively small numbers of patients.

Lung cancer survival at one year and three years after diagnosis for Scotland, (i) NHS board and (ii) Regional Cancer Network by age group are in the following table.

Cancer of the trachea, bronchus and lung (ICD-10 C33-C34)

Relative survival¹ (%) at one and three years following diagnosis for those diagnosed aged 15 to 99 in 2002-06

Source: UK Cancer Information System; September 2011.

Notes:

“*” = not available due to small numbers involved.

1. The relative survival estimates shown above are adjusted for background mortality in Scotland as a whole but not for differences in overall life expectancy in the NHS boards in Scotland (because life tables for NHS boards are not readily available). The survival estimates are not standardised for age or sex.

2. Key to NHS Cancer Networks:

(a) North of Scotland - is defined as a grouping of the following NHS boards: Grampian; Highland and Argyll; Orkney; Shetland; Tayside; Western Isles.

(b) South East of Scotland - is defined as a grouping of the following NHS boards: Borders; Dumfries and Galloway; Fife; Lothian.

(c) West of Scotland - is defined as a grouping of the following NHS boards: Ayrshire and Arran; Forth Valley; Greater Glasgow and Clyde; Lanarkshire.

3. Separate data are not shown for the Island NHS boards of Orkney, Shetland and Western Isles due to small populations.

4. Note that confidence intervals have been omitted for clarity of reading.

The Register opened for support workers in adult care in April 2009. There are approximately 26,966 of these workers and to support employers to phase their workforce development and training the date for required registration of these workers was set at September 2015.