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Information on the number of looked after children whose last accommodation type immediately prior to leaving care was “with friends/relatives” and whose initial destination on leaving care was “home with (biological) parents” is only available since 2008-09.

During 2008-09, there were 212 looked after children whose last accommodation type immediately prior to ceasing being looked after was “with friends/relatives” and their initial destination on leaving care was “home with (biological) parents”. The equivalent figure for 2009-10 was 250 looked after children.

Please note that these figures may include some multiple counting if a child ceased being looked after more than once during the respective reporting period, and their final accommodation type and initial destination on leaving care met the specified criteria.

The Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (Scotland) Order 1992/223 (‘the Order’) permits certain classes of development without the need for express planning permission to be granted. The classes of permitted development include:

Class 29 - Development under local or private acts or orders, and

Class 34 - Development by railway or light railway undertakings.

Network Rail may therefore be able to exercise powers of “deemed consent”, by virtue of the Order.

Whether or not Network Rail can or cannot exercise powers of “deemed consent” will depend on the nature of the proposed development and whether or not the development falls within one of those two classes. Other requirements of the Order may also have to be met.

As stated in the answer to question S4W-02118 on 6 September 2011 the circumstances of whether or not Network Rail can or cannot exercise powers of ‘deemed consent’ will depend on the nature of the proposed development and whether or not the development falls within one of two particular classes under the terms of The Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (Scotland) Order 1992/223.

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.

The Scottish Government has met with the UK Government and discussed the issue of benefit entitlement for kinship carers numerous times since 2007 in order to try to improve financial support available. This has resulted in a number of improvements including the exempting of kinship allowances from housing and council tax benefit.

For example, if a kinship carer received a weekly payment of £100 they could be better off by up to around £37 per week depending on their individual circumstances, as a result of these changes.

Of all looked after children who were “in foster care” at the end of each reporting year, the percentage that were aged 16 years or older for each of the last five years was:

31 March 2006: - 9.7%

31 March 2007: - 9.4%

31 March 2008: - 9.2%

31 March 2009: - 8.3%

31 July 2010: - 8.2%.

Please note that figures for 2006, 2009 and 2010 include a very small number of young people aged over 21 years who were still being looked after, whereas figures for 2007 and 2008 only included young people being looked after up to and including the age of 21 year olds.

The Scottish Government does not centrally collect information on the number of children who are fostered outwith their local authority area.

This information would only be available by contacting individual local authorities.

Information on the number of looked after children whose last accommodation type immediately prior to leaving care was “in foster care” and whose initial destination on leaving care was “home with (biological) parents” is only available since 2008-09.

During 2008-09, there were 491 looked after children who last accommodation type immediately prior to ceasing being looked after was “in foster care” and their initial destination on leaving care was “home with (biological) parents”. The equivalent figure for 2009-10 was 388 looked after children.

Please note that these figures may include some multiple counting if a child ceased being looked after more than once during the respective reporting period, and their final accommodation type and initial destination on leaving care met the specified criteria.

Current best estimates suggest that between 40-60,000 children in Scotland may be affected by parental drug misuse. Of these, 10-20,000 may be living with at least one parent with a drug misuse problem. These figures are largely derived from Estimating the National and Local Prevalence of Problem Drug Misuse in Scotland 2006, published in October 2009 and remain largely unchanged since the last update based on 2003 data.

It is for local authorities to assess the care needs in each of their areas and recruit and register foster carers to match the need.

The Scottish Government is supporting local authorities by working with, and funding activities through, The fostering network which support the recruitment and retention of foster carers.

Following a detailed option appraisal review the Edinburgh Glasgow Improvement Programme Board (EGIP) have confirmed that The Garngad Chord is not required in order to realise the EGIP journey time objectives.

The Scottish Government has no plans to develop the Garngad Chord.