Chamber and committees

Achieving our Potential is the Scottish Government and COSLA policy framework for tackling poverty. It includes a set of commitments and expectations for central and local government, the third sector and wider society which outlines the opportunities and actions which will help reduce poverty and income inequality in Scotland. It does not include targets.

The Scottish Government measures progress against reducing poverty through its national poverty indicator within the National Performance Framework and the Solidarity Purpose Target. Information can be accessed at http://scotland.gov.uk/About/scotPerforms/indicators/poverty and http://scotland.gov.uk/About/scotPerforms/purposes/solidarity.

Information on the numbers of applications and awards and total spend for community care grants and crisis loans for Scotland in 2009-10 is published in Annex C, Table 1 of Local support to replace Community Care Grants and Crisis Loans for living expenses in England, available at http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/social-fund-localisation-response.pdf.

The associated spreadsheet Social Fund spend by local authority http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/social-fund-spend-by-local-authority.xls has information for individual Scottish local authorities.

These are both available at http://www.dwp.gov.uk/consultations/2011/local-support-replace-ccg-cl.shtml.

The Scottish Government Tackling Poverty budget for 2011-12 is £5,075,000. It supports the implementation of the approach set out in Achieving our Potential.

Scottish Government and COSLA social policy frameworks have set out clear expectations relating to tackling inequality. Responsibility for the delivery of services and interventions lies with community planning partnerships, funded through the Local Government Settlement. Local authorities and their community planning partners have been encouraged and supported to make best use of their collective mainstream resources to increase the pace of progress in tackling poverty in our communities. In addition, the Fairer Scotland Fund provided £435 million to local authorities between 2008-11 to progress outcomes linked to assisting people living in poverty, tackling high levels of multiple deprivation concentrated in communities, overcoming barriers to work and tackling health inequalities.

Membership of the Tackling Poverty Board is outlined within the November 2009 Tackling Poverty Board paper remit and membership at http://www.employabilityinscotland.com/tacklingpovertyboardpapers.aspx.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde’s proposal to discontinue adult inpatient mental health services at the Vale of Leven Hospital have already been subject to the Independent Scrutiny Panel chaired by Professor Angus Mackay that sat in the winter of 2007-08 to consider service changes in the Clyde area. The board’s subsequent work and stakeholder engagement activity around this and other relevant issues were informed by the panel’s report.

In coming to my decision to end a decade of damaging uncertainty and ensure a viable future for the Vale through approving NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde’s Vision for the hospital in July 2009, I was clear that further work was necessary to monitor the pattern of demand for the adult inpatient mental health service provided by the Christie Ward, and to consider the development of local community based services. That work, which has been overseen by the Vale Monitoring Group which I established to monitor the implementation of the Vision, will be complete this autumn. NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde will make a decision on the future shape of local mental health services informed by all the evidence and representations, and this will then be subject to ministerial approval.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-02513 on 8 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.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde’s plans for the redesign of rehabilitation services in North East Glasgow, which include the proposal to close Lightburn Hospital, do constitute major service change, in line with national guidance Informing, Engaging and Consulting People in Developing Health and Community Care Services (February, 2010) which can be accessed at the following link www.sehd.scot.nhs.uk/mels/CEL2010_04.pdf.

As such, the NHS board’s plans will be subject to ministerial approval. There are no current plans to subject the proposals to independent scrutiny; where this is considered appropriate, such a process would ordinarily be carried out ahead of formal public consultation.

All major service changes in the NHS must be subject to formal public consultation and ministerial approval in line with “Informing, Engaging and Consulting People in Developing Health and Community Care Services” (February, 2010).

Ministers make the final decision on whether specific proposals constitute major service change in line with the national guidance, and as informed by discussion with the relevant NHS board and Scottish Health Council. The health council also provides published guidance to NHS boards on identifying where service change may be considered major, and appropriate option appraisal methodology, which can be accessed at the following link:

www.scottishhealthcouncil.org/publications/guidance.aspx.

Scottish Government officials keep in regular contact with all NHS boards, and this involves discussion around forthcoming service changes in the NHS.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde’s plans for the redesign of rehabilitation services in North East Glasgow, which include the proposal to close Lightburn Hospital, are currently under consideration by ministers who will take all the available information and representations into account before making a final decision. As in all such cases, the primary consideration will be the quality of the proposed service for patients.

The information requested was published in the relevant papers considered by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde Board at its meeting on 16 August and can be accessed via the following link:

www.nhsggc.org.uk/content/default.asp?page=s109_9.