Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-338 on 9 June 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/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

Whilst the Scottish Government sets national direction of policy on mental health and provides funding to agencies, including NHS boards and local authorities, to support the implementation of policy, it is the responsibility of relevant local agencies to decide on local actions and spending priorities in the implementation of national policy.

Access to independent advocacy for people with learning disabilities continues to be a priority and the Scottish Government is working with key stakeholders to ensure disabled people have access to a range of structured, valued and accessible advocacy services to support their access to independent living in all aspects of day to day life.

The Scottish Government is providing local government in Scotland with almost £11.6 billion. The vast majority of the funding, including the funding for disability services will be provided by means of a block grant. It is the responsibility of each local authority to allocate the total financial resources available to it on the basis of local needs and priorities having first fulfilled its statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities including the Scottish Government’s key strategic objectives.

The expenditure on disability benefits is a reserved issue and a matter for Westminster.

I understand that the Care Commission received three complaints in the period January 2006 to March 2011 and SCSWIS received two complaints about this service in April 2011. Five complaint investigations were carried out resulting in two complaints being upheld and three partially upheld.

Under the Mental Health (Scotland) Act 2003, advocacy for people with learning disabilities is provided locally by local authorities and health boards. The 2010 report by the Parliament’s Equal Opportunities Committee, recognised that significant resources, approximately £18 million, had been given to both local authorities and health boards as part of the implementation of the 2003 Act, of which advocacy is an important part.

The Patient Rights (Scotland) Act 2011 provides for the establishment of the Patient Advice and Support Service (PASS). One of the duties of PASS will be to direct people to other sources of advice and support.

Additional funding of £500,000 per year from 2010-11 is being provided to cover the potential increase in referrals and to address gaps in provision. In 2010-11 this additional funding was provided to ensure health boards have undertaken a needs assessment and have up to date Advocacy Plans in place.

The Scottish Independent Advocacy Alliance (SIAA), which is funded by the Scottish Government Health Directorates is working with boards on the development of the advocacy plans.

The data requested in respect of 2008-09 and 2009-10 is already published on the archived web site of the Information and Statistics Division (ISD) of NHS National Services Scotland. The website can be reached at:

http://www.isdscotlandarchive.scot.nhs.uk/isd/2241.html.

Data for 2010-11 will be added in due course to the new ISD website which can be reached at:

http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Prescribing-and-Medicines/Publications/.

The approach of the Scottish Government and individual territorial health boards is to contain reimbursement costs for prescribed items, to encourage best practice, and to develop, in conjunction with the clinicians concerned, local prescribing budgets, which support evidence based prescribing and thus deliver optimal patient care and value for money.

The savings achieved since 2007-08 attributable respectively to improved prescribing in primary care and more effective drug purchasing in primary care are detailed in the efficiency outturn reports for 2008-09 and 2009-10. These can be accessed at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2009/11/Outturn2008-09/Q/EditMode/on/ForceUpdate/on/Page/11, and

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2010/10/Outturn2009-10/Q/EditMode/on/ForceUpdate/on/Page/8.

A report for 2010-11 will be published in due course.

The Scottish Arthroplasty Project was one of a number of initiatives under review by Information Services Division in light of funding pressures. However continued collection of information on the use of arthroplasty is a necessary part of our quality strategy at the present time and it has been decided to maintain this project.

Information regarding the total number of civil servants taking voluntary redundancy in these years is not held centrally.

The following table shows the number of staff who have taken early retirement/severance in 2007-08, 2008-09, 2009-10 and 2010-11 and whose costs will be paid for by the core Scottish Government. This may include some staff employed by Scottish Government agencies.

The costs do not represent the cash amounts actually paid out in the financial years specified as the Scottish Government is invoiced on an ongoing basis for staff who have retired in previous years. However all costs from the date of leaving the organisation to the normal retirement age are accounted for in the year the individual accepts an offer to retire. It should also be recognised that the cost does not represent what individuals actually receive by way of pension and lump sum as there are costs borne by the Scottish Government in relation to the costs of bringing forward the payment of early retirement/severance benefits which do not relate to payments made to individuals.

Scottish Government Funded Early Retirements/Severances

Ward 66 is not closing. NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde has decided to move the paediatric neurological service to the Royal Hospital for Sick Children (Yorkhill) on an interim basis.

This decision follows a review of paediatric neurosurgery and craniofacial surgery at the Southern General and Yorkhill Hospitals carried out by The Royal College of Anaesthetists in November 2010. A key recommendation of the review was that it would be in the best interests of patients to consolidate the paediatric neurological service at Yorkhill as an interim move, ahead of the relocation of the children’s hospital to the new south Glasgow hospital site in 2015.

This move will see this group of young patients being cared for in facilities specifically dedicated for children for the first time, and will therefore allow NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde to deliver this highly specialised service in the most suitable environment. This ensures access to the full range of wider dedicated paediatric clinical specialties such as ITU, HDU and anaesthesia.

No. This is an interim move phased over the next 12 to 18 months prior to the opening of the new Royal Hospital for Sick Children on the new south Glasgow hospital site in 2015. The decision is based on the explicit recommendation of an independent expert clinical body and it is important to note that, this interim move aside, the service would always have been located at the New Southern General site from 2015.