No easing of elderly care costs
A REPORT presented to Argyll and Bute Council’s Strategic Policy Committee on Wednesday presented a gloomy view of the funding of free elderly care in the area.
Argyll and Bute Council opened the floodgates earlier this year when it announced that it no longer had the cash to continue funding the policy. Free elderly care is one of the jewels in the Scottish Executive’s crown, and the council’s stance was not well received - although it was supported by other councils elsewhere who also complained that the scheme was unaffordable without more support from the Executive.
Fuel was added to the flames when local MSP George Lyon claimed that the council had £15.2m of reserves on which it could draw, an assertion which drew an angry reaction from council leaders who said that this was simply not true.
However, some additional cash was found to address the crisis, of around £1m, £700k of which came from reserves.
The funding crisis has had a knock on effect on both Dunoon General Hospital and Inverclyde Royal, both of which have suffered from ‘bed blocking’ because care packages have not been available to release patients back to their homes.
Following discussions with the Scottish Executive at the end of March, a set of targets was created.
These, however, have not been met. The targeted figure for patients whose delayed discharges would be six weeks or more was 18; the actual figure was 40. The number in short stay specialist beds should have been six, but was in fact 10.
In order to achieve best value for money the report proposed that only the low-cost packages in returning clients home and providing the free personal care element of self-funding residential and nursing placements will go ahead.
The free personal care legislation allowed for people who self-fund such care allowed for them to claim £145 per week for residential placements and £210 for nursing home placements. The report suggested that all clients who had been assessed should receive the allowance backdated at the end of a three-month period. This, however, would not be backdated to the date of admission. Adopting this policy will allow the council to be seen to provide these allowances in a reasonable time from the point of view of the Executive.
The report concludes that the combined allocation of available funding did impact on the number of discharges from hospital, with a total of 34 being discharged over July and August. The effect of this was limited, however, by the number of new admissions to hospital. The strategy, therefore, had only limited impact.
A spokesman for Highland Health Board said that while he could not comment on Inverclyde Royal since it was now part of a different health board the situation at Dunoon General Hospital had changed little, with 15 patients awaiting care packages to allow their release.


PFI – a solution or a problem?
THERE is a rising tide of concern over the cost of Private Finance Initiatives (PFI) to the public purse.
PFIs - also known as Private Public Partnerships - are the favoured means of funding public works projects such as schools and hospitals, and Argyll and Bute Council has used a variation on the theme to fund the building of a number of new schools in Argyll and Bute, including a replacement for Dunoon Grammar School.
The scheme is much favoured by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and represents a considerable U-turn for Labour, which opposed the concept while in opposition.
There are currently 700 PFI programmes underway in the United Kingdom, and concerns have been voiced at huge hidden costs of these projects to the public purse.
However, Councillor Dick Walsh, Argyll and Bute Council’s spokesman on Education and Lifelong Learning, stoutly defended the NPDO (Non-Profit Distributing Organisation) variation of the scheme which the council has implemented.
He pointed out that the main advantage of the scheme was that the local authority does not need to provide the initial capital investment.
He said: “The reality facing many of the local authorities is that PFI is the only game in Town.
Councillor Walsh said that despite the obvious benefits of PFI, the council was not alone in expressing concerns about elements of the scheme.
These concerns brought about the development of a variation of PFI, the pioneering Non-Profit Distributing Organisation (NPDO) model, which was created by Argyll and Bute Council. NPDO is designed to capture the benefits of a traditional PFI without the pitfalls.
Said Cllr Walsh: “It’s effectively PFI plus – it produces all of the benefits of a PFI but without the historical baggage, it maintains the commercial edge and private sector flexibility – but recycles profits back to the project. It will not have shareholders receiving large dividends or owning large surpluses.”
He explained the differences: “Additional profit is recycled back to promote and provide for additional educational facilities for the people of Argyll and Bute; it’s at least as cost effective as a PFI, and the wider education community has the right to be represented on the board of directors of the project company. It has the potential to offer better value for money.”
The NPDO project is the first of its type to be applied to Scottish schools, and it has won a number of national awards. A number of other councils in Scotland have already indicated that they intend following the Argyll and Bute Council model and lead.
NPDO will provide up-front capital of around £86m to improve the schools in the project and the council will receive approximately £174m over 30 years towards the annual unitary charge from the Scottish Executive.
He said, however, that there was still a question in terms of whether the process was costlier than a conventional approach by the Scottish Executive either providing Revenue Support Grant over a period of time to assist with borrowings for new buildings programme, or providing outright the capital required for a school building programme each year.
Cllr Walsh said that he suspected that difficulties being experienced with other PFI schemes were a result of the contractual agreements not being as robust or as tight as it should have been.
He explained: “The key to success over the thirty years of the scheme is the nature of the contract, and that any risk is clearly attached and passed to the private sector interest, rather than left with the council.
“With our projects no monies will be handed over until we receive the buildings and are happy with them. Further our contract provides for a very strict maintenance regime that dictates when repairs, etc., are carried out. If the contractor does not meet these obligations he will be the subject of penalties and money deducted will be passed back into the education service budget.”
Cllr Walsh said that as spokesman for Education he was committed to doing all that he could to improve the teaching and learning environment in local schools. Argyll and Bute’s school performance results are among the highest in our country and now we needed to progress improving the school environment and provide facilities fit for 21st Century teaching and learning - school environments that were fit for teachers to teach in and pupils to learn in with modern and up-to-date facilities.
He concluded: “Like all parents I want our school pupils to be happy during their time at school, to leave the formal education process feeling fulfilled, to be all they can be and to secure the results, skills and qualifications of their choice, to secure employment and to become active citizens of this community or one of their choice.”


