Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government and COSLA jointly published guidance on local housing strategies in 2008. The guidance indicates that the housing need of the six equality strands should be written into the local housing strategy. I understand that Falkirk Council intend to consult with a range of stakeholders over the course of 2009-10 when preparing their next full local housing strategy, and are also modifying the structures that are in place to support this process. The Scottish Government continues to support all councils in developing their local housing strategies through on-going liaison and, through this route, promote the importance of the involvement of all equalities groups.

Scottish Government officials are providing guidance to North Lanarkshire Council in the development of its new Local Housing Strategy, due in 2011. The latest guidance, published jointly by the Scottish Government and COSLA, highlights the statutory requirements made in the 2001 Housing (Scotland) Act to consult on proposed Local Housing Strategies and reminds local authorities of their public duty in relation to disability, race and gender in this regard.

While the negative impact of political conflict was noted in a recent follow-up best value audit report of a council by the Accounts Commission, I am not aware that either the Accounts Commission for Scotland nor Audit Scotland, which undertakes work on behalf of the commission, have cited the negative impact of political conflict as a major inhibitor of improvement in local authorities generally. Both the commission''s Priorities and Risks Framework, which sets out key issues for council auditors to have regard to in their work, and its Overview of the Local Authority Audits, which describes the main issues identified from its local government audit work in 2008, highlight the importance of effective strategic leadership and governance by elected members. Neither document highlights political conflict as a particular issue of concern.

The promotion of high standards in public life and effective political governance are, of course, essential to ensure and reinforce public confidence in the activities and responsibilities of Scottish councils. The Standards Commission for Scotland works to support councils in striving to achieve the highest standards of conduct. The Local Government Improvement Service, working alongside COSLA and SOLACE Scotland, provides support for councils in securing continuous improvement in how they govern and manage their business.

The annual targets for efficiencies in local government as a whole for 2008-11 are £174.7 million, £349.4 million and £524.1 million. The delivery of efficiencies is a matter for each local authority with monitoring being coordinated by COSLA. In addition to the guidance which is available to all on the Scottish Government website, Scottish Government officials work with COSLA to offer guidance on the programme as a whole and on specific issues which councils identify to COSLA.

The National Child Measurement Programme is an English programme and is not run in Scotland.

The Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) of the new GMS contract incentivises GPs to record the number of patients diagnosed with asthma and to put in place a system of for their ongoing review.

The Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) published a revised Guideline (101) on the management of asthma on 30 June 2009 and NHS boards are expected to develop local protocols for the implementation of such guidelines.

In addition, NHS Quality Improvement Scotland (NHS QIS) published clinical standards for asthma services for children and young people in March 2007, which provide clear advice and guidance on effective clinical practice. NHS boards'' progress towards implementing the standards was reviewed in November 2008 and the recommendations contained within the NHS QIS report are being taken forward by the respiratory MCNs which have been developed in all NHS boards, many of them with pump priming funding from the Scottish Government. The development of the respiratory MCN in NHS Lanarkshire has encouraged the board to invest substantially in the development of its respiratory services.

In line with Guideline 101, and the recommendations from the NHS QIS report, NHS Lanarkshire has developed the Children''s Asthma Practice Support (CAPS) scheme, which it expects will lead to improved access to asthma services.

The budget for the works is £1.2 million, of which the total cost for communications is £31,000. £10,500 of that is being spent on TV advertising. The cost for communications represents 2.6% of the total budget. TV advertising represents 0.88% of the total scheme budget. The remaining communications budget covers local print and radio broadcast advertising.

In March 2008, the Scottish Government published new guidance for local authorities on housing need and demand assessment. This provides a step-by-step approach to assessing housing need and demand across all tenures and includes advice on how to produce an estimate of need and demand amongst household groups who have specific housing requirements. Data and evidence on the housing needs of disabled people will be collected as part of this assessment.

Local authorities are not required to record information on average waiting times for adapted homes, but some find it helpful to do so as part of their own monitoring processes.

The legislation governing private landlords (the Antisocial Behaviour etc (Scotland) Act 2004) places a duty on local authorities to provide advice on general letting issues to landlords who apply for registration, and to tenants and prospective tenants who enquire about letting practice or landlord registration. In addition, many local authorities issue regular newsletters which are intended to keep the sector informed about the law and their responsibilities as landlords.

We have provided each local authority with templates of guidance and advice leaflets for them to distribute and many offer this information on their websites. Most local authorities also provide their own publicity of the scheme.

We will consider the options for increasing general awareness of the scheme through appropriate publicity and other means.

Guidance to all public bodies on collecting information to comply with the Disability Equality Duty is the responsibility of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC). General and sectoral specific guidance was published by the then Disabilities Rights Commission in 2005/2006.