Chamber and committees

Following Cabinet agreementof its remit on 25 June 2003, the Children and Young People Delivery Group(CYPDG) has met on eight separate occasions: 24 September 2003, 25 February2004, 15 June 2004, 15 September 2004, 26 April 2005, 25 October 2005, 8 March2006 and 21 March 2006.

Prior to the establishmentof the CYPDG, the Cabinet Committee on Children’s Services coordinated policy forChildren and Young People. The committee was constituted in December 2001following the publication of the For Scotland’s Children report inOctober 2001.

Funding allocations for2006-07 and 2007-08 were issued to local authorities in November 2005. Jointproposals for uptake of these allocations to improve the integration, qualityand availability of children’s services were invited from local partnershipsincluding local authorities, NHS boards and the voluntary sector. Proposals aresubmitted by local partnerships and are then reviewed by the Executive toensure compliance with the fund objectives and criteria. Proposals submitted by19 partnerships have already been approved, four proposals are being reviewed andproposals from nine partnerships are still awaited.

We have not received any formalrepresentations from the voluntary sector. The potential for retention of resourcesby local authorities from the transfer of a proportion of the fund into the localgovernment settlement was raised in informal discussions by some local partners.The distribution of fund resources at local level is for local negotiation amongpartners depending on local needs and priorities.

Our guidance emphasises the needfor local partnership working, including with the voluntary sector. Proposals fromlocal partnerships for uptake of allocations must show that they have been agreedby the voluntary sector.

The Executive does not allocatespecific proportions of this fund to NHS boards. Allocations are provided to localauthorities who then submit joint proposals for uptake of these allocations in partnershipwith NHS boards, the voluntary sector and others.

It is up to the local partnershipsto decide how best to utilise these resources to meet local needs and priorities.

We intend to consult local partnershipson updated guidance in May and we hope to finalise it by the end of June.

Three thousand, nine hundredand eighty staff who did not hold a qualificationat any level worked directly with children in pre-school and child care centresin 2005. This data is from the Pre-schooland Childcare Workforce Statistics 2005 and is rounded to the nearest 10.

Information for previous yearsis not held centrally.

The information requested forthe year 2005 is given in Table 1.13 of Pre-Schooland Childcare Workforce Statistics 2005 published by Scottish Executive NationalStatistics in 2006 a copy of which is available in the Scottish ParliamentInformation Centre (Bib. number 39531).

Information for the period priorto 2005 is not held centrally.

The information requested isgiven in table 1.5 of Pre-School and Childcare Workforce Statistics 2005published by Scottish Executive National Statistics in 2006, a copy of which isavailable in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 39531).

The remit and membership of theChildren and Young People Delivery Group were considered and agreed by the Cabinetin 2003.

The information requested isnot currently held centrally. The Scottish Executive is collecting informationon social workers starting and leaving employment with Scottish localauthorities during the October 2005 to September 2006 period. Subject to theaccuracy, reliability and completeness of this data, it will be publishedalongside results of the October 2006 annual Social Work Services StaffingSurvey which is currently planned for July 2007. Information on the numbers ofsocial workers employed by Scottish local authorities is available as part of the Statistics Publication Notices: Health and Care Series: Social WorkerPosts and Vacancies publications, currently produced quarterly andavailable at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/Recent.