Seòmar agus comataidhean

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-13907 on 26 April 2013. 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 following answer was corrected on 15 May 2013

 John Swinney: The Scottish Government’s greener marketing campaigns help change behaviours which impact on carbon emissions. This, in turn, helps Scotland achieve its climate change targets of a 42 per cent reduction in CO2 by 2020 and an 80% reduction by 2050.

Campaign results include:

76 per cent of those who saw the Travel & Transport campaign were willing to leave their car for shorter journeys.

95 per cent of those who interacted with the Eat In Season campaign went on to cook or eat in season food.

The Scottish Government has tendered contracts for a number of marketing services to deliver the campaigns.

These are Marketing Communications, Public Relations, Research and Direct Marketing.

The following table gives the information requested.

Published details of Scottish Government marketing spend can be found here: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/About/People/Directorates/Communications/advertising-marketing/spend

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.