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I have asked JamesHynd, Acting Chief Executive of Communities Scotland to respond. His response isas follows:

Information is heldon the average waiting time from application to installation and this is currentlybeing reported by the managing agent as between five and six months.

The centralheating programme is demand-led and the waiting time is determined by the numberof householders who apply and the number of systems that can be installed. The averagewaiting time for those currently on the waiting list is not yet known, but continuesto be estimated at the current timescale.

There is no differencein waiting times between a full system and a boiler only.

I have asked JamesHynd, Acting Chief Executive of Communities Scotland to respond. His response isas follows:

Funding made availablein August and in November will be used to install up to 3,100 additional centralheating systems in this financial year 2007-08.

A reply to your letterof 20 September 2007 was sent to you today  27 November 2007. Apologies once again for the delay in responding.

The Scottish Governmentis committed to improving educational attainment for all looked after children andyoung people. By giving these young people the chance to develop to their full potentialwe will contribute towards making Scotland smarter, healthier, safer and stronger.

Twenty local authorities have received funding to supportpilot work on raising the educational attainment of their looked after children;including North Lanarkshire. The lessons learnt from this work will beused to inform national policy developments and service delivery by local authorities.

In addition our action plan Looked After Children andYoung People: We Can and Must Do Better sets out the strategic way forward. It contains 19 actionsaimed at improving the life outcomes of our most vulnerable young people. This reportcan be accessed at:

www.scotland.gov.uk/laceducationaloutcomes.

More generally, Curriculumfor Excellence is a curriculum for all of Scotland’s children and young people. It is designed to help improve attainment andachievement, staying on rates and skills development.

Regulations and Guidanceon services for young people ceasing to be looked after by local authorities cameinto force on 1 April 2004. Local authorities received £10 million over2003-06 to carry out these new duties. Funding was thereafter baselined into GAE.

This framework shouldassist local authorities whose duty it is to ensure that appropriate advice, guidanceand assistance, tailored to the needs of the individual young person, is provided.

In addition to theabove regulations and in recognition that more needs to be done to improve outcomesfor looked after children and young people Looked after Children and Young People:We Can and Must Do Better was published in January 2007. This sets out 19 actionpoints across its five themes and highlights the importance of local authoritiesbeing effective and aspirational corporate parents for their looked after youngpeople.

One of the themesof We Can and Must Do Better is “Developing into Successful and ResponsibleAdults”. The actions contained in this theme include: encouraging localauthorities to use existing powers to provide appropriate financial support forcare leavers who are in full time education, training or modern apprenticeship,and developing a resource pack for looked after young people and care leavers whichwill provide them with information relevant to their transition into adulthood.

Looked After Childrenand Young People: We Can and Must Do Better contains 19 actions aimed at improving the life outcomesof our most vulnerable young people. This activity was informed by what young peoplehave told us about their experiences in care. In taking the actions forward we planto consult with young people’s representatives via the Scottish Throughcare andAftercare Forum and Who Cares? Scotland. Both of whom receive funding support fromthe Scottish Government.

At a local level,via raising awareness of their corporate parenting role, we are encouraging localauthorities to ensure that a clear involvement and consultation policy for lookedafter children and young people is developed and implemented which will guaranteethe inclusion of their views at every level.

We are committed todelivering a competent, confident and valued social service workforce, in line withChanging Lives and Skills for Scotland. A key activity, which is still at an earlystage, is the development of a continuous learning framework for all in the socialservice workforce, including those working in residential child care. In addition,we provide significant direct investment in training the residential child careworkforce. This is provided through the Scottish Institute for Residential ChildCare (SIRCC) which currently receives £2 million a year to provide free nationaltraining for frontline workers in residential child care, delivering the core skillsand registration-based qualifications they need.

The Scottish Governmentalso provided £4 million to fostering agencies across Scotland earlier this year to support the training and development of foster carersand kinship carers. We will set out further details with regard to our plans forthe training of foster carers in the forthcoming National Fostering and KinshipCare Strategy.

As announced duringthe early years debate on 31 October, a key theme of the forthcoming early yearsstrategy will be building parenting and family capacity. The aim will be to developan approach that meets the needs of all children and families and the particularneeds of higher risk groups such as families with looked after children. The strategywill be published in summer or autumn 2008.

A number of localprogrammes are already available which offer support and parenting classes to parentsand families who have higher needs.

The forthcoming NationalFostering and Kinship Care Strategy will set out our proposals for support for familymembers who have taken on the responsibility for looked after children.

In 2004 a qualificationsaudit carried out by Scottish Institute of Residential Child Care staff confirmed18% of the workforce was qualified. An audit carried out in 2007 shows a markedincrease with 32% of staff qualified and a further 22% currently undertaking qualifications.

The qualificationscriteria for registration set by the Scottish Social Services Council takes accountof the roles undertaken by staff and the skills they require. Recognised qualificationsmust meet the principles of integration of practice and learning; recognition withinthe Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF), and underpin a knowledgeand value base that is consistent with the Code of Practice for Social Service Workers.A wide and varied range of qualifications from degrees to SVQs are acceptable forregistration purposes.

This information isnot held centrally.

If an inspection ofa care home by the Care Commission reveals that a child or young person has beenadmitted on an emergency basis, it will consider the situation carefully based onthe best interests of the child and with reference to its policy on this matter.