This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Results of day care services census
25/01/2006
There are 622 day care services registered in Scotland providing activities for over 21,600 people each week, according to statistics published today.
Day care services allow people to develop skills and participate in a wide range of activities both within a day centre setting and the wider community. These may include independent living skills, arts and crafts, outings, personal relationships, sports and leisure pursuits as well as education and employment opportunities.
The government carried out a census of all registered day care services at the end of March 2005.
These show that:
- As at March 31, 2005, there were 622 day care services registered in Scotland, offering a total of over 17,100 places at any one time and providing a service for over 21,600 people
- Just over 6,900 places are in centres intended for older people; these account for 40 per cent of all day care places in Scotland
- A further 7,691 (45 per cent) places are in centres catering primarily for people with learning disabilities
- Two-thirds of day care centres are run by local authorities and three-quarters of all places are in local authority run services
- People with learning disabilities use day care services most frequently, on average 3.6 days a week
- There were over 4,900 staff working in day care centres in Scotland at March 31, 2005. 62 per cent of these were care staff
- In addition, over 800 volunteers and a further 1,298 visiting workers helped out in centres throughout Scotland during the census week.