Chamber and committees

The Essential Services working group has been established as a time-limited sub‘group of the Scottish Ministerial Advisory Committee on Alcohol Problems (SMACAP) to update core services for alcohol treatment and support.

The group meets on a monthly basis, with the first meeting having taken place at the end of January 2010. The group consists of key experts working in the alcohol field. There is representation from the NHS, COSLA, local authorities, alcohol and drug partnerships (ADPs) and the voluntary sector. The Essential Services working group will report to the Scottish Government in December 2010.

The group has developed and agreed an operational framework and remit, project specification and project plan. The work of the group is on track and progressing well, with members currently drafting initial chapters which will form the basis of the final report.

Information on staff in post is published annually by NHS Services Scotland Information Services Division (ISD) Scotland, as part of the workforce census as at 30 September each year. Data for speech and language therapists staff in post by NHS region and NHS board 2007-09 are available at:

http://www.isdscotland.org/isd/servlet/FileBuffer?namedFile=Allied%20health%20professions%202009.xls&pContentDispositionType=attachment.

Data for therapeutic staff is also available by trend and NHS board 1998-2006 at:

http://www.isdscotland.org/isd/servlet/FileBuffer?namedFile=WFF02_HB_REG.xls&pContentDispositionType=attachment.

The published data show an increase in speech and language therapy staff (which includes speech and language therapists and speech and language therapy assistants) from 1,107 at 30 September 2005 to 1268 at 30 September 2009 a 14.5% increase of 161 (head count).

Information on waiting times for speech and language therapy is not currently collected centrally.

The Scottish Government has funded, as part of the National Workforce and Workload Programme, a project to develop an extension to the Allied Health Professions (AHP) data set. This will allow more detailed and accurate information to be captured in relation to AHP activity and workload.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-32923 on 26 April 2010. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-31078 on 4 February 2010, which sets out the costs incurred up until 10 January 2010. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

Between 10 January 2010 and financial year end on 31 March 2010 a further £8.27 million was spent.

£6.75 million of this is attributable to the on-going works on the Glasgow to Paisley railway corridor, the Paisley Corridor Improvements (PCI) project.

The balance of £1.52 million is attributable either directly to the GARL branch line close out, or are costs which cannot be readily split between main line / branch line works.

It is currently estimated that a further £4.75 million will be spent on closing out the Glasgow Airport Rail Link project.

None of the above figures include an assessment of any monies which may be due with respect to: (1) the sale of surplus land acquired under compulsory purchase powers and disposed of in accordance with the Crichel Downs Rules (as mandated by the Glasgow Airport rail Link Act (2007)); nor (2) the balance of any funding payable to the Authorised Undertaker from the European Union''s Trans-European Networks (TENs) budget.

We continue to keep the European Commission informed of progress. None of the provisions in the Alcohol etc. (Scotland) Bill require notification under the Technical Standards Directive.

This information is not held centrally. It is the responsibility for each local Community Service scheme to monitor and record performance in accordance with the national guidance which forms part of the National Objectives and Standards for Social Work Services in the Criminal Justice System. The latest Scottish Government guidance on Community Service, which was issued in February 2009 and came into operation from 1 June 2009, states that The overall intention is for the offender to commence work within 7 working days of the Order being made by the Court.

A sample audit to assess the impact of the new guidance on the time taken to commence and complete orders is in progress. This will use as a baseline the report Community Service Audits 2009-10 published on the Scottish Parliament Information Centre in April 2009 (Bib. number 47783). The findings of the follow up audit will be published on SPICe as Audit of Community Service in Scotland “ Comparative Study (Bib. number 49886) during May 2010.

The Scottish Government is working closely with partners to ensure the consistent assessment and management of violent offenders in communities across the country.

The report recommended that the first step should be to strengthen current practice and that is why we are working on introducing a framework for the risk assessment and management of offenders. We will also publish new National Standards for criminal justice social work later this year.

Local leaders are also working to improve practice. The Association of Directors of Social Work is leading a process of structured self evaluation to support front line staff in identifying and making practice improvements to enhance public safety.

The Scottish Executive provides guidance to local authorities in the form on National Objectives and Standards for Social Work Services in the Criminal Justice System.

We are working with partners to introduce a new, more consistent approach to risk assessment and management of offenders, and more effective information sharing and we will publish new National Standards for criminal justice social work later this year.

We are currently working with expert stakeholders, including the Association of Directors of Social Work, the Social Work Inspection Agency and the Risk Management Authority to revise the guidance on criminal justice social work reports for the court. One of the key aims is to improve the quality of analysis of offending and we are testing out in pilot areas a national template for providing these reports. New guidance will be published later this year, as part of the wider review of the National Outcomes and Standards for Criminal Justice Social Work and supported by training for social work staff.