Short breaks/respite care provision

Dear Ms Higgins,

Freedom of Information enquiry reference ENQ7941.

Thank you for your request for information under the Freedom of
Information (Scotland) Act 2002 received on 27th November 2009, which
has been forwarded to the relevant section.

The scheduled date for our response to your request for information is
30th 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,

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 27th November 2009, 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:

1. Please tell me how much funding your local authority received in
2008-09 and in 2009-10 from the Scottish Government towards meeting its
policy of providing an additional 10,000 weeks of respite care/short
breaks across Scotland by 2011.
- Please tell me how you’re your local authority will receive in
2010-11 towards meeting this policy.
- Please tell me how much of that allocation your local authority
spent, is spending and intends to spend on providing additional hours
and nights of respite care/short breaks in 2008-09, 2009-10 and 2010
-11.
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 needs as set
out in the Single Outcome Agreement.
Please see attached Information Not Held Notice.

2. Please tell me how much funding your local authority allocated from
within existing GAE monies for the purpose of providing hours and nights
of respite care/short breaks in 2007-08, 2008-09 and 2009-10 and how
much it intends to allocate from within existing GAE monies in 2010-11.

- Please tell me how much your local authority spent, is spending and
intends to spend from within existing GAE monies for the purpose of
providing hours and nights of respite care/short breaks in 2007-08,
2008-09, 2009-10 and 2010-11.
The funding referred 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, although your
estimate of £1.3M would not be far off the mark. 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.
Please see attached Information Not Held Notice.

3. Please tell me to which budget head and purpose your local authority
allocated the additional monies it received from the Scottish Government
towards meeting the policy of providing 10,000 weeks of respite
care/short breaks by 2011 in 2008-09 and 2009-10.
- Please also tell me to which budget head and purpose your local
authority intends to allocate its share of the additional funding in
2010-11.
- Please tell me how the allocations to each budget head and purpose
were actually spent and are being spent in 2008-09 and 2009-10.
This information is unavailable. Please see attached Information Not
Held Notice.

4. Please tell me, In relation to your local authority’s commitment
to achieving an additional 10,000 weeks of respite care/short breaks
provision across Scotland by 2011, how many of these hours and nights
have been and are being provided for disabled children and young people
in 2008-09 and in 2009-10?
- Please also tell me how many hours and nights of respite care/short
breaks were provided by your local authority for disabled children and
young people in 2007-08.
- Please also tell me how many hours and nights you intend to provide
in 2010-11.

Figures for 2007/08 - 1,392 Nights; 58,904 hours

Figures for 2008/09 - 1,193 nights, 6,691 hours

Figures are, as yet, unavailable for 2009/10 and 2010/11. Please see
attached Information Not Held Notice.

5. Please tell me how much money has been and is being spent on
providing respite care/short breaks for disabled children and young
people in your area in 2007-08, 2008-09 and in 2009-10.
- Please also tell me what you intend to spend on respite care/short
breaks for disabled children and young people in your local authority in
2010-11.
Within children’s services resource allocation for respite care is
included with other areas of spend eg children’s carers support, day
care and home care for children with disabilities. This is to ensure an
‘needs’ assessment based on individual person centred planning.

We are unable to provide you with information on Q1 - Funding was
allocated to Aberdeen, Q2 - What additional funding was allocated to
Aberdeen, Q3 - Budget head and purpose and Q4 - Figures for 2009/10 and
2010/11 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 12th May 2010. 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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