Chamber and committees

As stated in Parliament on 26 February 2013, serving members of staff of a NHS board will in future not be appointed as board members of a scrutiny body (Healthcare Improvement Scotland or the Care Inspectorate).

The arrangements for the appointment of the chief executive of NHS Tayside as a member of the board of Healthcare Improvement Scotland were made prior to this announcement and in accordance with the rules governing Public Appointments, prior to this announcement. The Medical Director of NHS Tayside is not a member of the board of Healthcare Improvement Scotland.

All members of NHS boards are expected carry out their responsibilities in line with the board member’s Code of Conduct surrounding any potential conflicts of interest and any conflict of interests would be recorded on the Register of Interests. Further details on these can be found on the Healthcare Improvement Scotland website via the following link:

http://www.healthcareimprovementscotland.org/about_us/our_board.aspx.

The Scottish Government is providing over £13 million for short breaks between 2010-15 to be channelled through the voluntary sector. Organisations such as CHILDREN 1^st, Geeza Break and Kinship for the Future North who support Kinship Carers have benefitted from this fund.

The Children and Young People Bill will:

Provide enhanced support to kinship carers who obtain an order under section 11(1) of the 1995 Act (which will be deemed a “kinship care order”).

Place a duty on local authorities to ensure that families in the early stages of distress who seek help are provided with appropriate forms of intervention (for example, family group conferencing or support with substance misuse). This will provide more help for those carers who accept long term caring responsibilities for a child This will be available where a child’s wellbeing would be at risk of being impaired and where appropriate, it can be used to promote the role of a kinship carer; and

Place a duty on local authorities to provide a minimum of 600 hours early learning and childcare to three and four year olds, looked after two year olds and two year olds subject to a kinship care order.

The Children and Young People Bill was introduced to Parliament on 18 April. The Bill and accompanying documents have been published on the Scottish Parliament website:

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

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/People/Young-People/legislation/impact.

Kinship carers of children who are looked after are entitled to financial support from the responsible local authority. A number of local authorities also offer allowances to kinship carers of non-looked after children and those on a section 11 order of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 (e.g Residence Order).

The level of kinship care payments are the responsibility of local authorities. The Scottish Government is committed to working with local authorities to ensure that kinship carers receive the support they need.

The Scottish Government is currently reviewing financial support to kinship carers with a view to tailoring support and tackling inconsistencies across Scotland.

There is an agreed protocol between Audit Scotland and the Scottish Government covering the arrangements for carrying out and clearing performance audit reports undertaken on behalf of the Auditor General for Scotland (AGS) which are published as part of the Scottish Public Finance Manual. The purpose of the protocol is to ensure that all relevant parties in the Scottish Government and Audit Scotland are aware of the arrangements for carrying out performance audits undertaken on behalf of the AGS and clearing draft reports.

The protocol states that in relation to the draft report/key messages:

“The project manager sends a copy of the key messages document and draft report to all project advisory group members, including the SG representative, for comment.”

For formal clearance of the report, the protocol says:

“The AGS sends a formal letter and a copy of the report to the relevant Accountable Officer. The AGS’s letter specifies the date when comments are due back (this is three weeks from the date of the letter) and asks for confirmation of the factual accuracy of the report and any other comments on the presentation and conclusions.”

While the Scottish Government can provide comment on the draft report, the final decision on what to include in the report is solely the responsibility of Audit Scotland. The comments provided were in line with standard procedures where Audit Scotland asked for comments on the draft report. In the interest of accuracy, Audit Scotland accepted a number of points raised and amended the final report accordingly, in exactly the same way as has been done on many other occasions.

There is an agreed protocol between Audit Scotland and the Scottish Government covering the arrangements for carrying out and clearing performance audit reports undertaken on behalf of the Auditor General for Scotland (AGS) which are published as part of the Scottish Public Finance Manual. The purpose of the protocol is to ensure that all relevant parties in the Scottish Government and Audit Scotland are aware of the arrangements for carrying out performance audits undertaken on behalf of the AGS and clearing draft reports.

The protocol states that in relation to the draft report/key messages:

“The project manager sends a copy of the key messages document and draft report to all project advisory group members, including the SG representative, for comment.”

For formal clearance of the report, the protocol says:

“The AGS sends a formal letter and a copy of the report to the relevant Accountable Officer. The AGS’s letter specifies the date when comments are due back (this is three weeks from the date of the letter) and asks for confirmation of the factual accuracy of the report and any other comments on the presentation and conclusions.”

While the Scottish Government can provide comment on the draft report, the final decision on what to include in the report is solely the responsibility of Audit Scotland. The comments provided were in line with standard procedures where Audit Scotland asked for comments on the draft report. In the interest of accuracy, Audit Scotland accepted a number of points raised and amended the final report accordingly, in exactly the same way as has been done on many other occasions.

Neither the Scottish Government nor the Care Inspectorate collect information on numbers of foster carers broken down by local authority area.

The Scottish Government understands that the State Hospital have undertaken an internal investigation into anonymous allegations made to NHS Counter Fraud Services. The outcome of the investigation will be reported to the State Hospital Audit Committee.

The Scottish Government understands that the State Hospital have asked their internal auditors to report on three anonymous allegations made to NHS Counter Fraud Services.

The Scottish Government understands that in June 2012 members of the State Hospital senior management team received a recruitment and retention premium as part of their remuneration package.

Due to an oversight, payment of the premium was not made at the time it was due. Therefore, this resulted in a back payment being made.