Additional funding for disabled children's services

Dear Ms Higgins,

Freedom of Information enquiry reference ENQ7851.

Thank you for your request for information under the Freedom of
Information (Scotland) Act 2002 received on 9th November 2009, which has
been forwarded to the relevant section.

The scheduled date for our response to your request for information is
8th December 2009.

If you have any enquiries meantime please do not hesitate to contact
us.

Yours sincerely,

Jean Reid
FOI Compliance Assistant

FoI Enquiries Team
Corporate Governance (City Solicitor)
Aberdeen City Council
Town House
Broad Street
Aberdeen AB10 1AQ
Tel: 01224 522875/523827
Fax: 01224 638556
email: [Aberdeen City Council request email]

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Dear Ms Higgins,

Aberdeen City Council was due to respond to your enquiry by the 8th December 2009. Unfortunately the service responsible is currently unable to provide a full response; however, we hope to be able to respond by Monday 21st December 2009.

Please accept my apologies for this delay, which I hope does not cause too much inconvenience.

Regards,

Jennifer M Barron
FOI Compliance Officer

FoI Enquiries Team
Corporate Governance (City Solicitor)
Aberdeen City Council
Town House
Broad Street
Aberdeen AB10 1AQ
Tel: 01224 522875/523827
Fax: 01224 638556
email: [Aberdeen City Council request email]

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Dear Ms Higgins,

Please accept our apologies for the late response to your information
request. Your request for review was received at the same time as the
service provided the response (below) to your enquiry. We would
therefore be grateful if you could confirm whether you wish us to review
the way in which your enquiry has been handled.

Thank you for your information request of 9th November 2010, made under
the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA). Aberdeen City
Council (ACC) has completed the necessary search for the information
requested, and the following information can be supplied:

The Scottish Government received £34 million Barnett Consequentials
from HM Treasury in 2007-08 arising from new money to implement the
Aiming High for Disabled Children strategy in England. Under the
Concordat, the Scottish Government has allocated that £34 million to
local authorities as part of the GAE settlement.

1. Please provide information which shows how much your local authority
received as its allocated share of the £34million in:
a) 2008-2009 and
b) 2009-2010
In responding to this request, please consider all relevant information
which might accurately confirm the amount received, including
information contained within documentation such as budgets and related
papers; council and committee papers and minutes; correspondence between
and among officers, or between officers and third parties; meeting
papers; and any other relevant papers and documents.

The Council did not receive ‘ring fenced’ monies to implement the
strategy. The Council received its funding in line with the concordat
and set its budget across the Council according to priority need as set
out in the Single Outcome Agreement

2. Please provide all information - including information contained
within budgets and related papers; council and committee papers and
minutes; correspondence between and among officers, or between officers
and third parties; meeting papers; and any other relevant papers and
documents - showing:
a) how you intended to spend your allocated share of the £34million,
and
b) how you actually spent your allocated share of the £34 million.

Please provide this information for both 2008-2009, and 2009-2010.

The funding you refer to was announced in May 2007 as part of a 2.5%
increase in Education funding within England and was in response to a
report revising the Review of Services to Disabled Children in England.

Under the Barnett formula Scottish Government funding is increased
roughly by 10% of any increase in England although the funding is not
designated by the Westminster Government for particular purposes other
than it is for areas for which responsibility is delegated to Holyrood.

In this instance however the Scottish Executive as part of the
Concordat with local authorities passed this funding on within the
overall settlement figure. In return, Local Authorities were tasked with
increasing the number of respite care available by 10,000 over three
years. Aberdeen City's share of this was 400 weeks and this has been
taken into account in developing our strategies in this area.

