Chamber and committees

The investigation is being conducted by the Serious and Organised Crime Division (SOCD) at the Crown Office. In addition to the legal and accounting expertise available within SOCD, assistance has been received from partner agencies and experts within the private sector who have particular skills in relation to forensic accounting investigations.

The information sought is not available.

The Scottish Government is satisfied that the current regulation and enforcement powers of the Care Inspectorate are appropriate and allow it to discharge its statutory responsibilities, but will keep this under review.

An individual who is affected by a decision of the Care Inspectorate may bring judicial review proceedings by way of a petition to the Court of Session. In judicial review proceedings, the Court considers whether a decision has been properly made in public law terms (for example whether it is within the scope of the powers available and meets principles of natural justice) but does not consider the actual merits of the decision made or substitute its own view of what decision ought to have been taken.

In addition, the Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act 2010 gives service providers (or prospective service providers) a statutory right of appeal to the Sheriff in respect of decisions by the Care Inspectorate to; grant an application for registration subject to conditions which have not been agreed with the service provider; refuse an application for registration, cancel a registration, impose a condition or refuse an application for variation or removal of conditions.

The Act also provides a statutory right of appeal to the Sheriff Principal in respect of a decision by the Sheriff to agree the Care Inspectorate’s application for emergency cancellation of a service registration. The Sheriff or Sheriff Principal may consider the merits of the Care Inspectorate’s decision and decide to uphold, quash or vary the decision originally taken.

The Care Inspectorate has recently changed its procedure for complaints made against them referring these directly to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman.

When the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO) consider a complaint about the Care Inspectorate, they consider the process by which the Care Inspectorate reached a decision, rather than the actual issue that was complained about. For example, the SPSO can consider a complaint that the Care Inspectorate took an unreasonably long time to answer a complaint, did not follow their own procedures, were biased in the way they considered a complaint or did not take into account relevant rules and regulations.

While the SPSO can investigate complaints about the Care Inspectorate itself, they are not part of the appeals process about care services or inspection reports. A person cannot appeal to the SPSO about a decision that the Care Inspectorate took in relation to a complaint about a care service and the SPSO cannot change decisions the Care Inspectorate have made, for example about quality grades or inspection reports.

Full details are available on the SPSO’s website at:

http://www.spso.org.uk/sites/spso/files/communications_material/leaflets_public/subject_factsheets/13_05_31_Care_Inspectorate.pdf

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-21736 on 12 June 2014. 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/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

Most care homes perform well and the Care Inspectorate have a range of enforcement powers to bring poorly performing homes up to scratch and safeguard residents. If improvements are not made the Care Inspectorate can apply emergency conditions, for example blocking new admissions, or issue formal improvement notices which homes must comply with or face closure.

All care homes for older people are subject to annual, or more frequent if necessary, unannounced inspections by the Care Inspectorate to ensure that any concerns about standards and quality of care are addressed swiftly and effectively.

All registered services must make information of their registration accessible to service users and their carers.

Inspectorate reports carried out by the Care Inspectorate are made widely available and are published directly to the Care Inspectorate website.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-21471 on 12 June 2014. 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/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

The grant in aid allocated annually by Scottish Ministers to the Scottish Police Authority (SPA), and set out in the budget allocation and monitoring letter, is not ring-fenced. As that letter makes clear, Scottish Ministers expect the SPA and, through it, Police Scotland to use the resources to deliver the statutory policing principles and functions set out in the Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012. The use of those resources must be in accordance with the agreed strategic plan, the terms of the Governance and Accountability Framework between the SPA and the Scottish Government, and any relevant guidance issued by the Scottish Ministers, in particular the Scottish Public Finance Manual.

The Scottish Government does not expect Police Scotland to grant-fund projects that are directly funded by Scottish Government.

As indicated in Scotland’s Future, the security and intelligence agency would be required to work with partners, both at home and abroad, to ensure Scotland's national security.

It will be in the interests of the rest of the UK and other partners to work closely with Scotland on security matters, including the sharing of intelligence. The new security and intelligence agency will have the appropriate security arrangement necessary to give assurance to international partners that it can receive and handle intelligence safely and securely.