- Asked by: Sandra White, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 May 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Margaret Curran on 6 June 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what consideration was given in the Glasgow housing stock transfer proposal to any possibility that, under housing benefit regulations, the housing benefit of some elderly tenants would be reduced.
Answer
The Glasgow stock transfer consultation document made it clear that tenants eligibility to housing benefit would not be affected. No tenants in Glasgow have their housing benefit reduced as a direct result of the housing stock transfer.
- Asked by: Sandra White, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 15 May 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 6 June 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it is taking to increase the number of child psychologists.
Answer
The availability of psychological interventions in general needs to be increased. Work is in hand to increase the number of clinical psychologists, improve the training of other professionals who can contribute and develop best practice for the most effective delivery structures. A new 'pathfinder' workforce group for mental health will assist with developing capacity and skills on a multi-agency basis. The Scottish Needs Assessment Programme review of child and adolescent mental health services provides a timely foundation on which to base development of support for children with mental health problems. The Scottish Executive Health Department has asked the national advisory Child Health Support Group to work with the NHS and partner agencies to act on the findings and implement recommendations in that report.
- Asked by: Sandra White, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 15 May 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 3 June 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive how many vacancies there are for child psychologists in each NHS board and local authority area.
Answer
Data on child psychology specialists in the NHS has not in the past been routinely collected. However, a special study has been made and information on vacancies will be analysed later this year. Information on child psychologist vacancies in local authorities is not available centrally.
- Asked by: Sandra White, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 15 May 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 3 June 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive how many children were referred to child psychologists in each year since 1999.
Answer
The information requested is not held centrally. However, the Improving Mental Health Information Programme of NHSScotland Information and Statistics Division (ISD) is working with agencies to improve access to nationally consistent information and to explore ways of closing such information gaps. Further information is available on the ISD website:
www.show.scot.nhs.uk/isd/mental_health/mhipbase.htm.The recently published NHS Health Scotland SNAP review of child and adolescent mental health services has provided a timely foundation on which to base development of support for children with mental health problems. The Scottish Executive Health Department has asked the national advisory Child Health Support Group to work with the NHS and partner agencies to act on the findings and implement recommendations in that report.
Partnership for Care also confirmed that early attention will be given to the development of the child and adolescent mental health workforce.The Scottish Executive is also working with NHS Education for Scotland to increase training capacity for clinical psychologists as part of a broader programme with NHSScotland to assess and reshape psychology services to meet local demand.
- Asked by: Sandra White, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 15 May 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 3 June 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive how many child psychologists are employed in each NHS board and local authority area.
Answer
Data on child psychology specialists in the NHS has not in the past been routinely collected. However, a special study has been made of the contribution that is made by clinical psychologists and the following table shows the headcount of NHS employed psychologists working with children, young people and families by board as at 30 September 2002. These data are provisional and final figures are due for publication later this year in a forthcoming report by the Clinical Psychology Workforce Planning Group.
Health Board | Headcount as at 30 September 2002 |
Argyll and Clyde | 6 |
Ayrshire and Arran | 8 |
Borders | 4 |
Dumfries and Galloway | 2 |
Fife | 11 |
Forth Valley | 7 |
Grampian | 12 |
Greater Glasgow | 36 |
Highland | 4 |
Lanarkshire | 1 |
Lothian | 13 |
Orkney | 0 |
Shetland | 0 |
Tayside | 3 |
Western Isles | 0 |
Total | 107 |
Information on child psychologists employed by local authorities is not held centrally.
- Asked by: Sandra White, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 15 May 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 3 June 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive how many children have been referred to child psychologists by (a) GPs, (b) care homes and (c) any other method of referral in each year since 1999
Answer
I refer the member to the answer given to question S2W-187 today. 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/webapp/search_wa.
- Asked by: Sandra White, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 February 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Margaret Curran on 31 March 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has criminal record checks carried out into the recipients of social inclusion partnership funding.
Answer
The Scottish Executive does not have criminal record checks carried out on the recipients of Social Inclusion Partnership funding. In general terms, employers and others may ask individuals to apply for criminal record certificates from Disclosure Scotland under Part V of the Police Act 1997 for purposes of considering their suitability to occupy particular posts or positions, but there is currently no requirement under law for these certificates to be obtained. (This is a matter to which we are giving close consideration).For information, in the context of this question the phrase "recipients of social inclusion partnership funding" is taken to refer not just to the grant recipients themselves (i.e. the relevant local authority) but also to the projects funded through them.
- Asked by: Sandra White, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 February 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Margaret Curran on 31 March 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what investigations are currently on-going into irregularities in the operation of social inclusion partnerships.
Answer
Six investigations are currently on-going into irregularities in the operation of Social Inclusion Partnerships. I am unable to comment further on any of these cases on the basis that such disclosure might compromise any on-going investigation or related legal action.For information, in the context of this question the phrase "operation of social inclusion partnerships" is taken to refer not just to the partnerships themselves but also to projects funded or partially funded by them.
- Asked by: Sandra White, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 March 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Des McNulty on 28 March 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to promote awareness of costs to the economy of age discrimination.
Answer
Scottish Enterprise has placed information on the costs of age discrimination to the economy on its website:
http://www.scottish-enterprise.com/publications/fsip1_getting_old.pdf.
- Asked by: Sandra White, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 March 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Des McNulty on 27 March 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what research it has commissioned into the issues involved in promoting the employment of older workers throughout the workforce.
Answer
Matters relating to equal opportunities and employment are reserved to the UK Government. The Executive supports the Department for Work and Pension's "Age Positive" campaign, which includes increasing awareness about the benefits of employing older people. The Executive has a number of initiatives on-going to realise the objectives of the Department for Work and Pension's Age Diversity and Over 50s Employment Strategy and is involved in planning for future initiatives with other agencies and the UK Government.Research on this issue including information and guidance for employers, is available on the website
http://www.agepositive.gov.uk.