Chamber and committees

The planning and provision of services is a matter for NHS boards. The Scottish Medicines Consortium has made recommendations regarding certain treatments for age-related macular degeneration. Lucentis was recommended for use in the NHS in Scotland for the treatment of neovascular (wet) age-related macular degeneration in May 2007. NHS boards are required to take full account of these recommendations in the planning and provision of NHS services.

There are no specific targets with regard to the diagnosis and treatment of age-related macular degeneration. The Scottish Government set targets from the end of December 2007 whereby all patients will be seen in an out-patient clinic within 18 weeks of being referred, and if an operation is required, all in-patients and day cases will be treated within 18 weeks of being placed on the waiting list. Patients should be assessed and treated in accordance with their clinical needs.

The routine screening, surveillanceand health promotion checks which children and young people receive is set out inthe Health for All Children(Hall 4) Guidance.

The guidance recommends thatall children at age three to five years should have contact with health professionalsfor immunisation, health promotion discussion, to have their weight recorded, andto discuss any parental concerns.

At this early stage four keythemes are emerging as the underpinning basis of the strategy, building parentingand family capacity, creating communities that provide a supportive environmentfor children and families, delivering services that meet the needs of children andfamilies in a holistic way and building a workforce to deliver these services. Withinthese broad themes, we expect a wide range of issues and strands of policy to becovered, but it is not possible at this time to commit to any individual area.

As I confirmed in the courseof the debate on early years in October 2007, we aim to publish the early yearsstrategy by summer or autumn 2008.

Getting itRight for Every Child in Kinship and Foster Care supports the provision of allowances to carers of looked after childrenat the rate recommended by The Fostering Network. The funding package offered tolocal government, as part of the joint concordat between the Scottish Governmentand COSLA, contains adequate allocation for local authorities to implement thisstrategy.

The commitment to implementationof the recommendations in Getting it Right for Every Child in Kinship and Foster Care is one shared by Scottish Government and local government. It will be forlocal government to deliver this as part of a partnership approach.

The Scottish Government and COSLAwill work together to implement Getting it Right for Every Child in Kinship and Foster Care, including the recommendations of the external referencegroup co-managed by BAAF and TFN once they are brought forward.

The funding package offered tolocal government, as part of the joint concordat between the Scottish Governmentand COSLA, contains adequate allocation for local authorities to meet the costsof implementation.

Alongside the concordat, the Scottish Government has provided Citizens Advice Scotland with £172,754 to meet thecosts of developing an advice and information service for kinship carers and theFostering Network £126,027 to meet the costs of developing a protocol to be usedfor carers facing allegations and further developing the organisation’s mediationhelpline.

The funding package offered tolocal government, as part of the joint concordat between the Scottish Governmentand COSLA, contains adequate resources for local authorities to implement Getting it Right for Every Child inKinship and Foster Care.

The Scottish Government is committedto launching a consultation on how to secure benefits from the Glasgow 2014 CommonwealthGames within 100 days of the announcement that the bid was successful. This willinclude consultation on how best to ensure that social enterprises and businessesin Scotland can benefit from the commercial opportunities offered by the games.