Spending Review Receives Lukewarm Reception
The Scottish Government has made a pledge of 10,000 weeks of additional respite care for carers as part of the budget statement - which should mean good news for Scotland's carers. However this resource is packaged within the government's Grant Aided Expenditure to authorities and as such is not ring-fenced.
In fact ring-fenced funding has been reduced across much of local authority activity as an attempt to give greater control to local councils whilst reducing bureaucracy and red tape. Expenditure will be monitored through single outcome agreements which involve local authorities working toward previously agreed priorities and outcomes. Each local authority will be required to submit its proposals to the Government - indicating how it plans to address local priorities.
This will give some cause for concern for carers is some parts of the country where the local authority's record on respite is fairly poor. Carers and local organisations will have to work hard to ensure that respite breaks are given priority in local spending plans.