Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government announced it's 2012-13 public sector pay policy during the Spending Review statement on 21 September. Employers covered by the policy are required to apply a Scottish Living Wage. The policy is available at:

www.scotland.gov.uk/publicsectorpay.

Pay for other public sector and private sector staff is a matter for these employers.

Since 1999, 24 children have accessed the paediatric congenital heart service at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle. The breakdown per year is as under.

Section two of the Alcohol etc (Scotland) Act 2010 will be commenced in full on 1 October 2011.

The Scottish Government's guidance on the Procurement of Care and Support Services explicitly states that, when procuring such services, greater emphasis should be placed on quality rather than cost. Compliance with this requirement should mean that decisions are never based on price alone.

The projected cost of work on the project incurred by NHS Ayrshire and Arran is £758,381.

Within the above cost, £146,727 was spent on permanent improvements to facilities. Of direct benefit to the Frail Elderly and Elderly Mental Health’s Pennelburn and Holmburn Wards were building alterations, including door widening and floor improvements. Also included in the cost of the permanent improvements were additional car parking spaces and changes to the kitchen.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-02389 on 27 September 2011. 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.

As part of their inspection process The Care Inspectorate review both the qualifications and the continuing professional development training plans of care home provider staff. Inspectors take account of this information and use it as a factor to determine if there should be further scrutiny when planning an inspection.

Where The Care Inspectorate has concerns regarding qualifications or levels of training in a service they would include this as part of their inspection process and include this in their inspection reports. SSSC has a duty to publish workforce intelligence. The Care Inspectorate also shares anonymised workforce data with SSSC to enable them to report publicly on the workforce and their qualifications.

The SSSC does not have an inspection function. In the course of undertaking their workforce development, registration and regulation functions they do collect and make available to others, including The Care Inspectorate, information related to the qualifications and training of social care staff. SSSC does not have enforcement powers over employers and does not routinely collect information on the staff development and training strategies produced by employers.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde considered this issue in the context of the arrangements that exist in other parts of the country and has drawn up a clear specification and standards for event organisers to use in commissioning medical services providers. The services provided will be monitored by the NHS board and the local authority licensing departments through local multi-agency arrangements.

Section six of the Alcohol etc (Scotland) Act 2010 will be commenced in full on 1 October 2011.

NHS Ayrshire and Arran’s initial estimate of costs for rectification work are that it should not exceed £500,000. The initial cost estimates will require to be confirmed by BAM PPP once the detailed specification for the reinstatement works has been agreed by the NHS board with BAM PPP and Ahli United Bank.