Chamber and committees

The Auditor General's report contained 42 recommendations mainly for local authorities, the National Health Service and the Scottish Executive. An action plan is being drawn up to take these recommendations forward.

The Scottish Executive will use the findings to inform implementation of the priorities in the Public Health Institute of Scotland's Autistic Spectrum Disorders Needs Assessment Report. These are improved assessment and diagnosis, better joint working, improved staff training and further research.

The Executive has no plans to make resources available specifically to special schools whose pupil numbers decrease. I refer the member to the answer given to question S2W-1447 for details of resources allocated to local authorities. 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/webapp/search_wa.

Funding for projects to mark the European Year of Disabled People was available through the grant scheme run by the UK Government's Department for Work and Pensions. There were 22 successful projects in Scotland receiving £314,556. A full list is attached with details of the organisations, the awards and the purpose of the projects. The full list of projects across the UK can be accessed at www.disability.gov.uk.

UK Government EYDP Grant Scheme
Successful Scottish Projects
Organisation National (Scotland Wide)	Project Title	Grant	Description
Birds of Paradise TheatreCompany Limited	Working Towards Equality	£50,000	Involve disabled people as professional actors, stage crew in mainstream theatre venues
Deafblind Scotland	From Isolation ToParticipation	£49,950	Enable deaf-blind people to represent themselves in local, national and specialist organisations
Ownership Options inScotland	Mainstreaming Ownership Skills Training	£31,200	Training package for people to assist disabled people in accessing home ownership
Local
Ayrshire IndependentLivingNetwork	South Ayrshire Fun Day	£10,000	To bring together all South Ayrshire disability voluntary organisations - promote the work being carried out by them
The State Hospital	Calendar of Patients'Artwork	£10,000	To produce a calendar featuring artwork of people with mental health problems
North Lanarkshire ArtsAssociation	Community Open ArtsExhibition	£10,000	An event involving disabled people through workshops and accessible activities.
Project Ability	Building Creative Bridges	£9,744	Exchange programme for disabled artists from Glasgow and the Uists
Kincardine & DeesideDisability Action Group	Aberdeenshire DisabilityAdvisory Group	£9,980	Disability advisory group that will work towards the removal of environmental, attitudinal & organisational barriers
Survivors' PoetryScotland	Manifesto	£10,000	Workshops to develop disabled people's visual arts and creative writing skills.
Inverclyde Council onDisability	Accessible Infoclyde	£9,862	Produce and launch an accessible website and best practice guide
Glasgow Association forMentalHealth	Accessible InformationProject 2003	£8,815	Improving information which the organisation disseminates about mental health issues
Fife College of Furtherand Higher Education	Listen and Learn	£5,500	Produce video and CD ROM documenting disabled students experiences of attending college
Leonard CheshireScotland	Manifesto	£9,700	Access to politics through art
Inverness AccessCommittee	What Barriers FaceDisabled People SeekingWork	£10,000	Research project on local reasons which prevent disabled people finding work
Computers andIntegration Ltd	Able to Communicate	£10,000	Good practice guide
West DunbartonshireCouncil EmploymentDevelopment forPeople with Disabilities	Community Café/Social Firm	£10,000	Community café to provide employment for people with learning disabilities
Volunteer CentreEdinburgh	The Volunteer PersonalDevelopment Project	£10,000	Providing opportunities for disabled people to volunteer and supporting these volunteers
Barnardo's Scotland	Our Lives - Snakes andLadders	£9,865	Game used to highlight issues of exclusion for young disabled people
Augment	Mind Yer Heid	£9,940	Website, database and other information resources to raise awareness of mental health issues
Clackmannanshire Council	ROAD - RaisingAwareness of DisabilityOperators	£10,000	Improving access to public transport for disabled passengers
Access to Employment andTraining	Aberdeen BusinessAwareness ProjectDisability	£10,000	Raising awareness of disability issues with employers
Intowork	Rights and Participation:A Scottish Perspective onDisability and Access toEmployment	£10,000	Conference on employment

In Scotland, the Executive established a steering group to develop a strategic approach to the year and provided £200,000 to implement the steering group's workplan. There is no separate Scottish grant scheme to which organisations can apply for funding.

The costs of educating children with additional support needs in mainstream schools are met mainly from local authorities' general expenditure. This includes £9 million for disability access in 2003-04, rising to £17 million from April 2004. A further £28.4 million in 2003-04 has been provided to support inclusion, and staff development and training. This rises to £33.4 million from April 2004.

The Scottish Executive received 252 formal responses to the consultation on the draft Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Bill. Of these responses, 55 specified they were from parents and a further 28 indicated they were received from organisations representing parents.

All employers (including NHS trusts, NHS boards and private agencies) must comply with the working time regulations. The regulations require that all NHSScotland employers keep adequate records on compliance with the working time regulations.NHS HDL (2003) 3, issued by the Executive to NHSScotland employers on 7 February 2003, asks all NHSScotland employers to hold documentary evidence to confirm compliance with the working time regulations for all their staff. This could be made available to staff if requested in accordance with the Data Protection Act.Information on the systems in place in each NHS organisation is not held centrally.

All employers must comply with the working time regulations. The regulations require that all NHSScotland employers keep adequate records on compliance with the working time regulations.Information, in accordance with the Data Protection Act may be requested from each NHSScotland board. This information is not held centrally.

It is not possible to disaggregate the level of resource required to implement the working time regulations from the general allocation provided to NHS boards for the overall delivery of care to their patient population.It is the responsibility of each NHS board to use the resources available to it through its annual allocation to meet the requirements of the working time regulations.In 2003-04 every NHS board received increases of between 7.4 and 8.9% - well above the rate of inflation.

The Scottish Executive Health Department has made progress across the Audit Scotland recommendations on workforce planning, workload, quality of care and information for managing staffing.On workforce planning: in the past year the National Workforce Unit and the National Workforce Committee have been established as part of the Scottish Executive's workforce development strategy. These bodies are now working with NHSScotland to develop new approaches to the way NHSScotland plans, develops and utilises its workforce at national, regional and local level.On workload: a project manager has been appointed to take forward a comprehensive mapping exercise to establish what methodologies are currently used to examine nursing workload and workforce planning in NHSScotland, to measure quality of care and what information management and technology systems are in use to collate and analyse data. Recommendations on effectively tackling nursing workload issues will be published in a report at the end of the six-month project.On quality of care: the Scottish Executive Health Department is currently exploring with NHSScotland and NHSQuality Improvement Scotland what action needs to be taken to undertake a systematic audit of nursing quality indicatorsOn information: the Strategic Systems Study on workforce information, commissioned by the Scottish Executive Health Department, has reported on a strategic model to provide a unified database of workforce information for NHS bodies in Scotland and work is now progressing on short, medium and longer term actions to take this forward.