Chamber and committees

The Scottish Legal Aid Board (SLAB) has provided the Scottish Government with the following information regarding the numbers of looked after young people who received Assistance by Way of Representation (ABWOR).

For the three year period from 1 September 2014 to 31 August 2017 inclusive, publicly funded legal representation in the form of (ABWOR) was provided to 667 looked after young people who were under 18 years of age and subject to Compulsory Supervision Orders.

ABWOR was also provided to another 53 young people at a Statement of Grounds children’s hearing. This is the initial hearing where the reasons for the reference are put to a young person, if they are old enough to understand the proceedings.

ABWOR was also provided to another 61 young people who were classed as ‘relevant persons’ to a child who was the subject of the hearing, for example the young mother of a child. At present, SLAB does not have the facility to specifically record if such a young person falls within the definition of a ‘looked after young person’ but due to the fact that they are a relevant person to an even younger child, this could be possible.

ABWOR was provided to another 3 young people who were classed as ‘non deemed relevant persons’ and who were seeking to become deemed relevant persons to the child in question, such as a young sibling of the child or other young relative/carer. Again, SLAB does not have the facility to record if such a young person falls within the definition of a ‘looked after person’ but we intend to be able to record this information in the future.

It is the responsibility of each local authority to use resources as efficiently as possible and deliver services effectively to ensure taxpayers get the best possible value. How this is done is a matter for each council - councils are autonomous bodies, responsible for managing their own day to day business and answerable to their electorates.

We will expect to obtain credible evidence of actual uptake from local authority returns, which will be collected in 2017-18 and published from 2019 in the annual National Statistics publication Children’s Social Work Statistics. We will consider this, and any other information that we obtain from across local authorities, to monitor numbers and support local authorities to ensure they offer support best suited to each care leaver.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on the age at which local authorities cease to track the outcomes of care-experienced young people.

The Scottish Government collects data from local authorities on children and young people who are looked after and/or in receipt of aftercare services, which includes data on their health, housing status and employment status.

The Scottish Government data collection from local authority social work departments ends when either 1) the child leaves care (majority at or before age 18) and does not take up aftercare services; 2) the young person is no longer in receipt of aftercare services (at or before age 26).

We are unable to say what information local government may collect that is not requested by Scottish Government.

Statistics relating to Fatal Accident Inquiries are held not by the Scottish Government, but by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS). COPFS do not, however, hold information centrally which identifies that a death relates specifically to a care-experienced young person. All determinations are, however, published by the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS) and can be viewed individually at the following address: https://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/search-judgments/fatal-accident-inquiries.

We do not yet have detailed information on the number of young people who have requested Continuing Care. The first full year of data will be collected in 2017-18 and, depending on data quality, published from 2019 in the annual National Statistics publication Children’s Social Work Statistics. We will monitor this information and any other evidence offered by Scotland’s local authorities to clarify numbers in the years post-implementation and will use this evidence in our collaborative approach to policy development.

If a local authority becomes aware that a child or young person who is looked after by them or is in receipt of advice, guidance or assistance from them has died, the local authority must, within 24 hours, notify the Care Inspectorate. The Care Inspectorate, on behalf of Scottish Ministers, receives, reviews and provides feedback to the local authority on a report compiled by them reviewing the circumstances of the child or young person and his/her death.

Once notified, the Care Inspectorate alert Scottish Ministers as soon as reasonably practicable, and information around the name of the child, his or her date of birth, the legal circumstances in which he or she was being looked after and where, and brief details of the cause and circumstances of his or her death, if known are recorded.

The exact (medical) cause of death is not always known. The Care Inspectorate’s principle concern is with the circumstances of the child's life and pathway. It should also be noted that this group of children includes children with life limiting conditions whose deaths are anticipated.

The Scottish Government has no current plans to review the funding allocation process.

I refer to the answer to question S5W-11399 on 2 October 2017. The Scottish Government has paid £4.2 million to Scottish local authorities in 2015-16 to support costs of implementing Continuing Care and this funding commitment rises to £9.3 million by 2019/20 at which point, we expect the net total cost each year to stabilise.

