Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-08581 on 24 April 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

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-08581 on 24 April 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

This government recognises the complexities of caring for looked after children and young people, and the level of skill and dedication required. We aim to ensure that the workforce is capable and fully equipped to undertake what is often a demanding role.

All Social Workers and Social Care Workers must register annually with the Scottish Social Services Council, which is the professional regulator for the social services workforce in Scotland. Regulation and registration of the workforce is a key strand of Scottish Government policy to improve the quality of social services by up-skilling the workforce and to protect service users, and is a condition of employment.

A requirement of registration is that workers must have, or attain, the relevant accredited qualification set by the SSSC for the role they undertake. In accordance with the SSSC Codes of Practice, employers are responsible for ensuring that their staff have the skills and knowledge to carry out their role in order to maintain the high quality of social services and to protect service users, and that they continuously update their skills to reflect changes in practice and policy.

In addition to this, the Scottish Government funds the Centre for Excellence for Looked After Children in Scotland (CELCIS), which delivers a range of learning, development and consultancy work on trauma and attachment. All of the learning, support and development provided by CELCIS to corporate parents is underpinned by evidence around attachment, trauma and loss, and a wide range of material and briefing can be found on their website: https://www.celcis.org/.

We are clear that professionals working with children should have the skills, confidence and knowledge required to best meet the needs of the child and support and promote their emotional, as well as physical, wellbeing. We are committed to ensuring that every professional working with children is trained on equality, to enable them to address prejudice-based bullying, attachment, child development and child protection.

The Scottish Government’s Mental Health Strategy 2017-2027 identifies that it is important to respond appropriately to the emotional distress linked to both the circumstances that led to a child becoming looked after and the experience of being looked after in any setting. Professionals working with looked after children and young people should have the necessary knowledge and skills around issues such as trauma and attachment. The strategy recognises the importance of including mental and emotional health and wellbeing in developing care pathways for children who are, or at risk of being, looked after.

In 2016-17 through the Children, Young People and Families Early Intervention and ALEC Fund the Scottish Government will provide almost £1.6 million in core funding to third sector organisations directly supporting looked after children, and a further £1.7 million approximately to organisations whose work contributes to preventing children becoming looked after. In addition to this, eight bespoke projects are being funded directly in the area of looked after children, or which contribute to preventing children becoming looked after, equating to additional spend of £299,412 in 2017-18. One of these projects (delivered by the Kibble Education and Care Centre) is specifically about the creation of a strategic plan for work with trauma-experienced young people, with a focus on the Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics (NMT). NMT is a trauma-informed approach to youth care developed in the USA.

And, through the Centre for Youth and Criminal Justice (CYCJ) and the Interventions for Vulnerable Youth Project (IVY), which are funded by the Scottish Government, support is provided to professionals through research, practice development and professional learning opportunities. This includes a strong focus on the need to take a developmental approach when working with young people who display high risk behaviours and specific work on trauma and attachment issues. The IVY project is a specialist psychological and social work service which reflects a multi-disciplinary tiered approach to risk assessment, formulation and management for high risk young people aged 12 to 18 years who present with complex psychological needs and high risk behaviour in terms of their violent conduct.

We are working actively with Lloyds Partnership Drugs Initiative (PDI) and other partners to fully realise the five recommendations that were directed towards the Scottish Government within the Everyone Has a Story Overview Report. A further 45 recommendations were directed towards practitioners, local decision makers and to the PDI itself.

On 10 November 2016, Minister for Health and Sport, Aileen Campbell MSP, met with the Chief Executive of Lloyds PDI specifically to discuss implementation of the recommendations. The Scottish Government and Lloyds PDI subsequently co-produced a tri-partite programme of work to boost both immediate and longer term progression with the recommendations, including embedding improved practice within Alcohol and Drugs Partnership (ADP) areas. In 2017-18 this programme will be directly supported by Scottish Government funding of £247,000, to be supplemented by support in kind from Lloyds PDI and ADP partners.

The Framework to Support Disabled Children, Young People and their Families will be published in Summer 2018. A draft Framework will be published in Autumn 2017 and there will also be consultation on the draft Framework at this time.

The Framework will be developed in co-production with the people it will support, and work is currently underway to set up a mechanism for young disabled and deaf people to contribute to this process. In addition, the Disabled Children and Young People Advisory Group is made up of a range of organisations from the public and third sectors, as well as parents of disabled children and young people, and is acting as an advisory group for the development of the Framework. The public consultation will coincide with the Year of Young People 2018, and will be fully inclusive and aim to involve the widest range of people and organisations possible.

The Transforming Trauma Knowledge and Skill Framework is expected to be published shortly. The Framework will equip practitioners working in the statutory and voluntary sectors with the knowledge and skills to be able to identify risk of abuse and be able to respond in a way which will enable positive outcomes for survivors of abuse and trauma. A National Training Plan will then be developed and implemented over the following two years and reviewed in 2019. The NHS Education Scotland website has a webpage dedicated to this and outlines the aims and intentions of the project as well as timescales for completion. This can be found at: http://www.nes.scot.nhs.uk/education-and-training/by-discipline/psychology/multiprofessional-psychology/national-trauma-training-framework.aspx

The Fairer Scotland Action Plan, published in October 2016, set out 50 concrete actions the Scottish Government will take over this parliamentary term to reduce poverty and tackle inequality.

Many of these are expected to have a positive impact for those who are in work but on low incomes. These include, for example, tackling the poverty premium, reducing child poverty, introducing a Job Grant for young people returning to the workplace after six months unemployed, supporting people to work more flexibly when they want to, working with a range of partners to help people to claim the benefits they are entitled to, and improving employment services for disabled people.

The Scottish Government has committed to reporting annually on progress against the 50 actions and to produce new actions in the second half of this parliamentary term.

The Scottish Government’s digital participation campaign “Let’s Get Online” encourages older people to take those first steps to getting online by offering support and promoting the benefits of using digital devices. Since 2014 the campaign has carried out 133 days of activity in 149 locations across Scotland including Shetland, Orkney and Western Isles.

Supported by local TV and radio, we provided a roadshow of free, face to face internet taster sessions signposting people to training in their local area. Around 37,000 people have been given practical help and advice which has contributed to a 10% increase in the number of older people who access the internet.

The trunk road operating companies are contractually required to examine all domestic animals found dead on the trunk road and motorway network for any identifying features, including scanning for microchips. The Police are then notified of any identifying features, together with a brief description of the animal. Where possible, the operating company will attempt to contact the owner of the animal, and will keep the carcass of any domestic animal for a period of two weeks, in case the owner wishes to claim their pet.

Tracing owners of deceased cats can be problematic as very few domestic cats are micro-chipped or have collars with the owner’s details, making it virtually impossible to trace an owner. There is currently no legislation requiring domestic cats to have such identification, and this would be difficult to enforce. Dealing with deceased cats found on local roads is a matter for local authorities.

The Scottish Government's review of personal and social education will consult with a wide range of key stakeholders, including children and young people and teachers. Initial scoping work has commenced and we will announce further details in due course.