Chamber and committees

The Scottish Household Survey shows that the percentage of households who are overcrowded in Scotland fell by a quarter since 1999-2000 to stand at 3% in 2003.

We legislated in the 2001 Housing Act to ensure all social landlords give reasonable preference in the allocation of houses to applicants who are overcrowded. Since 1999, over £1.3 billion has been invested through Communities Scotland to provide over 34,000 new and improved affordable homes.

The Scottish Executive recognises that effective data sharing is an important factor in delivering more effective, customer focused public services - and in particular in improving child protection services. The need for public sector staff to understand when they can - and should - share data about their clients has perhaps never been greater.

The Local Government in Scotland Act 2003 sets out the legislative basis for Community Planning. Statutory guidance, published in April, makes clear the importance of sharing appropriate information between partners and provides additional practical advice. That guidance will be supplemented by the work of the Senior Officer Group on Data Sharing which the Executive has set up

The Senior Officer Group, which has representatives from across the Executive’s functions, promotes data sharing and oversees the development of strategic guidance. We have produced an internet-based framework that promotes a consistent approach to data sharing and will shortly publish general legal guidance that will help public sector bodies to ensure that they make effective use of information, share data within the law and respect people’s legitimate expectations about the privacy and confidentiality of their personal information. We are also developing further specific guidance, such as information sharing protocols, and are looking at the feasibility of running a short training programme targeted at key public sector staff with an interest in data sharing.

We have also encouraged, throughthe Modernising Government Fund, data sharing programmes such as eCare, which isdeveloping inter-agency systems to improve patient care and which, in its nextphase, will focus on children’s services across all local authorities and NHSboards.

The Executive is takingforward, with the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland,the recommendations in the Bichard report relating to the sharing andmanagement of police information, and as part of that will examine thepossibilities for sharing such information with police forces in other parts of the UK. The Executive will also shortly be issuing new guidance to managersand practitioners within the childcare community on the general question ofinformation sharing, and the ability of agencies to collaborate in suchsharing, in cases where there is any concern about a child.

Data sharing guidance willbe placed on the Internet at www.openscotland.gov.uk.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S2W-9007 on 5 July 2004. 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 National Guidance on Managing Head Lice Infection in Children and the Head Lice Information for Parents leaflet both advise that “bug buster” kits are available on prescription and are therefore freely available to all children.

We have no plans to encourage NHS boards and local authorities to distribute “bug buster” kits at present. However, we will consider if this is appropriate after we have received progress reports on implementation of the national guidance from NHS boards and local authorities in 2005.

We undertook a full consultation in the development of the National Guidance on Managing Head Lice Infection in Children and we have received feedback from schools, health professionals and parents since publication of the guidance.

NHS Health Scotland consulted with parent focus groups in developing the Head Lice Information for Parents leaflet and have received feedback from Directors of Education since publication of the leaflet.

Neither the Executive nor NHS Health Scotland have any plans to support further promotional materials or campaigns to raise awareness on the prevention and treatment of head lice infection at present.

We plan to write to NHS boards and local authorities next year, two years after publication of the National Guidance on Managing Head Lice Infection in Children, to monitor implementation of the guidance.In the meantime, we intend to write to education authorities in August 2004, reminding them that schools, working with their school nurse, should provide parents and carers with regular information about the detection and treatment of head lice infection in a proactive way, as recommended on page 7 of the guidance at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/library5/health/ngmh-00.asp.

The Department of Health leaflet for parents on the prevention and treatment of head lice suggests a whole school approach, and it would be for individual schools to decide whether they wanted to promote a whole school approach.

The National Guidance on Managing Head Lice Infection in Children states that schools, working with their school nurse, should provide parents and carers with information about the detection and treatment of head lice infection in a proactive and systematic way. Both the National Guidance and Head Lice Information for Parents leaflet advise that all family members should be checked if live lice are found in one member of the family.

We do not hold this information, but the National Guidance on Managing Head Lice Infection in Children recommends that schools, working with their school nurse, should provide parents with information about the detection and treatment of head lice infection in a proactive and systematic way, for example, at the start of every new term as well as at any point in the school year when a general problem has been identified. Monthly reminders or “flyers” can be sent home from school, informing families about detection through “wet combing” and reminding parents of their responsibility to check their children’s hair for head lice at least once a week.

Some schools organise workshops for parents and hold awareness weeks to educate both children and parents to check for head lice at home on a weekly basis using the wet combing/bug busting method.

The first meeting of the Steering Group of the Review of the Early Years and Childcare Workforce took place on 2 July 2004. Most members were appointed by inviting stakeholder organisations to nominate a representative. Others were invited in their own right as they will bring particular expertise to the work of the steering group. The membership of the steering group is:

Susan Bain	Association of Quality Nurseries Scotland
Carol Ball	UNISON
Joan Beattie	SkillsActive
Fiona Bennett	Barnardo’s Hazelgrove Service
Bronwen Cohen	Children in Scotland
Cllr Charles Gray	North Lanarkshire Council
Peter Hay	Aberdeenshire Council
Patricia McGinty	Scottish Independent Nurseries Association
Rosemary Milne	One Stop Childcare
Jane Polglase	Association of Scottish Colleges
Eleanor Pollock	St Eunan’s Early Education & Childcare Centre, Clydebank
Christine Riach	Dundee City Council Education Department
Neil Robertson	Scottish Qualifications Authority
Frances Scott	Scottish Social Services Council
Barbara Thomas	Aberdeen Childcare Partnership.