Monday 5 September 2011 SCOTTISH EXECUTIVE Education and Lifelong Learning Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Scottish Labour): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will continue to fund the In Care Survivors Service Scotland project beyond October 2011. Holding answer issued: 9 August 2011 (S4W-1626) Angela Constance: The Scottish Government is committed to supporting survivors of childhood abuse. The In Care Survivors Service Scotland (ICSSS) provides a specialist service to a group of people who have suffered trauma of a very specific nature which is tailored to their needs. In particular, the service uniquely offers support accessing records relating to individuals‟ care experiences. We have asked Open Secret to submit a renewed business case for further funding, which we will take into consideration in combination with the external evaluation of the service currently being carried out. Jamie Hepburn (Cumbernauld and Kilsyth) (Scottish National Party): To ask the Scottish Executive how many registered foster carers it estimates are required to match assessed care needs. (S4W-2143) Angela Constance: 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. Jamie Hepburn (Cumbernauld and Kilsyth) (Scottish National Party): To ask the Scottish Executive how many children have been fostered outwith their local authority area in each of the last five years. (S4W-2144) Angela Constance: 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. Jamie Hepburn (Cumbernauld and Kilsyth) (Scottish National Party): To ask the Scottish Executive how many fostered children have been returned to their parents in each of the last five years. (S4W-2145) Angela Constance: 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. Jamie Hepburn (Cumbernauld and Kilsyth) (Scottish National Party): To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of fostered children has remained in the care system until 16 years of age in each of the last five years. (S4W-2147) Angela Constance: 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. Jamie Hepburn (Cumbernauld and Kilsyth) (Scottish National Party): To ask the Scottish Executive how many children have been living with a parent with a known drug dependency in each of the last five years. (S4W-2148) Angela Constance: 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. Jamie Hepburn (Cumbernauld and Kilsyth) (Scottish National Party): To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with the UK Government regarding exempting kinship care payments when calculating entitlement to support from the Department of Work and Pensions. (S4W-2150) Angela Constance: 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. Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Scottish Labour): To ask the Scottish Executive what funding is available for local welfare assistance grants and what proportion will be allocated for administration. (S4W-2409) Michael Matheson: We are currently consulting on the successor arrangements for community care grants and crisis loans. We will make decisions on future arrangements, including the allocation of funding, in the light of the responses. Finance and Sustainable Growth Drew Smith (Glasgow) (Scottish Labour): To ask the Scottish Executive what the key themes of its cities strategy are and whether regional transport is a priority. (S4W-2168) Nicola Sturgeon: As noted in the answer to questions S4W-02164 and S4W-02166 on 5 September 2011, the cities strategy is currently being developed collaboratively with cities and will be published by the end of 2011. It is the role of Scotland‟s seven regional transport partnerships to strengthen the planning and delivery of regional transport. 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. Drew Smith (Glasgow) (Scottish Labour): To ask the Scottish Executive what collaboration it has undertaken with Strathclyde Passenger Transport in the development of its cities strategy. (S4W-2169) Nicola Sturgeon: There has been no collaboration with Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) specifically on the development of the cities strategy. As one of Scotland‟s seven regional transport partnerships, SPT has regular engagement with Scottish Government, through Transport Scotland, on transport related matters. Sarah Boyack (Lothian) (Scottish Labour): To ask the Scottish Executive under what circumstances would it allow a local development plan to contradict the national planning framework. (S4W-2271) John Swinney: I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-01373 on 11 July 2011. Planning legislation requires that in preparing a local development plan the planning authority (a) are to take into account the National Planning Framework; (b) are to have regard to such information and considerations as are prescribed in the Town and Country Planning (Development Planning) (Scotland) Regulations 2008, and (c) may have regard to such other information and considerations as appear to them to be relevant. Scottish Ministers would only consider intervening in the process of adopting a local development plan where it appeared to them that the proposed plan was in some respect unsatisfactory, for example in terms of its implications for national policy. 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. Sarah Boyack (Lothian) (Scottish Labour): To ask the Scottish Executive under what circumstances would it permit a local planning authority to reconsider the need for a development identified in the national planning framework when (a) preparing development plans and (b) responding to individual project proposals. (S4W-2272) John Swinney: I refer the member to the answers to questions S4W-01373 on 11 July 2011 and S4W-02271 on 5 September 2011. 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. Health and Wellbeing Ruth Davidson (Glasgow) (Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party): To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is on offering all heart patients cardiac rehabilitation. (S4W-2122) Michael Matheson: Our Better Heart Disease and Stroke Care Action Plan, published in August 2011, recognises the clinical and cost effectiveness of cardiac rehabilitation. The action plan also emphasises the importance of ensuring that people living with heart disease who could benefit from cardiac rehabilitation, can gain access. We therefore expect provision of cardiac rehabilitation to be in line with Healthcare Improvement Scotland‟s clinical standards for heart disease, published in April 2010. Standard 10 is that patients with specified heart disease have access to a menu-based cardiac rehabilitation programme. It is however