As there is no specific allocation within Social Work funding from the
Scottish Executive for respite care it is not possible to detail exactly
what additional funding was allocated to Aberdeen. As a result, and as
respite care is provided as part of a service package to clients rather
than a discrete service, it is not possible to provide you with a robust
comparison between funding and expenditure on respite care. However over
all Social Work funding from the Scottish Executive increased by over 4%
between 2007/8 and 2008/9. The budgeted spend for Social Work Services
in Aberdeen for 2008/09 is 16.2% above the funding received and in
practice due to responding to demands for assistance is likely to be
closer to 29% above. In Children Services within Social Work, which
includes respite care, expenditure is expected to exceed Scottish
Government funding by almost 200%.

Within Aberdeen City Council we are committed to providing increased
respite care which I appreciate is so important to carers. This is
reflected in our policy statement of 16 May 2007 where we committed the
Council to "Provide appropriate respite and rehabilitation services",
and, as you can see from the above, it is also reflected in actual
spending.

We are unable to provide you with relevant papers and documentation or
information on robust comparison between funding and expenditure on
respite care as it is not held by the Council. In order to comply with
its obligations under the terms of section 17 of the FOISA, the Council
must issue an official notice in relation to any requests for
information not held by it. I therefore attach an Information Not Held
notice.

We trust this satisfies your enquiry.

Yours sincerely,

Jean Reid
FOI Compliance Assistant

FURTHER INFORMATION

Aberdeen City Council’s Complaints Procedure under the FOISA

An applicant who is dissatisfied with the way in which Aberdeen City
Council has dealt with his/her request for information under section
1(1) of the FOISA regime, may, by virtue of section 20 of the FOISA,
require Aberdeen City Council to review its actions and/or decisions in
relation to that request.

If you wish Aberdeen City Council to review its actions and/or
decisions with respect to your request for information, you should write
to the City Archivist, Resources Management, Aberdeen City Council, Old
Town House, Broad Street, Aberdeen, AB10 1AQ. The City Archivist will
arrange for your application for review to be considered by the Review
Panel. The Review Panel will write to you informing you of its decision
by not later than twenty working days after receipt of your request
requiring that a review be made. By virtue of section 21 of the FOISA,
the Review Panel will also provide you with a statement of its reasons
for arriving at the decision it has made.

Your request for review should reach Aberdeen City Council by no later
than DATE. Your request for review must be in writing (or in another
form which has some permanency and is capable of being used for
subsequent reference i.e. audio/video tape recording). You must state
your name and address for correspondence. You must also give details of
the information that you originally requested from Aberdeen City
Council, and must state the reasons why you are dissatisfied with the
way in which your application for information has been dealt with.

Your Right to Complain to the Scottish Information Commissioner

By virtue of Section 47 of the FOISA, a person who is dissatisfied with
a Notice issued by Aberdeen City Council under Section 21 of the FOISA,
may apply to the Scottish Information Commissioner, for a decision as to
whether, in any respect specified in that application, the request for
information under section 1(1) of the FOISA, has been dealt with by
Aberdeen City Council in accordance with Part 1 of the FOISA.

An application to the Scottish Information Commissioner must be made in
writing (or in another form having some permanency ie a video/tape
recording) within six months of receipt of a section 21 Notice by the
applicant. An applicant must state his/her name and address. An
applicant must also specify: -

- the request for information to which the requirement for review by
Aberdeen City Council relate;
- the matter which gives rise to the applicant’s dissatisfaction
pertaining to the applicants request for review;
- the matter which gives rise to the applicant’s dissatisfaction
pertaining to the decision given in the section 21 Notice.

The Scottish Information Commissioner can be contacted at:

Scottish Information Commissioner, Kinburn Castle, Doubledykes Road, St
Andrews, Fife, KY16 9BS
(Telephone 01334 464610; Fax 01334 464611; Email
[email address])

FoI Enquiries Team
Corporate Governance (City Solicitor)
Aberdeen City Council
Town House
Broad Street
Aberdeen AB10 1AQ
Tel: 01224 522875/523827
Fax: 01224 638556
email: [Aberdeen City Council request email]

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