Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government currently has no plans to commission a specific review of rail travel for disabled people. There was an opportunity for all rail passengers to comment on plans for the new franchise during the Rail 2014 public consultation.

The Scottish Government, in partnership with the rail industry in Scotland, regularly engages with disability organisations. Transport Scotland chairs the Scottish Rail Accessibility Forum and attends meetings held by the Scottish Accessible Transport Alliance. This engagement ensures that a wide range of disabled people participate and contribute to the development of improved access to rail services.

Transport Scotland established and chairs quarterly meetings of the Scottish Rail Accessibility Forum which provides an opportunity for representatives from disability organisations as well as the rail industry and Passenger Focus to discuss pertinent issues. As part of their franchise commitment ScotRail engages extensively at a national and local level with rail passengers including with numerous disability groups.

ScotRail and other train companies operating in Scotland are required to publish a Disabled Persons Protection Policy as one element of their operating licence, which is reviewed and updated on an annual basis. The policy provides a comprehensive guide to passenger rights and the range of services available to assist disabled passengers and can be viewed online or in booklet format available at all staffed stations across the country.

The Scottish Government requires ScotRail to monitor and report on a range of service provision including in some areas that impact specifically on disabled passengers.

For example, the performance of passenger assistance is monitored and those using this service are encouraged to provide feedback on their experience. ScotRail also provides customer feedback forms tailored for disabled passengers. Extensive engagement with local access panels and disability groups also provides ScotRail with a strong understanding of disabled passengers needs and aspirations.

Transport Scotland employs a Rail Accessibility Manager who is tasked with taking a broader overview of disabled access to the rail network in Scotland. Transport Scotland has built up good relationships with the rail industry and disability organisations which ensure the range of issues that concern disabled passengers can be addressed.

In developing the specification for the next ScotRail franchise, the Scottish Government gathered the views of disabled and other passengers through the Rail 2014 Consultation. Transport Scotland met with Mobility Access Committee Scotland (MACS) as part of the consultation, and made presentations at the Scottish Rail Accessibility Forum and to the Scottish Accessible Transport Alliance.

Bidders for the next franchise to operate ScotRail services are required as a condition of their operating licence issued by the Office of Rail Regulation to provide a range of services to assist disabled passengers, for example they must publish a disabled persons protection policy. These obligations are not affected by the franchise arrangements to ensure a consistent level of service is provided by all train operating companies.

The Munby judgment is an English case relating to a particular local authority’s policy on the payment of foster carers and the interpretation of English legislation and so therefore it does not have any direct impact in Scotland.

Children and Carers in Kinship and Foster Care have the following access to service:

Both Kinship and Foster Care Allowances are fully disregarded as income for Housing Benefit.

The Scottish Government is providing over £13 million for short breaks (respite) between 2010-15 to be channelled through the voluntary sector. We know that organisations supporting Kinship Carers such as Children 1^st and Geeza Break have benefitted from this fund.

Access to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services is available to all children and young people equally and is assessed on their clinical needs.

The Education (Additional Support for Learning) Act 2009 places education authorities under a duty to identify, meet and review the additional support needs of all children and young people for whose education they are responsible. The Act automatically deems all children and young people who are looked after to have additional support needs, unless the authority determine that they do not require additional support to benefit from their school education.

Information on what the average cost has been of keeping a child in (a) residential, (b) foster and (c) kinship care in each of the last three years is not centrally held and no research has been carried out on cost differentials.

The data that we collect from local authorities on looked after children is about demographic information and not the cost of keeping a child in care.

Children in formal kinship care arrangements are deemed by the Children’s Hearings System to have needs which require them to be placed under a compulsory supervision order.

Children in informal kinship care arrangements are not deemed to require formal supervision but may have other support needs.

The Kinship Care Order proposed through the Children and Young People (Scotland) Bill aims to provide additional support, that will offer a more stable environment for children living in kinship families, who do not require regular supervision from the Children’s Hearings System or Social Work.

At 31 July 2012 there were 4,076 children living in formal kinship care arrangements in Scotland. All carers of children in formal kinship care arrangements are entitled to receive financial support from their local authority.

Information on the number of carers of children living in informal care arrangements who receive financial support from their local authority is not centrally held.

The Scottish Government does not pay for care placements directly but supports local authorities through block grant funding.

Table 28 of the Children and Young People (Scotland) Bill Financial Memorandum sets out what the Scottish Government estimates that local authorities will spend on formal care following the introduction of the proposed kinship care order.

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/Bills/62233.aspx.

The estimated cost of specific new support to informal kinship carers in possession of a Kinship Care Order from 2015-16 is set out in table 32 of the Children and Young People (Scotland) Bill Financial Memorandum.