Chamber and committees

The information requested iscontained in the following table:

Number and Proportion ofSchool Leavers Entering Full-Time Higher or Further Education

	2003-04	2004-05
Argyll and Bute	442 (48%)	491 (47%)
West Dunbartonshire	503 (47%)	646 (52%)

 

Information on the destinationsof young people leaving school in 2005-06 is due to be published on the 6 December 2006.

Direct payments are a meansto allow an individual to purchase the support that would otherwise be arrangedby the local authority, and must be made from within existing overallresources. However, in recognition of additional costs incurred whilst directpayments schemes are developed in tandem with more traditional services, the2004 spending review allocated an additional £1.8 million expenditure during2006 to Scottish local authorities and £2 million annually thereafter to bringdirect payments fully into mainstream service provision.

In addition, the ScottishExecutive awarded £210,000 in grants in 2006-07 for information, support workand training to national direct payments support organisations such as the Scottish Consortium of Direct Payments Support Organisation (SCDPSO), apartnership of the Centres for Integrated Living, and the Scottish PersonalAssistant Employers Network (SPAEN).

We are not aware of anylocal authorities currently operating waiting lists for direct payments.

The Scottish Executive doesnot monitor the training of social workers in the provision and implementationof direct payments. As part of the grant aided expenditure for direct paymentsin 2006, we expect local authorities to provide training for their staff whoseroles involve care assessment and care management.

The Executive monitors localauthorities’ activities on direct payments in two ways.

Local authorities are requiredto complete the quarterly statistical return DP1 of key monitoring information,which the Scottish Executive compiles into an annual statistical return. Thelatest national figures are available on the Scottish Executive website at thefollowing link:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2006/09/25160444/0.

In response to the HealthCommittee’s recent Care Inquiry, the Scottish Executive issued in September draftguidance for public consultation which highlights that Local ImprovementTargets (LITs) of the Joint Performance Information and Assessment Framework(JPIAF) are used to monitor local authority performance. It is an expectationof the grant aided expenditure (GAE) for direct payments for 2006 onwards thatlocal authorities provide local information, support and training, both fordirect payments recipients and personal assistants (PAs,) and local authoritystaff involved in financing and delivering care locally. We shall use LITs tomonitor progress on delivery. Further information on LITs can be found on the Scottish Executive Joint Future website at the following link:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Health/care/JointFuture/LITS.

The annual statisticspublication on education maintenance allowances at Scottish level will be publishedon 14 November. The breakdown by local authority, published annually on theinternet, will be updated in the same week.

A wide range of mental healthservices are provided for young people in Scotland. Whilst we do not collect detailed information centrallyon every service, Children and Young People’s Mental Health: A Framework for Promotion,Prevention and Care was developed in 2005 to assist local health, education andsocial services in planning and delivering integrated approaches to children andyoung people’s mental health and wellbeing, and provides an overview of servicesput in place for young people.

The Executive monitors the useof funding allocated to local authorities to tackle antisocial behaviour throughannual reporting as part of the 2005-08 Outcome Agreement approach. Guidance onthis is available in Guidance on: - Antisocial Behaviour Strategies - AccountabilityFramework and Outcome Agreements - Reporting on Antisocial Behaviour Strategiesand Outcome Agreements, a copy of which can be found in the Scottish ParliamentInformation Centre (Bib. number 40824).

Latest available figures, toend March 2005, show that no antisocial behaviour orders have been applied for byArgyll and Bute Council since the measure was introduced.

The Executive has provided dedicatedfunding to local authorities to tackle antisocial behaviour (ASB) since 2004-05.Argyll and Bute Council’s ASB funding between 2004-05 and 2006-07 was as follows:

2004-05 – £184,000

2005-06 – £204,700

2006-07 – £247,000.

Local authority funding to tackleASB in 2007-08 has yet to be released.