Chamber and committees

The report Offender Learning: Options for Improvement was published on 14 January 2010 and makes recommendations and observations for offender learning in Scotland. It is recognised that offender behaviour patterns may be influenced by a wide range of issues, including social deprivation, negative peer pressure and poor educational attainment. The report identified that learning and skills acquisition, including improved literacy and numeracy, could be a contributing factor to the route out of offending.

Communication impairment is a widespread characteristic of offenders and arises from a range of causes, most commonly from low educational attainment. Poor ability with verbal expression and reasoning is likely to predispose to more aggressive responses to challenge. The Scottish Government is aware of research in this field focussing on offenders with potential clinical needs relating to speech and language, including that highlighted by the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (RCSLT) to the Parliament''s Equal Opportunities Committee.

Discussions with the Scottish Retail Consortium indicate that an increasing number of retailers recognise the commercial advantage of accepting euros from customers. These include most of the large retail chains, in addition to substantial numbers of hotels and other businesses dealing with visitors from Europe. In addition, Historic Scotland has been accepting euros from visitors to its sites for many years. As more and more retailers and other businesses in areas with substantial numbers of European visitors accept the euro, it is hoped that other businesses will make the commercial decision to do so.

I have asked Willie Pretswell, Interim Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows:

The following table provides the numbers of full-time equivalent local authority social workers located in establishments across the prison estate.

Establishments	Manager	Social Worker	Total Full-Time Equivalent Social Workers
Aberdeen	1	2	3
Barlinnie	3	8	11
Cornton Vale	1	4	5
Dumfries	0.5	2.5	3
Edinburgh	1.5	7	8.5
Glenochil	1	7	8
Greenock	1	4	5
Inverness	0.3	1.5	1.8
Open Estate	1	6.5	7.5
Perth	1	7	8
Peterhead	1	7	8
Polmont	2	6	8
Shotts	1	6.5	7.5
Addiewell	1	4	5
Kilmarnock	1	3	4

 

Yes.

The Scottish Medical and Scientific Advisory Committee (SMASAC) working group, convened in early 2009, is currently considering the best way to organise services for people in Scotland who have post-polio syndrome/late effects of polio (PPS/LEOP). This includes consideration of a multidisciplinary clinic model, which currently does not exist in Scotland, and the development of a managed clinical network (MCN) model. The MCN model would ensure that people with PPS are referred to the appropriate specialists for their particular needs, while maintaining local services for those people whose needs can be met at primary care/community level.

The SMASAC working group expects to complete its report and recommendations by spring 2010. Meantime, patients can be referred to local specialists according to their particular needs.

Other services such as those provided in England can be accessed by Scottish patients, if funding for such assessment or treatment is agreed by the patient''s NHS board of residence. This would normally only be approved if the specific assessment or treatment was not available in Scotland, or for other exceptional circumstances.

Based on UK and international studies, the estimate of the number of people in Scotland who may have late effects of polio (LEOP) is between 6,000 and 10,200. Accurate estimates of prevalence are however difficult, for a number of reasons. Counting cases of diagnosed Post Polio Syndrome (PPS) excludes the many polio survivors who may be experiencing new problems as a result of their previous polio, but who may not have PPS as clinically defined. This wider group can be referred to as experiencing LEOP.

The number of people with LEOP or PPS is not formally monitored. The working group set up by the Scottish Medical and Scientific Advisory Committee is however, with advice from the Scottish Public Health Network, attempting to establish a better estimate of prevalence.

There is no central register of children and young people with speech, language or communication impairments. However, the number of school pupils receiving additional support due to a language or speech disorder is reported annually in Pupils in Scotland and the Independent School Census. Pupils in Scotland is available on the government website at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2009/04/20113524/7,

The Independent School Census can be located at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2009/04/20113524/7.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-28424, on 10 November 2009. 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/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

I do not currently propose to develop a separate national plan for services for children and young people with communication support needs in Scotland.

Scottish Government policy and legislation, including Curriculum for Excellence, the Early Years Framework, Getting it Right for Every Child and the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Acts 2004 and 2009, focus on the need to identify and meet the individual needs of all children and young people, including those with communication support needs.