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The Scottish Ambulance Service has advised that the cost of temporary and agency staff since 2007-08 has been:

The budget for 2011-12 is currently £20,000 but this figure is subject to revision over the course of the year. The figures are not held centrally broken down between temporary and agency staff.

The guidance on National Eligibility Criteria and Waiting Times for the Personal and Nursing Care of Older People includes specific reference to moderate and low level needs and the provision of preventative or other support services is addressed. The guidance states that councils and their partners should consider whether the provision of services or equipment or other interventions might help prevent or reduce the risk of an individual’s needs becoming more intensive. It also asks councils to ensure that they have in place clear arrangements for meeting, managing or reviewing the needs of individuals who are not assessed as being at “critical” or “substantial” risk, including provision of preventative or other support services appropriate to the clients’ needs.

We have also invested £70 Million in the Change Fund to assist Reshaping Care for Older people to ensure we accelerate the progress of shifting the balance from acute settings to the care in the community and get better at early intervention.

The view of the Scottish Government is that conditions will apply on the date the conditions come into force although ministers could choose to commence a particular condition in such a way that it applied only to licences granted after a specified date.

The Scottish Government has asked NHS Health Scotland to lead on monitoring and evaluating the implementation and impact of current alcohol strategy in Scotland. A study specifically on implementation of the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 was started in January 2010 and is due to finish in March 2013. A first interim report was published in June 2011.

Responsibility for legislation relating to any oversight of the governance of a public limited company, whether for community care purposes or not, would fall within the “regulation of a business association”, and is therefore reserved to the United Kingdom Parliament.

In this regard I have written to the Secretary of State for Health to request that Scottish Government Officials are involved in considering what action may be taken to guard against future risks such as those highlighted in the Southern Cross case.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-02448 on 21 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.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-01771 on 5 August 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.

Kinship care is when a looked after child is placed by a local authority with an approved kinship carer. The Looked After Children (Scotland) Regulations 2009 defines a potential kinship carer as a person who is related to the child or who is known to the child and with whom the child has a pre-existing relationship. A local authority has the power to decide whether to approve such a relative or person as a kinship carer for the child. The 2009 Regulations also set out the requirements and procedures which must be followed when a child is placed with a kinship carer.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-01771 on 5 August 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 information requested is not held centrally.