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Under the terms of the concordat, the additional 10,000 respite weeks are to be provided Scotland-wide, with no specific allocation of weeks to each local authority.

For the purposes of the concordat commitment in relation to the additional 10,000 respite weeks, the Scottish Government, COSLA and ADSW agreed that local authorities would use the Audit Scotland definition of respite. This covers overnight respite in a care home, other overnight respite not in a care home, day centre respite and other daytime respite, by categories of children 0-17 with disabilities, adults aged 18 to 64 and older people aged 65+.

The Guidance on Short Breaks (Respite) issued jointly by the Scottish Government and COSLA provides a broad definition of short breaks (respite) including befriending schemes where volunteers provide short breaks.

The Scottish Health Council is committed to developing and improving its volunteer and public participation structures and, following the independent review of its organisational functions and structure, is now in the process of reviewing these elements. The review, which is being led by the chairman of the Scottish Health Council, involves a wide range of stakeholders and individuals, including local advisory council members and will enable the Scottish Health Council to develop a new strategy for public involvement within the restructured organisation.

Whilst it is a matter for individual NHS boards whether patients can be referred to other NHS boards for infertility treatment, Infertility Network Scotland are working directly with NHS boards to ensure that that the voices of patients are heard at a local level in the planning of infertility services in Scotland.

This is a matter for individual NHS boards.

This information is not collected or held centrally. di

I wrote to Chairs of NHS boards on 8 September 2009 informing them that I had asked Infertility Network Scotland to work directly with health boards to ensure that the voices of patients are heard at a local level in the planning of infertility services in Scotland, and to help progress with the provision of an equitable service throughout Scotland.

A copy of the letter and attachment has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe) (Bib. number 49679).

The issue of charging for non-personal care services is addressed in legislation. Under Section 87 (1A) of the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968, a local authority may charge for certain adult non-residential and domiciliary services it provides. Therefore, this was also the case under the previous administration. It is for local authorities to decide their charging policies for these non-personal care services, in keeping with local accountability. However, the legislation requires that any charges levied must be reasonable and should not be more than appears to be reasonably practicable for the recipient to pay, taking account of his or her other financial commitments. Guidance issued by the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) in April 2009 recommends a consistent framework for charging and encourages councils to demonstrate that they are following best practice.

The Carers Strategy for Scotland (including a lift-out section on young carers) is being developed in partnership with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA). As such, and in line with the principles of our concordat with local government, it needs to be approved by COSLA. This should help ensure implementation at local level, as COSLA needs to be satisfied that it will be implementable. There is also representation from some health boards on the steering groups, helping to inform development of the strategy. The strategy will include high-level messages about the benefits of carer support, supported by evidence and set within the context of outcomes.

It is not the purpose of single outcome agreements (SOAs) to provide a comprehensive list of outcomes across all services. The SOAs reflect the priorities and agreed outcomes for each Community Planning Partnership, and include relevant supporting indicators and targets. Copies of all 32 SOAs, which were agreed with Community Planning Partnerships on 1 June 2009, can be obtained via the Improvement Service website by following this link:

http://www.improvementservice.org.uk/single-outcome-agreements/.