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Best Start Grant, Funeral Support Payments and Carer’s Allowance Supplement are administered by Social Security Scotland. Social Security Scotland currently publishes details of overpayments within their Annual Report and Accounts. The most recent Annual Report and Accounts covering the seven months to 31 March 2019 was laid before the Scottish Parliament on 26 September 2019, the latest Annual Reports and Accounts can be found at the following link: https://dgxmvz0tqkndr.cloudfront.net/production/images/general/Social-Security-Scotland-Annual-Report-and-Accounts.pdf .

Our next set of annual reports and accounts which will include details of overpayments will be published by 31st December 2020.

We produce our publications in line with the Code of Practice for Statistics, which requires that we produce statistics that support society’s needs for information. Therefore, decisions on which geographical breakdowns to include in our published official statistics are based on what is most relevant to users and best meets their needs. The main geography requirement for Best Start Grant and Carer's Allowance statistics is for local authority information and, in the case of Best Start Grant, we also publish information by Health Board. We will continue to review the value of the statistics we produce and will take account of users’ needs when developing future publications.

The following table contains the current prime service providers, delivery chain partners and share of delivery broken down by Lot.

In Scotland’s Economic and Fiscal Forecasts February 2020 the Scottish Fiscal Commission state that, since the Child Disability Payment is a new benefit with no existing data, the forecast of average awards is based on historical DWP data for Disability Living Allowance for Children.

The Scottish Government will ensure that clients applying for the Child Disability Payment are supported to receive the maximum level of assistance they are entitled to through the introduction of support for clients to gather information relating to their application, the delivery of a person-centred decision making framework, and publishing accessible guidance that sets out clearly the entitlement rules for the benefit.

The Scottish Government policy changes being introduced for the Child Disability Payment are forecasted by the Scottish Fiscal Commission to lead to an additional spend of £6 million in 2020-21 rising to £23 million in 2024-25 compared to the continuation of DLA for Children without any policy changes.

Overpayments and underpayments are used as a measure of fraud and error. The methodology which will be applied to estimating the value of fraud and error for devolved benefits is currently in development. Once this methodology has been developed we will look to release analytical publications as appropriate.

The Scottish Government continues to work alongside Fair Start Scotland Service Providers to ensure they are meeting the needs of participants and their contractual obligations through various performance management activities, including cohort improvement activity plans across all Lots.

The Scottish Government does not manage sub contractors, It is the responsibility of the Service Provider to manage their supply chain partners.

The Fair Start Scotland Annual Report published on 6 November 2019 outlined the total expenditure in the first year of delivery.

As indicated in the answer to S5W-11844 the Scottish Government outlined that spend on Fair Start Scotland was dependent on provider performance and therefore subject to some variation. The Scottish Government continues to work closely with Fair Start Scotland Providers to ensure that people with barriers are supported into the labour market in a manner consistent with principles of dignity and respect.

The anticipated spend on Fair Start Scotland is regularly published by the Scottish Fiscal Commission and is based on performance levels set within provider contracts. As this is dependent on provider performance in supporting people into sustainable employment this figure is subject to some variation.

The Scottish Government proactively publishes information relating to the annual spending on Fair Start Scotland. Annex B of the Fair Start Scotland Annual Report published on 6th November outlines the total expenditure in its first year of delivery. Further information on annual spend will be published in future publications.

This budget will strengthen my portfolio’s ability to ensure that the UK’s exit from the EU is undertaken in a way that protects Scotland’s interests as far as possible. We are preparing for all scenarios that may arise at the end of the transition period and building a solid platform for our future engagement with the EU.

The increase in the budget will also allow us to prepare for the Scottish Parliament elections in 2021 including extending the vote to foreign nationals and certain prisoners, and to procure an electronic vote counting system in time for the 2022 local government elections. The budget also includes provision to update the case for an independent Scotland.

In this early stage, as new and increasingly more complex benefits are still being launched, Social Security Scotland are gathering information and data that will be used to baseline the balance scorecard.

It is expected that the scorecard and guidance around measuring performance will be published in the next draft of Social Security Scotland’s Corporate Plan in 2020.