Scottish Government promotes more flexible support options while emphasising importance of housing support
John Swinney MSP
The Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth, John Swinney, announced the outcome of the Spending Review to Parliament on 14 November. The Spending Review set spending plans for 2008-09, 2009-10 and 2010-11 and aimed to refocus resources to achieve the Government's purpose and strategic objectives: wealthier and fairer; healthier; safer and stronger; smarter; and greener.
In his statement to Parliament on 14 November, Mr Swinney announced that the Scottish Government had reached agreement with CoSLA on a new relationship with local government. As part of this new relationship, there will be a substantial reduction in the number of separate funding streams to local government. This includes the ring fence around the Supporting People programme which will be removed from 1 April 2008. The Supporting People budget will then be absorbed into the main local government settlement.
The whole of government is also being moved to an outcome focused approach to performance management, based around the delivery of the five strategic objectives. Fifteen high-level national outcomes summarise what the Government wants to achieve over the next ten years, and 45 more specific indicators have been developed as the key benchmarks against which progress will be measured. Housing support services will continue to have an important role in helping to deliver against many of the national outcomes and performance indicators. They are crucial in tackling inequalities and in providing support for the elderly and other vulnerable groups to continue living independent and fulfilling lives.
Research soon to be published by the Scottish Government will confirm that investment in housing support services more than pays for itself by the savings it generates elsewhere in the system. This particularly relates to community care and NHS budgets and to the costs associated with homelessness and crime. It also generates significant quality of life benefits that cannot be quantified in pure financial terms. Other research on Supporting People unit costs, also to be published shortly, suggests that Supporting People budgets have been funding an element of care in a way that raised questions about the value of maintaining separate accounting arrangements.
Given these findings, and the demographic challenges of an ageing population, housing support and care packages will become even more important in sustaining increasing numbers of older people and other vulnerable client groups in their own homes in the years ahead. The new arrangements will also bring added flexibility for local authorities, lifting unnecessary accounting and reporting burdens to release resources that can be redeployed to front line services. Funding will no longer be rigidly tied to the 21 prescribed housing support services, allowing more flexible support packages to be developed with less bureaucracy.
Some providers and clients may be concerned about the removal of ring fencing. It is important to remember that funding for housing support services is still there, but simply absorbed in the main local government settlement. The Scottish Government recognises and values the tremendous benefits achieved under the Supporting People programme and will work with stakeholders over the coming months to ensure they are safeguarded, with the aim of ensuring that vulnerable people across Scotland continue to be effectively supported to maintain independent living.
Although Supporting People will end as a separate grant scheme at the end of March, the Scottish Government will continue to emphasise the vital role that housing support can play in helping to prevent crises and ensuring a diverse range of people with diverse needs are supported to lead fulfilling lives in their own homes. We recognise that some uncertainties and concerns are inevitable during any transitional period to new arrangements, and we look forward to working with CoSLA, local authorities, voluntary sector providers and other stakeholders during this next phase.
As usual, this newsletter tries to illustrate the way that housing support helps enhance lives, prevent crisis situations occurring or help others get lives back on track. The next issue will celebrate in more detail all that has been achieved under the Supporting People programme, while looking forward to the continuing role for preventative support services in the years ahead.
The full terms of the agreement between the Scottish Ministers and the CoSLA Presidential Team can be viewed at: www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2007/11/13092240/concordat .