Chamber and committees

The government hasrecently sought a wide range of views on a draft Code of Practice for Sharing Informationwhen there are concerns about a child. The 87 responses are currently being analysed.Those views will inform the redrafting of the code in coming months and considerationwill be given to how best to ensure that the code is embedded into practice.

The needs of theNHS for audiologists are met partly through the BSc (audiology) course run by Queen Margaret University and partly through in-house training. Workforce planning will addressthe numbers required for the future demands on the service to meet the new 18week patient journey target by 2011.

Information isbeing collected via the Growing Up in Scotland Study on fathers’ activities andbehaviours with their children; and via the Millennium Cohort Study on the roleof fathers in children’s lives on a UK-wide basis.

Funding is alsobeing provided towards Children in Scotland’s “Children,Fathers and Fatherhood” project to promote the importance of fathers’involvement with their children, to collate information and good practice andto develop strategies and disseminate guidance to service providers.

As an employer,the aim of the Scottish Government is to help all staff achieve a satisfactorywork-life balance. To this end, the opportunity to apply to work a range of flexiblepatterns is already available to all staff, at all grades, including fathers.

In addition, we alsooffer a range of initiatives, including paid paternity leave, paid specialleave  and career breaks to provide additional support.

The ScottishGovernment is funding Parenting Across Scotland, a multi-agency partnershipproject led by Children 1st. Its aim is to research the concerns and issuesaffecting those in a parenting role and represent the views of parents inpolicy.

In addition, the Scottish Government has provided funding to Children in Scotland’s Children, Fathers and Fatherhood project.

Children,Fathers and Fatherhood isa Children in Scotland project directly funded by the ScottishGovernment. It aims to explore, promote and support the involvement of fathers inthe care of their children. In addition, the Government is committed toenhancing the parenting skills of parents at every age, and to this end isengaged in a wide range of cross-cutting work to support parents.

No discussions haveyet been held with NHS Lothian since I formally announced, on 23 October 2007, the18-week target for audiology to be delivered by 2011. Discussions will take placewith NHS Lothian shortly to ensure that there is an action plan for implementation.

A delivery programmeand action plans for audiology will be agreed with NHS boards to ensure this standardis in place by the target date of 2011. The workforce planning processes in placein each board include audiologists, and action plans will include workforce planningas appropriate.

As indicated by theCabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing in response to the answer to questionS3W-2159 on 31 July 2007 and during the parliamentary debate on waiting times, on24 October 2007, the Scottish Government’s position is that NHS boards can continueto use existing private sector capacity if that helps them at the margins to cutwaiting times for patients. However, this is a matter for NHS Lothian to consideras it establishes its action plan to meet the 18-week patient journey target by2011.All answers to writtenparliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facilityfor which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

The ScottishGovernment is actively encouraging all parents, including fathers, to beinvolved in their children’s lives. Examples of this are the 2006 ParentalInvolvement Act, which seeks the engagement of parents in their children’seducation and the funding of Parenting Across Scotland to provide a voice forthose in a parenting role.