Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government does not directly fund local citizen advocacy projects or organisations.

NHS boards should work with their local partners to provide access to advocacy to “all who need it”. NHS boards should also engage with local advocacy planning and service user groups to identify needs in advocacy provision and to develop strategies to address these needs.

Additional funding of £500,000 has been provided to NHS boards on a recurring basis with effect from 2010-11 to help address gaps in advocacy provision.

I refer the member to the answer to questions S4W-04577 and S4W-04578 on 10 January 2012. 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.

There will be a process of public consultation in 2012 following the 12 December 2011 announcement on the proposed integration of adult health and social care:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/News/Releases/2011/12/12111418.

Advocacy services can already be requested through the patient’s GP or through the person providing healthcare treatment whether this is in the community, or in hospital.

The Advocacy Map (2009-10) available on the Scottish Independent Advocacy Alliance website provides information on advocacy projects and services (including citizen’s advocacy) across Scotland at that time.

http://www.siaa.org.uk/images/stories/AdvocacyMap0910.pdf.

The Scottish Independent Advocacy Alliance is funded by the Scottish Government Health Directorates.

Advocacy aims to help people by supporting them to gain access to information, explore and understand their options, express their own needs and make their informed choices. Safeguarding vulnerable people in this way is in accordance with preventative spend measures.

Section 259 of the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 provides that every person with a mental disorder has a right of access to independent advocacy services.

The 2003 act places a legal duty on local authorities and health boards to work together to ensure that independent advocacy services are available to those with a mental disorder free of charge. Advocacy is provided, or its provision secured, at local level with most local authorities contracting out provision of the service.

Since 2005-06, overall funding for local authorities has included £13 million per year to help them implement the 2003 act, of which advocacy is an important part. Similarly, £5 million per year has been made available to NHS boards to help them deliver the act.

Scottish ministers have not met with representatives from the Market Research Society within the last three years. The Scottish Government has adopted the practice of publishing on a monthly basis details of engagements carried out by all ministers. These records go back to 1 June 2008. Details of ministerial engagements can be found via the following link:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/About/14944/Events-Engagements/MinisterialEngagements.

The European Commission is currently undertaking a comprehensive review of EU public procurement legislation and published a Green Paper consultation earlier this year. Our response to the Green Paper outlined the steps already taken by the Scottish Government to enhance SMEs’ access to public sector contract opportunities, including the launch of the Public Contracts Scotland advertising portal. The response encouraged the European Commission to consider a number of changes to the legislation in order to further promote the involvement of SMEs in public sector contracts. A copy of the response has been published on the Scottish Government’s website:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/116601/0118347.pdf.

We also responded to the European Commission’s Green Paper consultation on expanding the use of eProcurement in the EU. Our response recognised that introduction of e-procurement systems should make the procurement process simpler and more efficient for SMEs. A copy of the response is available via the European Commission’s website:

https://circabc.europa.eu/d/d/workspace/SpacesStore/7f7040f6-a200-45eb-aa38-025ddddb1465/scottish_government_en.pdf.

Matters relating to the funding of individual colleges fall within the responsibility of the Scottish Funding Council. I have asked its Chief Executive to write to the member.

Information on projects funded by the Climate Challenge Fund is not categorised by constituency boundaries, but rather by local authority area. In the following table, a breakdown of all projects within the boundary of Edinburgh City Council is provided for awards by the Climate Challenge Fund since it was launched in 2008.

Estimates of the tax revenue raised in Scotland from 2005-06 to 2009-10 are available in Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland (GERS) 2009-10. The report is available from:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2011/06/21144516/0. Estimates for 2010-11 onwards are not currently available.