Inveraray pipe band wins “local legend”
INVERARAY and District Pipe Band has fought off competition to shine through as one of the UK’s favourite Lottery funded projects - scooping the Local Legend trophy at this year’s National Lottery Awards.
The National Lottery Awards celebrate and recognise the hard work and dedication of people who use Lottery funding to make a real difference to communities across the UK.
This year’s awards attracted over 98,000 public votes, with the winners announced live on air during a special National Lottery Day programme, ‘Everyone’s a winner’ on BBC1 on Saturday night. Representatives from the band joined 12 other regional and country finalists on the show hosted by Noel Edmonds.
The Inveraray and District Pipe Band triumphed in the Local Legend category, which recognises the outstanding achievements of local people. Olympic triple-jumper Jonathan Edwards handed out the Award to the delighted winners.
The Inveraray and District Pipe Band is the area’s first pipe band in 70 years and was set up by local piper Stuart Liddell, who hit on the idea whilst giving weekly bagpipe lessons in local schools. With community support, the group of enthusiastic children led by Stuart were awarded £17,000 of Lottery funding from the Scottish Arts Council and £5,000 from Awards for All, enabling the group to purchase instruments and other equipment.
The band, now registered with the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association, takes part in competitions and is regularly asked to play at local community and charity events. Being in the band teaches the children discipline and teamwork, and about Scottish history and culture.
Accepting the National Lottery Local Legend Award, Stuart Liddell, said: “We are absolutely delighted to receive this National Lottery Award. Winning this award is a great way to thank all our members, volunteers, funders and community for their commitment. I’d also like to thank everyone who voted for us including pipers and drummers from all over the world. I am very proud to be part of such an amazing band and thanks to Lottery funding we hope that current and future generations continue to benefit and are given the opportunity to learn bagpipes and drums.”
Since The National Lottery launched in 1994, £1.8billion has been awarded to Good Causes in Scotland and nearly 28,000 grants have been given across arts, sport, heritage, charities, health, education and the environment in Scotland.
The National Lottery Awards formed part of the activities for National Lottery Day which took place on Saturday 23 September. National Lottery Day celebrates and recognises the difference Lottery funding has made to people and communities across the UK. The National Lottery has raised £19 billion for good causes since it began in 1994.


Raising the roof
Last Tuesday, the roof-raising ceremony for Inveraray Primary School’s Outdoor Classroom took place.
The roof was designed by Graham Brown, from Out Of Nowhere, an architectural design company, which, since 1987, has been involved with around 35 projects. These have ranged from a four-and-a-half metre wide sanctuary to a woodland burial park in Norwich.
Graham said that he got involved after being contacted by David Blair, the owner of the Round House in Tighnabruaich, which was destroyed by fire last February. Graham said: “David has been involved with a number of projects at the school and when the idea of the Outdoor Classroom was put forward, he contacted me.
“David had come up with the design for the building and wanted to use a Reciprocal Frame roof, which is a self-supporting three-dimensional array, a design he had also used at the Round House. Graham said the idea for the roof just came to him “from out of nowhere” back in 1987.
Graham was also full of praise for the way the children at Inveraray Primary School involved themselves in the project. “They were fantastic,” he said, “So full of enthusiasm.”
The pupils at the school now take up the story themselves.
‘Our Outdoor Classroom isn’t just any ordinary outdoor classroom, it’s going to be a Peace Building and it will be the first one in the world at a school. The roof is going to be finished with the seventh beam being placed in. The roof is going to have seven beams because there are seven classes and every child will put a symbol important to them on it. Inside, Nursery to P7 are going to put handprints on the walls.
We decided that we wanted an outdoor classroom so we went into small groups and wrote down all our ideas. After that the school council decided that it was going to be a circular building. We want to use it for art, story telling, environmental work, quiet times, if you are sad or to stop fights. We also need somewhere to shelter from the rain if we want to work outside.
Eco-biz is a set of people who help schools improve their grounds. They first came to our school in 2002 to make our bench. Since then they have also made our buddy bench, story-telling chair and marimba and are now making our Outdoor Classroom. They don’t just do all the work themselves, they let us help with designing and building. They use recycled wood, which is important to nature.
It was Graham Brown who designed the roof structure and he also had the idea of making it a dedicated peace building. The pupil council thought it was a good idea. We are pleased to be celebrating World Peace Day whilst working on our Peace building.
We have already had a small ceremony for the first turf being lifted and a special set of words from Graham was read. It is important to have a ceremony so people know what it is about, to remember this special day and to bless our new building. We would like it if you could come to our ceremony on Tuesday so you can see the last roof beam being put into place. Graham Brown came to say a few words and dedicate the building to peace. When the building is finished, we will be inviting people to the last ceremony.’