Chamber and committees

The Fife Equally Well test site is one of eight that the Scottish Government is supporting to promote collaboration between local public services, aimed ultimately at reducing inequalities in the health and wellbeing of people who need most, or all, of those services. I visited the Fife test site in Kirkcaldy on 26 October. We are supporting the Fife site with over £200,000 funding in 2009-10 and 2010-11. We are also addressing Scotland’s unhealthy relationship with alcohol through measures in our alcohol bill for minimum pricing and banning irresponsible off-sales promotions; we would welcome the support of all members for these.

Dementia is a national priority for this government with our target on early diagnosis and the range of other national activity, including on post-diagnostic support, public awareness and guidance on care in acute and accident and emergency settings all designed to complement and support the delivery of dementia services locally. The Dementia Strategy will be published in April 2010 and will build on our joint achievements and activity to date.

Investment in and spend on dementia services is drawn by NHS Fife and Fife Council from overall resources provided to them by the Scottish Government. It is the responsibility of NHS Fife and Fife Council to work in partnership to allocate funds on the basis of local needs and priorities in ensuring the continuum of health and social care needed by those with dementia as their condition progresses. Planning partners in Fife are nearing the completion of producing of a comprehensive dementia strategy which we anticipate will include consideration on local investment and the design of local dementia services.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-25045 on 16 July 2009. 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.

As already stated in Parliament on 17 June 2009 by the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning, the Scottish Government has honoured the payments relating to these projects so that all of the schools in the pipeline went ahead.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-25045 on 16 July 2009. 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.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-25045 on 16 July 2009. 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.

We have introduced the new £60 million Town Centre Regeneration Fund to help our towns reach their full potential and to support local economies through these challenging economic times. As such there is no specific focus on social deprivation.

All eligible applications will be marked against the following criteria:

1. We live in a Scotland that is the most attractive place for doing business in Europe, and we realise our full economic potential with more and better employment opportunities for our people. Within this, assessors are asked to pay particular attention to leverage rates, additionality, the involvement and support of the business community, job creation and potential to attract future investment for the first criteria;

2. We live in well designed, sustainable places where we are able to access the amenities and services we need. Within this, key factors include the extent to which the project supports the delivery of existing local plans and the extent to which it will improve access to the town centre, and provide the range of services required by the local community;

3. We value and enjoy our built and natural environment and protect and enhance it for future generations;

4. Deliverability, within which we are looking at the readiness of a project and its ability to deliver outcomes quickly, and

5. Sustainability, within which we are looking at the extent and nature of support from other local actors as well as considering whether other funding required to make the project a success is in place.

All applications will receive a score of between zero and five based on the extent to which they meet these criteria. Each will be assessed and scored by two different assessors to ensure fairness, leading to an average score for each criteria. A weighting is then applied to each criteria score to produce an overall score for each application. For the first criteria, the weighting applied is 25; for the second, 20; for the third, nine; for the fourth and fifth, 23. The total weighted score achieved by each application is then used to produce a ranking of bids as a guide to the advisory panel on the extent to which each project might deliver the aims of the fund.

The Apprenticeship Summit provided a very important opportunity to talk directly to employers about how we can support them in their skills investment during the current economic climate and beyond.

There were 150 delegates at the Apprenticeship Summit. 100 of which were representing employers from the public and private sectors, seven representing the Scottish Trade Unions Congress, five representing Sector Skills Councils, five representing private training providers and five representing Scotland''s Colleges. In addition, there were 15 facilitators from a mix of employer and umbrella bodies and 15 scribes from Scottish Government and Skills Development Scotland.

Follow on sessions with Sector Skills Councils, other sector representative bodies, training providers and colleges, led by ministers, will ensure further engagement with stakeholders.

Census information is collected on delayed discharges on a quarterly basis. This counts patients who are delayed on the day of the census and figures from the most recent census are shown in the following table.

NHS Fife Delayed Discharges; Patients Awaiting Place Availability in a Care Home; as at January 2009 Census

Number of Patients 1	Those Delayed for Less than 6 Weeks	Those Delayed for More than 6 Weeks 2
21	21	0

Source: ISD Scotland.

Notes:

1. Number of patients who are ready for discharge, awaiting place availability in a care home, reported as at January 2009 census.

2. Number of patients ready for discharge with a duration of over six weeks (43 days or more), i.e. the common period for discharge planning agreement timescales across Scotland.

There are no plans to ring-fence funding for care home fees for the next three years. The Scottish Government is providing local government in Scotland with record levels of funding over the period 2008-10. The total package of funding over the two year period will see an investment of £23 billion. The vast majority of the funding, including funding for care home fees, is being provided by means of a block grant. It is the responsibility of each local authority to allocate the total financial resources available to it on the basis of local needs and priorities, taking account of its statutory obligations and commitment to deliver the outcomes agreed jointly with the Scottish Government.

In relation to care home fees for publicly funded clients, the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities negotiates with representatives of the independent care home sector annually to set appropriate and consistent fee levels across Scotland as part of the National Care Home Contract. They have just agreed a settlement for the next two years which will mean that the fee base rate will be increased by 2.8% for 2009-10 and by 2.7% in 2010-11.