Chamber and committees

Responsibility for meeting the National Care Standards is a matter for individual providers in discussion and agreement with the Care Commission.The principal source of income to enable providers to meet regulatory standards is the fees they receive. The Scottish Executive is committed to implementing in full the recommendations of the National Review Group on care home fees. We have already committed £52.5 million since July 2001 for that purpose, and discussions are under way with the local authorities and the providers about the appropriate fee levels for 2003-04.There are also other Scottish Executive initiatives which will indirectly contribute to a provider's ability to meet specific standards:

• Voluntary organisations can make applications to the Scottish Executive for funding under section 9 of the Social Work (Scotland) Act to help with training costs.

• Cathy Jamieson announced earlier this year an Action Plan for Social Services Workforce which included £3.5 million for local authorities in 2002-03 for training social services staff.

• An additional £9.2 million has been allocated for the expansion and development of the early years workforce from 2002-04. A further £6 million per annum is committed during the period 2004-06. This funding is allocated through child care partnerships, and can be used for workforce expansion and development in the local authority, private and voluntary sectors.

The Care Commission has discretion in applying the standards, taking into account the nature of the services being provided. For example, in the case of care homes for older people, where existing provision cannot meet the standards but is otherwise of good quality, specific criteria may be agreed with the Care Commission officers to allow existing rooms to remain in use.In taking forward the development of the National Care Standards Scottish ministers have been mindful of the need to balance the user/improved quality of care focus of the standards with the need to recognise the commercial realities for providers. Likewise, in implementing the standards the Care Commission will aim to work in partnership with the providers to reach an agreed way forward.

The Best Value Task Force does not fall within the authority of the Commissioner of Public Appointments and her Code of Practice does not therefore apply in this instance. However, ministers do seek to apply the spirit of the code whenever relevant and I am satisfied that the appointments we have made to the Best Value Task Force are both appropriate and justified.

The Scottish Executive currently funds, either directly or through local authorities, a significant number of schemes provided by voluntary organisations, which apply restorative justice principles. These apply both in respect of the under-16 age group and adult offenders.

As a large portion of the Scottish Executive's budget is controlled by other public bodies it is not possible to routinely report on this basis. However, a report entitled Review of Funding for the Voluntary Sector - Direct Funding from the Scottish Executive, published in May 2002, which is available at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/library5/finance/rfvs-00.asp, sets out the Executive's plans to reform the arrangements for its direct funding of the voluntary sector in Scotland. It covers and responds to recommendations arising from the consultation paper that issued on 30 April 2001 and the responses received to that consultation.

The Scottish Executive is committed to proofing its policies for their impact on the voluntary sector to ensure they do not place an unreasonable burden on the sector. The Scottish Compact Good Practice Guidance on proofing covers this issue. Changes in charity water reliefs fall into this category. These changes were deemed to have a significant impact on the sector and therefore a £1 million hardship fund has been established.The Scottish Executive has no plans to cover the increased costs of insurance premiums.

There is a multi-agency youth justice team in every local authority.

On 18 October, I announced the creation of a National Crime Prevention Fund. All national voluntary sector agencies that deliver youth justice services, including SACRO, have been invited to apply to this fund.

I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:The available information is given in the following table. The information held by the SPS cannot identify the numbers of remand prisoners who subsequently received a prison sentence for the offences for which they were remanded in custody. Some prisoners are imprisoned frequently for short periods and re-offend very shortly after release. It is therefore possible for a prisoner to be received into custody under sentence for offences committed before those for which they had last been remanded in custody. The available information therefore cannot identify how the offences for which a prisoner is serving a sentence relate to the charges for any previous period on remand. The information on costs per prisoner place is also not available. The SPS is set a Key Performance Indicator to operate within an average annual cost per prisoner place. Costs are not maintained separately by gender or sentence period. These are set out in the SPS annual reports.

	1999	2000	2001
Remand receptions to penal establishments	15,291	13,945	15,433
Average time spent on remand in days	24	23	23"

Local authorities already have a duty to provide throughcare to prisoners subject to statutory supervision on release. Under provisions in the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968, short-term prisoners not subject to statutory supervision on release are also entitled to request advice, guidance and assistance from local authorities in the 12 months following their release from prison. The Tripartite Group, consisting of representatives from the Scottish Executive, the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) and the Association of Directors of Social Work, has prepared a report on ways to strengthen the present throughcare arrangements and to manage the effective transition from prison to the community. One of the priorities for future action is to formalise liaison arrangements between SPS and local authority criminal justice social work services to ensure a coherent framework for throughcare services. I plan to publish the report next month.

Scottish Executive resources are channelled to the community and voluntary sectors in disadvantaged areas in a number of ways, for example through Social Inclusion Partnerships, the Better Neighbourhood Services Fund, and via local authorities, health boards and other community planning agencies. The Scottish Executive encourages local authorities and other agencies to involve the voluntary and community sector in planning and managing services at local level as they are known to have particular skills in working with particular groups and in particular areas. The Local Government in Scotland Bill sets out a framework for community engagement in Community Planning including a duty for local authorities (as facilitators of the process) to consult and co-operate with community bodies. We will expect to see the interests of voluntary and community organisations properly respected in the community planning process throughout Scotland.