Chamber and committees

Aileen Campbell : Self-directed Support is Scotland’s mainstream approach to social care. This approach to social care has been chosen to ensure individuals are empowered to be equal partners in their care and support decisions and to participate in social and economic life.

Self-directed support enables a support budget to be used over a period of time instead of allocated hours of care on a daily or weekly basis. For example, North Lanarkshire calculates and audits support budgets on a 12-month basis, allowing someone to use support as flexibly or intensively as they require over that period.

Carer’s Allowance is a taxable benefit and therefore Carer’s Allowance Supplement will be taxable, as the legal definition of income for tax purposes remains reserved to the UK Government. The Scottish Government does not have the power to change this as set out in the Fiscal Framework, which states at section 89: Any new benefits or discretionary payments introduced by the Scottish Government will not be deemed to be income for tax purposes, unless topping up a benefit which is deemed taxable such as Carer’s Allowance. Any changes to reserved taxation legislation require to be made by the UK Government.

Third sector organisations who represent patient views were involved in shaping the design of the funding programme. The assessment panel also included representatives from the NHS and third sector.

Post Mortem examination is a necessary step in the investigation of suspicious deaths. In law, the Defence have a right to instruct a defence post mortem examination to properly test the evidence against an accused person. Failure to recognise this right would potentially jeopardise any subsequent criminal proceedings against an accused person in relation to the death.

In consultation with the Law Society of Scotland, the Faculty of Advocates, and Forensic Pathologists, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service is reviewing post mortem examination protocols to enable more effective consultation between pathologists instructed by the Crown and Defence. Effective consultation would support an informed defence decision as to whether a second physical post mortem examination was required and may reduce not only the number of required defence examinations but also delays in the return of deceased persons to their families, reflecting the views of families.

We continue to work closely with the official receiver and their special managers PWC to obtain accurate numbers of jobs supported by Carillion in Scotland.

For those working on the AWPR Aberdeen Roads Limited, the project contractor, has been able to confirm that there are 76 Carillion staff directly employed working on the project. We also understand that a further 101 staff and 90 operatives are engaged through a labour only sub-contract through a Carillion subsidiary.

Network Rail has confirmed that there are 115 Carillion staff working on projects in Scotland who are directly employed. Network Rail has also confirmed that a further 50 operatives are engaged through a labour only sub-contract through a Carillion subsidiary.

The remaining, Scottish Government backed, Carillion public contracts in Scotland were sub-contracted to other companies and were managed by one employee in Scotland and others elsewhere in the UK. The Scottish Government is not aware of any public sector backed contracts funded out with the aforementioned contracts in Scotland. Carillion were also undertaking public contracts in Scotland backed by the UK government. Information regarding these contracts is held by the UK Government.

Carillion employed 128 Modern Apprentices (MAs). The following figures reflect their destinations as of 9 February 2018:

50 of those are continuing training, either completing their MA or gaining employment. 78 required support to continue their MA have either gone on to positive destinations or are currently being case managed by Career Information Advice and Guidance staff from Skills Development Scotland

The Scottish Government has been liaising with Cabinet Office, the Official Receiver and PricewaterhouseCoopers to ensure that information on support through our initiative for responding to redundancy situations, Partnership Action for Continuing Employment (PACE) is available for Scottish based employees affected by developments at Carillion.

By providing a range of support, PACE aims to minimise the time individuals affected by redundancy are out of work. The package of support is tailored and includes one to one counselling, information on rights and entitlements, financial advice, skills development and help with job search.

The liquidation of Carillion has been a massive blow to the UK construction industry. The work on the contract will continue through the 2 remaining construction partners, namely Balfour Beatty and Galliford Try. However, we are continuing to work closely with Aberdeen Roads Limited to identify and assess any impacts on delivery following Carillion’s announcement.

The intention remains to open the project roads in the coming months. This is in line with the initial timescale announced by Ministers in 2012. Notwithstanding the Carillion announcement, this target remains challenging and will depend upon many factors including favourable weather.

Contingency plans to maintain public services vary by contract but seek to maximise opportunities for affected workers. For contracts where Carillion were part of a joint venture, the other joint venture partners are continuing the work and are looking to take on as many workers as they can

Contingency plans for other public contracts involve public bodies seeking to engage with Carillion’s old subcontractors so many workers’ employment will be unaffected. In addition, those sub-contractors are looking to take on as many of the Carillion workers from those contracts as they can.

The Scottish Government has been liaising with Cabinet Office, the Official Receiver and PricewaterhouseCoopers to ensure that information on support through our initiative for responding to redundancy situations, Partnership Action for Continuing Employment (PACE) is available for Scottish based employees affected by developments at Carillion.

By providing a range of support, PACE aims to minimise the time individuals affected by redundancy are out of work. The package of support is tailored and includes one to one counselling, information on rights and entitlements, financial advice, skills development and help with job search.

On 16 February 2018 I visited the construction site to speak with the contractors staff involved with the project and to see the progress of the works for myself.

Since the announcement of Carillion’s insolvency, we have been working closely with Aberdeen Roads Limited to understand and assess any impacts on the delivery of the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route. The Carillion element of the Aberdeen Roads Limited consortium currently remains solvent, however the construction joint venture has been affected. We will now work with both Aberdeen Roads Limited and the remaining parts of the construction joint venture to identify whether any additional sections of the project roads can be opened ahead of the full project opening, delivering earlier benefits to the North East.