Chamber and committees

Information on the number,grade and age of staff in the NHS, broken down by profession and NHS board, iscollected by the Information and Statistics Division of the Common ServicesAgency of NHSScotland. These data are used to assist in workforce planningexercises.

No, but the Executiveannounced on 5 December a review of the Supporting People programme to ensurethat it is meeting its original objectives.

The Scottish Executive is committed to a further education sector which delivers the maximumvalue for the record levels of funding now being invested. That criterion isreflected strongly in ministers’ guidance to the Scottish Further EducationFunding Council, which has responsibility for funding Scotland’sfurther education colleges and for securing adequate and efficient furthereducation in Scotland. The guidance forms the basis of funding agreementsbetween the Funding Council and individual colleges.

Ministersrely on the judgement and expertise of college boards of management indetermining the optimum provision of further education within the communitiesserved by each college, and in securing best value from the resources whichboards administer. Boards continue to address these requirements in a range ofways, including the pursuit of internal efficiency savings, collaborativeinitiatives and joint delivery of further education with other colleges andproviders, and by examining the scope for college mergers.

The Funding Councilcontinues to work with colleges, both individually and collectively, toidentify opportunities for rationalisation and effectiveness in furthereducation provision and in matching supply and demand. A proportion of theFunding Council’s resources is used to support strategic change.

Homelessness strategies havebeen developed by every Scottish local authority in partnership with serviceproviders and other stakeholders and in liaison with the Executive and COSLA. Homelessness strategies will form the cornerstoneof local authorities’ drive to tackle the issue of homelessness and,increasingly, to prevent it through early intervention. The Executive hasallocated £20 million per annum over three years (2003-04 to 2005-06) specificallyto assist local authorities to implement their homelessness strategies. This ispart of a wider financial commitment of £127 million by the Executive to tacklehomelessness.

Social service workers whowill be required to register are expected to meet the criteria set by the Scottish Social Services Council. Part of the criteria for registration willinclude obtaining or working towards certain qualifications. The payment offees for registration is the responsibility of the individual. However, trainingof the social care workforce within the voluntary sector is the responsibilityof individual employers.

To help the sector progress towardsany qualifications criteria set for registration, the Executive providetraining grants under section 9 of the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968 topromote an acceptable level of practice competence in key areas of social workcovered by the voluntary sector. This enables voluntary organisations involvedto provide or secure training for their paid staff and voluntary workers whichwould not otherwise be available to them.

In October 2003, the Executive announced an additional £9 million over the next three years forlocal authorities to invest in training. Ministers have made it clear thatstaff who work in partnership with local authorities, including independentproviders from the voluntary and private sector will benefit from thisadditional funding.

Currently, the ScottishSocial Services Council is undertaking an investigation of all the key fundingstreams available for training in the social work sector and this will includethe voluntary sector.

The cost of registration isthe responsibility of the individual in the same way that teachers, nurses anddoctors pay their own registration fees. The register will help raise theprofile of social service workers and increase public confidence in theservices provided.

Registration of the socialservice workforce began on 1 April 2003. It is being phased in on a geographical basis bylocal authority boundary. Large voluntary organisations that have projectsthroughout Scotland will be phased in on an organisational basis. So far451 workers have been registered.

Application packs are sentto employers to distribute to their employees. They are asked to return theircompleted forms to the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) within 28 days.It is up to the individual to return the form to the SSSC. The details on eachapplication are carefully checked by the SSSC staff. Disclosure Scotlandalso run a check on each applicant.

The Executive provides fundsto the Scottish Road Safety Campaign for the production of key road safetyeducation initiatives and publicity campaigns. The campaign arranges publicityto complement enforcement campaigns undertaken by police forces in Scotland.

Information relating topolice time is not held centrally. Campaignsare generally designed round core policing functions and do not requireofficers to be dedicated to dealing solely with campaign issues.

The table indicates the costof publicity arranged by the Scottish Road Safety Campaign associated with (a)festive and (b) summer safety campaigns run by police forces in Scotland inthe years 2000-01, 2001-02 and 2002-03.

Year	Festive Safety	Summer Safety
2000-01	£59,324.94	£24,981.68
2001-02	£135,966.52	£115,171.74
2002-03	£124,171.39	£106,374.49

All road safety campaignsare continually reviewed by the Scottish Executive and the Scottish Road SafetyCampaign. Independent research and evaluation is commissioned to track longterm changes in attitudes and behaviour relating to driving amongst targetaudiences. Awareness of campaigns is tracked and evaluated, before and afterperiods of campaign activity, to measure how messages are being received. Allof this information is used to provide insight into the future development of the campaign strategy.

Road safety campaigns arerigorously researched and developed on the basis of research evidence.Campaigns are evaluated in terms of awareness levels to ensure that the roadsafety message is reaching its intended audience. Long-term changes in publicattitudes and driving behaviour relating to the campaign are also evaluatedregularly, and statistics are produced to measure progress towards achieving programmefor government casualty reduction targets. Value for money can be assessedthrough comparing the costs of running the road safety awareness campaign withthe estimated costs of a fatal road casualty (£1,249,890 at 2002 prices).