Chamber and committees

We are aware that the eligibility criteria do not include people in receipt of the lower rate of the mobility component of the Disability Living Allowance. This is one of a number of issues being considered as part of the review of the scheme. The review is nearing completion.

Although the scheme already includes demand responsive/community transport services which are locally registered services, this is one of a number of issues being considered as part of the review of the scheme. The review is nearing completion.

The Scottish Government is taking a wide range of measures to support families living with disability. For example, we provide substantial funding (around £3.3 million in 2008-09) for a range of organisations directly supporting families with disabled children. We also provide funding to the Child Poverty Action Group in Scotland to develop training, advice and information on tax credits and benefits for frontline workers working with children with disabilities and their families.

We have also clearly committed to the UK Government''s child poverty targets. We will do all within the powers available to us to help achieve the interim target of halving child poverty by 2010, and the goal of eradicating child poverty by 2020. We are also liaising closely with the UK Government on their initial proposals for a Child Poverty Bill.

However significant short term action to combat child poverty and to meet the additional costs faced by families living with disability requires extra investment by the UK Government in tax credits and benefits. The Scottish Government does not currently have responsibility for personal taxation and benefits but we are working in the context of the National Conversation, to develop key principles for how the benefits and tax credits system could operate to tackle poverty and income inequality in the event of fiscal autonomy or independence.

We recognise that such families may be at risk of fuel poverty and so we announced in November that from April this year our new Energy Assistance Package will provide a range of help for low income families with a disabled child, to reduce energy costs and lower fuel bills which may include free insulation or central heating.

We set out our new approach to tackling poverty and income inequality in Achieving Our Potential, which together with the frameworks on health inequalities and early years, commit to a concerted approach with our partners to tackle disadvantage and promote equality for people with disabilities.

Charging policies for residential care are provided for in legislation. The Scottish Government publishes annual guidance for local authorities, the Charging for Residential Accommodation Guidance, which clearly sets out how local authorities should treat assets, capital and income when undertaking a financial assessment for the purposes of calculating charges.

It is for local authorities to decide their charging policies for non-residential care, in keeping with local accountability. COSLA issued updated guidance on charging for non-residential care in January 2006, with the aim of promoting more consistent approaches across local authorities, and recently established a review group to look at the effectiveness of the guidance. The Scottish Government is represented on the review group.

The Scottish Government has a range of measures in place to ensure that information on charges and financial assessments is clear and accessible, including:

Publishing annually the Charging for Residential Accommodation Guidance. As well as setting out the charging rules, this guidance says that local authorities must ensure that the resident is given a clear explanation of how the assessment of ability to pay has been carried out;

Publishing the Thinking about Moving into a Care Home booklet, which includes details of how a financial assessment is carried out, and

Setting National Care Standards that require care services to provide information on charges and what they cover.

The Scottish Government is also in the process of establishing Care Information Scotland. That will bring together in one place all the information about community care for older people, including information on charges and financial assessment. The information service will consist of a website and helpline and will go live later this year.

The Getting Fit for the Future programme centred on the modernisation and sustainability of health care service delivery in the Borders. The need for community care housing and the best way of meeting this can only properly be addressed at local level. I have been advised by NHS Borders that the current and projected need for accessible housing was not an issue raised directly during the programme. However, NHS Borders works closely with their partners through joint planning and initiatives to support more people to lead independent lives in the community.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-18864 on 8 January 2009. 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/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

The Early Years Framework has been developed jointly by the Scottish Government and COSLA and sets out the joint commitment of national and local government to improving outcomes for children and families.

The framework is based on the principles of early intervention. Key to this will be earlier identification of children and families with particular support needs, including disabled children, and provision of timely and appropriate support to meet those needs.

The framework includes a proposal to develop an indicator covering inclusion and outcomes for disabled children as part of a suite of improved local indicators. The detail of how services will be delivered locally to support improved outcomes is a matter for each individual community planning partnership under the single outcome agreement (SOA) process. The framework offers an analysis of key elements that will contribute to improved outcomes in early years that local partners can draw on in developing their SOAs.

Altogether, three cases of Legionella longbeachae have been recorded in Scotland.

In two cases, no source was identified.

The other case was a foreign resident who visited Scotland and Ireland. The source identified was potting soil which the case had handled before visiting Scotland.

Source: Health Protection Scotland.

There are no plans to require compost producers to publish warnings of Legionella longbeachae on their packaging.

The British Standards Institution''s Publicly Available Specification for Composted Materials (PAS 100) aims to improve confidence in composted materials. PAS 100 requires customers of compost to be provided with information about where the compost was made and guidance on storing, handling and using the compost.

The Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) have a confidence in compost programme which will include the examination of risks such as a legionella longeachae arising from the use or production of compost.