Chamber and committees

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).

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.

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.

As part of the Whole System Approach, we would expect the rehabilitation of under 18s to be supported as set out in the answer to S5W-11415 on 2 October 2017.

A number of organisations are working together to provide support to young people both while in custody and upon their release. This advice and support includes education, employment, housing, access to addiction services and general support with practical matters to deter the young person from further offending; to support them to make positive choices and to maximise their life chances.

The Scottish Government provide funding to Up-2-Us to deliver their Time for Change project which supports extremely vulnerable high risk girls and young women to improve transitions and achieve a more settled and positive lifestyle. Funding is also provided to the Wise Group to deliver a Get the Life You Want pre-release course for young people in Polmont Young Offenders Institution. The course is aimed at fostering an increased motivation, a more positive mind set and development of coping strategies.

The Scottish Government has funded a group of dedicated through-care services for over 18s. In these projects, third sector organisations are working in partnership to provide a voluntary service for those leaving prison. These services provide a one-to-one service between the individual and a professional mentor, who will meet with the individual to help plan their release, before meeting them on the day of release to assist them with any practical problems. The mentor will continue to offer support, advice and encouragement, as required, for up to 6 months. The Scottish Government and its partners have invested £18m in these services over 2012-17.

In addition the Scottish Prison Service provide Through-care Support Officers within prison to work with individuals not only prior to release, but upon release from custody and for up to 3 months thereafter release, meeting them in the community and providing practical support and advice to assist their rehabilitation and reintegration.

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 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.

I refer you to the answer to question S5W-11400 on 2 October 2017. 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.

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.

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.

Virtually no children are expelled from Scottish schools.

The Scottish Government recognises the important role of our education system and the need to provide a positive and inclusive learning experience for all school pupils. We have taken a number of steps to reduce the incidences of school exclusions and close the attainment gap to improve the health and wellbeing of our children and young people, and maximise their future opportunities. On 19 June 2017 we published our refreshed guidance on preventing and managing school exclusions. This focuses on the importance of early intervention measures to prevent the need for exclusion and it promotes the importance of positive relationships in schools, recognising that exclusion should only be used as a last resort. The guidance also highlights the importance of schools and education authorities recognising the impact that exclusion can have, particularly on disadvantaged children.

We recognise that excluded and disengaged learners need additional support which is why Education Scotland provides support and advice through a range of national networks and working parties for third sector groups who are working to improve educational outcomes for learners at risk of being excluded.

The Scottish Government recognises the particular vulnerability of those leaving care to homelessness. Numbers of young people recorded as leaving care and directly applying as homeless to local authorities are low and has been falling in recent years due to our focus on the prevention of homelessness.

Alongside the forthcoming care review and the recent extension of legal rights to those leaving care, we have issued Guidance for Corporate Parents on Housing Options for Care Leavers, which was clear that care leavers should not have to become homeless to access appropriate housing. This approach will be further strengthened by the publication of a Housing Options Training Toolkit, with funding from the Scottish Government, due to be published next year.

I wrote to local authorities in the summer to highlight the importance of preventing homelessness amongst care experienced young people. This followed a bilateral meeting with the Minister for Childcare and Early Years to identify what more can be done in this area.