Chamber and committees

On 6 April a multi-agency meeting, including representatives from the City of Edinburgh Council, NHS Lothian and the Care Inspectorate was held to discuss care arrangements within Elsie Inglis. Following that meeting it was agreed that the City of Edinburgh Council staff together with support from NHS Lothian staff would undertake a systematic review of all residents within the care home.

Between periods 6 April until the end of May, the City of Edinburgh Council social work staff together with nursing staff from NHS Lothian were regularly in attendance at the home to ensure that the residents' needs were being met and to make recommendations as appropriate. During this period regular multi-agency meetings were held as well as meetings with the owners of the care home.

On the 11 of May the City of Edinburgh Council approached the care home owners and informed them that it was felt necessary for the Council to have permanent presence within the home to observe practice and advise. The Council had no legal powers to undertake such an action, however consent was granted by the owners of the home.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-02478 on 23 September 2011. 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/Apps2/MAQASearch/QAndMSearch.aspx.

The Scottish Government has made a commitment to introduce a minimum wage for all public sector bodies under our direct control.

We have made sure that from 1 April 2011, all NHS staff in Scotland earn above £7.15 per hour. All teachers, police officers and Fire Service personnel already earn above this level.

The Scottish Government’s Public sector pay policy, which applies to all pay settlement dates up to 31 March 2012, requires employers to introduce a Scottish Living Wage of £7.15 an hour and all public sector bodies will have met that requirement following implementation of their 2011-12 pay settlement. The policy covers the Scottish Government, its agencies, and the non-departmental public bodies for which we are responsible. It also covers the subsidiaries of these bodies. There may be a small number of staff in public bodies subject to minister’s pay policy still to benefit from the Scottish Living Wage, but this is due to the fact that these bodies are still to conclude pay negotiations with members of staff and their unions this year and Scottish ministers cannot intervene while these negotiations continue.

The Scottish Government’s public sector pay policy does not extend to local authorities. Local authorities are self-governing bodies and set the terms and conditions under which local government staff are employed. The Scottish Government does not hold information on individual local authority’s rates of pay. However, I welcome the fact that a number of local authorities have already introduced a living wage.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-02397 on 22 September 2011. 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.

The UK Government has not provided sufficient detail on the implementation of its proposed welfare reforms for the impact on future Scottish budgets to be known. The Scottish Government has made repeated requests to the UK Government for further detail and will continue to press for this to be made available.

The legislation for free school meals is currently linked to a number of prescribed benefits and it is expected that a number of these will be repealed under the proposed UK Government welfare reforms. The Scottish Government will therefore consider making changes to the entitlement criteria in light of the UK Welfare Reform Bill and its regulations. School clothing grants are not linked to benefits by legislation, they are awarded subject to entitlement criteria set by local authorities.

The proposed UK Government welfare reforms will not change the entitlement criteria for Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA), which are based on household income, age, residency and validity of the student’s course.

Local authorities are best placed to make decisions about the entitlement criteria for the payment of kinship care allowances and the level of the rate paid, taking account of the child’s needs and the carers’ overall financial circumstances. The Scottish Government is working with COSLA to develop a shared understanding of the likely impact of the UK Government’s proposed welfare reforms.

The legislation for free school meals is currently linked to a number of prescribed benefits and it is expected that a number of these will be repealed under the proposed UK Government welfare reforms. The Scottish Government will therefore consider making changes to the entitlement criteria in light of the UK Welfare Reform Bill and its regulations.

School clothing grants are not linked to benefits by legislation, they are awarded subject to entitlement criteria set by local authorities. However, local authorities’ entitlement criteria for school clothing grants is often the same as the entitlement criteria for free school meals therefore the proposed UK Government welfare reforms are likely to require local authorities to reconsider their criteria.

The proposed UK Government welfare reforms will not change the entitlement criteria for Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) and all eligible young people whose household income falls within the EMA income thresholds will continue to receive EMA.

Local authorities are best placed to make decisions about the entitlement criteria for the payment of kinship care allowances and the level of the rate paid, taking account of the child’s needs and the carers’ overall financial circumstances. The Scottish Government is working with COSLA to develop a shared understanding of the likely impact of the UK Government’s proposed welfare reforms.

The Scottish Government welcomes the devolution of responsibility for a successor to council tax benefit, although the timescale imposed by the UK Government poses significant operational challenges, especially given the continuing lack of detail around universal credit. We are also deeply concerned about the UK Government’s 10 per cent budget reduction for the devolved council tax benefit which will potentially reduce household incomes for over half a million people on the lowest incomes in Scotland. The Scottish Government will consult on the options for implementing a successor to council tax benefit later in the autumn of this year.

The UK Government has not provided sufficient detail on the implementation of its proposed welfare reforms for the financial impact on future Scottish local government expenditure to be known. The Scottish Government has made repeated requests to the UK Government for further detail and will continue to press for this to be made available.

We expect clinicians to follow Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) guidelines in Scotland where clinically appropriate. The guidelines recommend that Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP) should be discussed, except in the minority of circumstances where the clinician may judge that it may cause serious harm to the patient. As no single approach will suit all patients, the discussion about SUDEP is a clinical judgment in the context of individual circumstances, and in agreement with the patient and their carers, where relevant.

If a clinician decides not discuss the risk of SUDEP with patients, the decision should be regularly reviewed and the subject of SUDEP raised at the appropriate time, recording the outcome of discussions in the patient’s clinical records as recommended by the General Medical Council.

We have agreed to provide Epilepsy Scotland with funding to conduct research into the information needs of people with epilepsy regarding SUDEP. The research aims to identify at what point post-diagnosis, individuals would prefer to receive information on SUDEP and in what form. Equally important is to identify who they would prefer to receive the information from; their consultant or epilepsy specialist nurse. The findings of the research will help support healthcare professionals in the vital process of sharing information with people at risk of SUDEP.

Recommendations from the fatal accidents inquiry report should be considered and acted upon by those responsible for delivering healthcare services, such as NHS boards. The Chief Professional Officers Groups at the Scottish Government also consider such recommendations and provides advice to clinicians and boards.