Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-12747 on 24 November 2017. 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 welcomes this report, which builds on our existing fostering and adoption evidence base in Scotland. In relation to your enquiry, the Care Inspectorate report states that in 2016 20% of sibling groups placed in either local authority or independent foster placements were separated. Although this is a slight overall improvement from 2015 (24%) we remain absolutely clear that secure attachments, such as children have with their siblings, are central to healthy development and wellbeing.

At this time we are considering the findings in the Care Inspectorate report. However, I acknowledge that the report highlights a need to make sure the best interests of the child are at the heart of all decisions and the complexities faced by professionals involved in each case to work together to find the best immediate and long-term outcome for each child. Separation of sibling groups occurs as a result of a number of considerations; all undoubtedly difficult, and we would always encourage Local Authorities to place siblings together when it is in the best interests of all siblings concerned.

The independent Care Review - being led by children with experience of care - is looking at Scotland’s underpinning legislation, practice and culture to identify where policies need to be improved.

The Scottish Government is taking a range of actions to help increase the number of student teachers.

We have:

• committed £88m this year to make sure every school has access to the right number of teachers with the right skills;

• provided support to universities in developing new innovative routes into teaching;

• recently announced STEM bursaries of £20,000 for career changers to train to become teachers of priority STEM subjects, which includes maths, starting in August 2018;

• launched the second phase of our “Teaching Makes People” recruitment campaign on 30 August and

• created a new route into teaching specifically designed to attract high quality graduates in priority areas and subjects. The tender exercise for this closed on 16 November and the evaluation process will commence shortly.

Student teacher numbers have risen by 7.5 per cent overall from 3,591 in 2016 to 3,861 in 2017. With these measures now in place we expect to see the number of people training as teachers continuing to rise.

The Borders Health and Social Care Partnership is responsible for tackling delayed discharges from hospital. The Scottish Government provides the partnership in Borders with £640,000 per year specifically to deal with this issue.

It is clear that to eradicate child poverty, we must tackle a range of social and economic drivers. Income, however, is the key underlying factor. That’s why the Scottish Parliament unanimously passed the Child Poverty (Scotland) Bill on 8 November, setting in statute four ambitious income-based targets for 2030.

To reach these targets will require a range of action to be taken across government portfolios, and we will publish our proposals for this within the first action plan due by April 2018.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-12302 on 20 November 2017. 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.

Integration Authorities' strategic commissioning plans set out how they intend to deliver care appropriate to people's needs in their localities, including any plans to shift provision of care from institutional to community settings. Strategic commissioning plans are accompanied by annual financial statements setting out spending intentions for the year to come. The main driver for hospital use is emergency admissions, of which many can be prevented by better services in the community. Using their budgets and through their strategic commissioning plans, Integration Authorities have control of the budgets across the unscheduled care pathway including commissioning responsibilities for three quarters of all emergency admissions, enabling them to redirect resources from acute to community-based provision, improving both the quality and sustainability of care.

We will develop a medium term financial framework by February 2018 to support national, regional and local financial planning for the next 5 years.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-12312 on 20 November 2017. 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.asp

The Scottish Government’s position on patient safety is very clear – it is, and will remain, of paramount importance. The Healthcare Quality Strategy for NHSScotland has three quality ambitions to provide safe, effective, person-centred care.

The Scottish Patient Safety Programme (SPSP), has been key to the delivery of these ambitions since its launch in 2008. It has brought about a number of improvements in care and safety. The Acute Adult Programme includes the Deteriorating Patient workstream (including infections, sepsis, bedsores and falls) and continues to work with Health Boards to test and implement processes that will further improve reliable and safe care delivery across a range of clinical areas.