Chamber and committees

We are not aware of any additional GP practices using premium rate telephone numbers and we want to encourage those which do so to review their current telephone provider arrangements.

We have written to chief executives of NHS boards reiterating the Scottish Government''s policy that patients should not incur charges above the normal telephone call rates. I have also requested that they encourage GP contractors to review their current telephone arrangements.

We wrote to chief executives of NHS boards on 23 February 2011 reiterating the Scottish Government''s policy that patients should not incur charges above the normal telephone call rates. We have also requested that they encourage GP contractors to review their current telephone arrangements.

The provision of what are termed welfare services is exempt from VAT when provided by designated organisations. These include public bodies such as government departments, local authorities and NHS boards.

In most cases social care services would be classified as welfare services and as NHS boards are a designated bodies for the purposes of these rules, it is likely that any such charges would be exempt from VAT.

The inquiry''s investigations are ongoing and I understand that they are currently investigating the treatment of 60 patients at the Vale of Leven Hospital, including 38 deaths. That does not mean that the inquiry has concluded that the outbreak caused 38 deaths. The terms of reference provided the inquiry with a wide discretion to investigate the matter thoroughly.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-39515 on 23 February 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/business/PQA/Default.aspx.

With effect from 1 April 2008 the former ring-fenced Supporting People funding was rolled-up into the general local government finance settlement and distributed as part of the block grant which the Scottish Government provides to local authorities. There are, therefore, no separate Supporting People allocations of funding for the years 2008-12 although the distribution of this provision, including the updating of the indicators for 2011-12 as agreed at the Council Leaders meeting on 19 November 2010, has been retained within the needs-based formula.

I did not refuse to meet West Dunbartonshire Council. Following a request from the council, my office notified it that I would not be able to meet before the requested date of 27 January 2011 due to my other diary commitments.

With effect from 1 April 2008 the former ring-fenced Supporting People funding was rolled-up into the general local government finance settlement and distributed as part of the block grant which the Scottish Government provides to local authorities. There are, therefore, no separate Supporting People allocations of funding for 2011-12 although the distribution of this funding has been retained within the needs-based formula.

The distribution of this former ring-fenced funding was based on a number of needs-based indicators agreed in 2004. These indicators were, as agreed at COSLA''s leaders meeting held on 19 November 2010 updated for the 2011-12 distribution. The effects of using the 2004 indicators were dampened by an interim adjustment, introduced for the period 2005-08, which ensured that no local authority would lose more than 18 per cent of its funding over the period 2005-08 compared with it''s allocation in 2004-05. This adjustment was not retained in the 2011-12 calculations. In recognition of the impact that the dampening had on individual local authority funding allocation for 2011-12 I announced as part of the debate on the 2011-12 Scottish Budget on 9 February 2011 that I intend to allocate an additional £5 million to tackling the problem and have invited COSLA to match that amount. The distribution, once agreed with COSLA, will be included in the Local Government Finance (Scotland) Amendment Order 2011 to be tabled March 2011.

I announced as part of the debate on the 2011-12 Scottish Budget on 9 February 2011 that I intend to allocate an additional £5 million to help smooth the impact of the redistribution of the former ring-fenced Supporting People funding within the distribution formula as a result of updating the needs-based indicators for 2011-12. I have also invited COSLA to match that amount. The distribution of these extra funds has still to be agreed but I fully expect that both Argyll and Bute and West Dunbartonshire Councils will receive additional allocations of money given that they were the two local authorities that lost out most, proportionately, from the updating of the indicators.

The allocation of the baselined ring-fenced Supporting People funding of £383.620 million for 2007-08, broken down by local authority, is provided in the following table. It should be noted that an additional £17.276 million in respect of Supporting People funding was also distributed in 2007-08 as one-off, non-baselined, payments.

With effect from 1 April 2008 the baselined former ring-fenced Supporting People funding was rolled-up into the general local government finance settlement and distributed as part of the block grant which the Scottish Government provides to local authorities. There are, therefore, no separate Supporting People allocations of funding for the years 2008-12, although the distribution of the baselined provision of £383.620 million has been retained within the needs-based formula.

The distribution of this provision for the years 2008-11 was based on a number of needs-based indicators agreed in 2004. These indicators were, at COSLA''s request, and as agreed at the Council Leaders'' meeting on 19 November 2010, updated for the 2011-12 distribution. The effects of using the 2004 indicators were dampened by an interim adjustment, introduced for the period 2005-08, which ensured that no local authority would lose more than 18 per cent of its funding over the period 2005-08 compared with it''s allocation in 2004-05. This adjustment was not retained in the 2011-12 calculations.

Supporting People Baselined Allocations for 2007-08

Local Authority	2007-08
Aberdeen City	11.370
Aberdeenshire	9.289
Angus	6.400
Argyll and Bute	11.695
Clackmannanshire	3.685
Dumfries and Galloway	11.835
Dundee City	11.536
East Ayrshire	7.281
East Dunbartonshire	5.012
East Lothian	7.352
East Renfrewshire	4.913
Edinburgh, City of	35.081
Eilean Siar	0.567
Falkirk	8.716
Fife	23.503
Glasgow City	75.454
Highland	11.223
Inverclyde	7.354
Midlothian	4.766
Moray	5.432
North Ayrshire	11.546
North Lanarkshire	24.748
Orkney	0.659
Perth and Kinross	6.781
Renfrewshire	14.400
Scottish Borders	5.503
Shetland	0.886
South Ayrshire	7.631
South Lanarkshire	21.371
Stirling	4.449
West Dunbartonshire	13.736
West Lothian	9.446
Scotland	383.620