Chamber and committees

The Community Regeneration Statement Better Communities in Scotland: Closing the Gap, which was published in June 2002, sets out the framework for regeneration and the migration of social inclusion partnerships to community planning partnerships.

Glasgow Housing Association Ltd paid £25 million to Glasgow City Council in respect of the Glasgow housing transfer.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S2W-187 today. 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/webapp/search_wa.

The information requested is not held centrally. However, the Improving Mental Health Information Programme of NHSScotland Information and Statistics Division (ISD) is working with agencies to improve access to nationally consistent information and to explore ways of closing such information gaps. Further information is available on the ISD website:www.show.scot.nhs.uk/isd/mental_health/mhipbase.htm.The recently published NHS Health Scotland SNAP review of child and adolescent mental health services has provided a timely foundation on which to base development of support for children with mental health problems. The Scottish Executive Health Department has asked the national advisory Child Health Support Group to work with the NHS and partner agencies to act on the findings and implement recommendations in that report. Partnership for Care also confirmed that early attention will be given to the development of the child and adolescent mental health workforce.The Scottish Executive is also working with NHS Education for Scotland to increase training capacity for clinical psychologists as part of a broader programme with NHSScotland to assess and reshape psychology services to meet local demand.

Data on child psychology specialists in the NHS has not in the past been routinely collected. However, a special study has been made and information on vacancies will be analysed later this year. Information on child psychologist vacancies in local authorities is not available centrally.

Data on child psychology specialists in the NHS has not in the past been routinely collected. However, a special study has been made of the contribution that is made by clinical psychologists and the following table shows the headcount of NHS employed psychologists working with children, young people and families by board as at 30 September 2002. These data are provisional and final figures are due for publication later this year in a forthcoming report by the Clinical Psychology Workforce Planning Group.

Health Board	Headcount as at 30 September 2002
Argyll and Clyde	6
Ayrshire and Arran	8
Borders	4
Dumfries and Galloway	2
Fife	11
Forth Valley	7
Grampian	12
Greater Glasgow	36
Highland	4
Lanarkshire	1
Lothian	13
Orkney	0
Shetland	0
Tayside	3
Western Isles	0
Total	107

Information on child psychologists employed by local authorities is not held centrally.

Six investigations are currently on-going into irregularities in the operation of Social Inclusion Partnerships. I am unable to comment further on any of these cases on the basis that such disclosure might compromise any on-going investigation or related legal action.For information, in the context of this question the phrase "operation of social inclusion partnerships" is taken to refer not just to the partnerships themselves but also to projects funded or partially funded by them.

The Scottish Executive does not have criminal record checks carried out on the recipients of Social Inclusion Partnership funding. In general terms, employers and others may ask individuals to apply for criminal record certificates from Disclosure Scotland under Part V of the Police Act 1997 for purposes of considering their suitability to occupy particular posts or positions, but there is currently no requirement under law for these certificates to be obtained. (This is a matter to which we are giving close consideration).For information, in the context of this question the phrase "recipients of social inclusion partnership funding" is taken to refer not just to the grant recipients themselves (i.e. the relevant local authority) but also to the projects funded through them.

Scottish Enterprise has placed information on the costs of age discrimination to the economy on its website:http://www.scottish-enterprise.com/publications/fsip1_getting_old.pdf.

Matters relating to equal opportunities and employment are reserved to the UK Government. The Executive supports the Department for Work and Pension's "Age Positive" campaign, which includes increasing awareness about the benefits of employing older people. The Executive has a number of initiatives on-going to realise the objectives of the Department for Work and Pension's Age Diversity and Over 50s Employment Strategy and is involved in planning for future initiatives with other agencies and the UK Government.Research on this issue including information and guidance for employers, is available on the website http://www.agepositive.gov.uk.