All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

The Scottish Government funds CELCIS (almost £5 million in 2017-18), to provide capacity building in the sector to improve the care and support provided to care-experienced young people on the basis of what is known about what works and how improvements can become sustainable in the long run.

We also fund the Realigning Children’s Services programme (approximately £450k per annum). This provides support to community planning partnerships to improve local collaborative decision making, to ensure the total available resource meets the needs of - and improves outcomes for – vulnerable children and families.

As corporate parents, local authorities have duties under the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 to ensure they safeguard and promote the wellbeing of Scotland's looked after children and care leavers. The Scottish Government committed to support these, and other, measures in the 2014 Act.

Scottish Local Government Finance Statistics show that overall gross revenue expenditure on Children and Families Social Work by Local Authorities in 2015-16 was £923 million, an increase of £39 million compared to 2014-15 (3.7 per cent increase after adjusting for inflation).

Skills Development Scotland (SDS) is committed to ensuring staff are appropriately qualified for the roles that they undertake and receive appropriate training on the needs and rights of young people; including those with care experience. This includes, but is not restricted to, the SDS Academy of learning and development activities for all staff across the organisation. The Academy offers a core set of equality focused modules and learning. Partner organisations are also engaged to deliver staff capacity building and learning where local needs extend beyond what the Academy offer. In 2016 SDS updated standard operating procedures in order to better support care experienced young people to access SDS services and progress into positive outcomes.

SDS has benefitted from the SG-funded training for corporate parents which is delivered by Who Cares? Scotland and involves hearing directly from care experienced young people. SDS recently launched an E-Learning module on Corporate Parenting for all its staff which incorporates video clips of care experienced young people telling their story and talking about the various issues and barriers they faced along the way. This training is accompanied by a series of worksheets to direct team discussions across the business which raise questions about how these young people could have been supported further and also possible ways to improve SDS practice going forward.

The first of the 16 commitments included in the SDS 2015-2018 Corporate Parenting Plan is to ‘Introduce all-staff training on the subject of Corporate Parenting, with additional training opportunities offered where appropriate.’ Towards this SDS has launched a Career Information Advice and Guidance Equalities E-Learning module with a specific focus on Additional Support Needs (ASN), Corporate Parenting and Community Justice, which is compulsory for all Operations staff and is assessed. Operational staff have also recently had training in the delivery of the Next Steps post school service offer which entitles care experienced young people to intensive individual engagement with an SDS Adviser up to their 26th birthday.

SDS has an ASN resource area on its staff intranet, which includes a specific area on working with care experienced young people. This intranet resource contains a range of guidance documents on how colleagues can support care experienced customers with their individual needs. As a final example, an SDS Community of Practice has been established with a representative from each local authority across Scotland. The Community of Practice meets to share effective and interesting practice in working with care experienced young people, which drives continuous improvement across the country. The Community of Practice members have also received additional training from CELCIS (the Centre for Excellence for Looked After Children in Scotland).

Skill Development Scotland (SDS) Leadership and Management teams use a wide range of monitoring and performance information to track the quality and performance of the services and to support staff to improve and develop their practice, as well as sharing good practice around working with care experienced individuals.

Within the SDS national development and delivery team a Senior Executive is focused solely on care experienced individuals. This role is pivotal to progressing the Corporate Parenting Action Plan, managing stakeholder relationships, informing and influencing professional practice, leading on developments in relation to resources and staff learning and our engagement with young people. This role is a key interface internally with our Strategy, Policy and Performance team and Evaluation & Research team, maintaining a consistent focus on how our evidence base supports the continuous improvement of our services for care experienced individuals.

An SDS Community of Practice has been organised with a Corporate Parenting Champion from each local authority who meet to share good practice in working with care experienced young people. This includes identifying training and development needs to support staff to work more effectively with care experienced young people.

SDS’s refreshed school offer identifies care experienced pupils as being entitled to a maximum level of service to develop their career management skills. This intensive support continues beyond school to support care experienced young people to develop their career management skills. This ensures a cohesive approach to supporting care experienced young people to help them achieve and sustain a suitable positive outcome.