Chamber and committees

The National Scrutiny Group was not established to approve NHS boards workforce plans as that responsibility properly rests with each individual NHS board. The National Scrutiny Group will monitor workforce plans to ensure they are the result of genuine partnership working and that the implementation of any changes described in those plans does not impact on the quality of patient care. I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-36104 on 15 September 2010 which gave details of the remit and membership of the National Scrutiny All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-35399 on 12 August 2010. 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.

The information is given in the Scottish Government Statistics Publication, Children Educated Outwith School 2009, copies of which are available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 50387).

Section 30 of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 places a fundamental duty on the parent of every child of school age to provide education for them, either by their attendance at a public school or by other means.

Section 35 of the same act requires parents to seek the consent of the local authority if they propose to withdraw a child from a local authority school and home educate them. Section 37 places a duty, this time on the local authority, to take action in respect of any child which is being home educated, where they are not satisfied that the parent is providing suitable education.

Currently an average of 7% of calls to Breathing Space are unanswered due to the caller hanging up.

The number of Breathing Space staff employed in each of the years (a) 2007-08, (b) 2008-09 and (c) 2009-10 is listed in the following table:

	March 2007		March 2008
Skillset	Head Count	Whole-Time Equivalent (WTE)	Head Count	WTE
Special Helpline Advisors	22	10.35	32	13.03
Breathing Space Service Operations Supervisors	3	2.81	3	2.71
Breathing Space Service Manager	1	1	1	1.00
Breathing Space Development Officer	0	0	1	1.00
Breathing Space National Coordinator	1	1	1	1.00
Breathing Space Support Officer	1	1	1	1.00
British Sign Language workers	-	-	-	-
Total	28	16.16	39	19.74

 

	March 2009		March 2010
Skillset	Head Count	WTE	Head Count	WTE
Special Helpline Advisors	25	11.57	21	9.28
Breathing Space Service Operations Supervisors	3	2.81	3	2.81
Breathing Space Service Manager	1	1.00	1	1.00
Breathing Space Development Officer	1	1.00	1	1.00
Breathing Space National Coordinator	1	1.00	1	1.00
Breathing Space Support Officer	1	1.00	1	1.00
British Sign Language workers	-	-	2	0.40
Total	32	18.38	30	16.49

Note: In March 2010 a recruitment exercise took place and from this a further 2.4 WTE took up post in June 2010.

Breathing Space is currently receiving and answering significantly more calls than this time last year. For example, in July 2010 Breathing Space answered 5,885 calls compared to 3,341 in July 2009, which is a 76% increase.

At the end of 2009, some Breathing Space Staff left, which temporarily reduced capacity available. Shift patterns of the remaining staff were reviewed to ensure that resource was aligned to incoming call demand patterns. This combined with Supervisors also taking calls contributed to more calls being answered.

A recruitment campaign took place in March 2010 to recruit a further 2.4 whole-time equivalent to bring the service back to previous staffing levels. Those staff started in June 2010. NHS24/Breathing Space continually reviews its workforce and capacity planning, and is now considering how the service needs to adapt to any increase in call demand approaching the winter season.

The number of staff currently employed within Breathing Space is as follows:

Skillset	Headcount	Whole-Time Equivalent (WTE)
Special Helpline Advisors	30	11.48
Breathing Space Service Operations Supervisors	3	2.81
Breathing Space Service Manager	1	1
Breathing Space Development Officer	1	1
Breathing Space National Coordinator	1	1
Breathing Space Support Officer	1	1
Total	37	18.29

 

Plus: 2 (0.4 WTE) British Sign Language (BSL) workers for Deaf pilot ending in November 2010.

Annual funding provided to Breathing Space is as follows:

2007-08

£905,000 total funding received:

£680,000 Scottish Government funding allocation for Breathing Space

£225,000 NHS 24 funding (internal allocation).

2008-09

£1,025,000 total funding received:

£800,000 Scottish Government funding allocation for Breathing Space

£225,000 NHS 24 funding (internal allocation).

2009-10

£1,061,000 total funding received:

£825, 000 Scottish Government funding allocation for Breathing Space

£10,000 Scottish Government funding allocation for the Deaf Connections British Sign Language programme

£226,000 NHS 24 funding (internal allocation).

2010-11

£1,043,000 total funding received:

£825,000 Scottish Government funding allocation for Breathing Space

£218,000 NHS 24 funding (internal allocation).

The Vale of Leven Hospital Inquiry is an independent inquiry. The procedure and conduct of an inquiry is determined by the inquiry''s chairman in accordance with his/her duties under the Inquiries Act 2005. Scottish ministers are therefore unable to comment as to the reasons for the delay in reconvening oral hearings. For further information please contact the secretary of the Vale of Leven Hospital Inquiry Team at [email protected].