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Scottish councils are spending 10 per cent of funds allocated for services to older people on other services, according to two official reports, writes Reg McKay.

One report, 'Fair Care For Older People', written by the care development group, which was chaired by Malcolm Chisholm, minister for community care, measures the extent of the difference between funds allocated for care of older people and the amount spent by local authorities.

The report says: "That gap (£63 million) highlights the difficulty the executive has in ensuring that the priority it attaches to older people’s services is reflected at local level in every part of Scotland."

The report also says: "We suspect that, in the past, home care services have been an area where it has been possible to defer new investment, and from which new money has been diverted to other areas of local authority budgets."

Another report, 'Care Home Costs for Older People in Scotland', independently prepared to address the dispute about level of fees for residential care and chaired by Owen Clarke, chairperson of the Scottish Ambulance Services, says: "There is evidence to suggest that some of the money distributed under the grant-aided expenditure formula for the elderly in care homes is not being spent for that purpose."

The latest revelations will fuel the current debate between the executive and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities about ring fencing grant funds. While that debate is demonstrated most clearly in the current dispute about who should pay for the agreed increases of £50 per resident per week, it is not just residential or nursing care services which are highlighted.

Opposition politicians have now called for the executive to ensure that money allocated for services to older people is used for their care by ring fencing all such funds. Cosla has insisted that no new funds should be ring-fenced, and in response to the latest accusations has said that the money is needed for other essential services.

A Cosla spokesperson said: "Councils have spent 75 per cent more on social work than the government made available, and 50 per cent more on children’s services specifically."

Organisations campaigning for services to older people have called for the situation to be resolved. Jess Barrow, head of policy and public affairs at Age Concern Scotland, said: "It is appalling that this is happening. We would like to see the money being ring-fenced or local authorities taking their responsibilities more seriously."

A spokesperson for the Scottish executive said that there are no current plans to ring-fence the budgets given to local authorities.