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Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S5W-21291

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 January 2019
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 18 February 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the statements by the Cabinet Secretary for Social Security and Older People to the Social Security Committee on 17 January 2019 (Official Report, c. 23), whether it will provide details of the scope of the work that it is undertaking with HMRC; whether it has shared an outline of this work with stakeholders, including the Give Me 5 coalition, and whether it will place full details of this work in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe) when it provides its first update on the Every Child Every Chance delivery plan.

As part of the income supplement options appraisal we are engaging with relevant UK Government departments, including HMRC and DWP, to determine the feasibility of delivering the income supplement through a reserved benefit. Initial discussions have taken place with DWP and HMRC to outline the commitment contained in the Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan, identify relevant issues for further consideration, and determine how we can best engage with each other as this work continues.

We are engaging closely with stakeholders, including representatives of the Give Me Five campaign, as the options appraisal work is taken forward.

The options appraisal will be published at the same time as my first progress report to Parliament on the Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan.

Question reference: S5W-21292

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 January 2019
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 18 February 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Social Security and Older People to the Social Security Committee on 17 January 2019 (Official Report, c. 23) that "it does not make sense to have an interim solution [for the income supplement] that would also take a long time to deliver", what formal decision ministers or the Social Security Programme Board have made regarding not to proceed with an interim solution; whether ministers sought advice on this, and whether officials have recommended not to proceed with an interim solution.

The Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan sets out 57 actions we are taking over the period 2018 – 2022, to increase family incomes and reduce living costs, and help meet our ambitious child poverty targets. As part of that work, we will work towards the introduction of the income supplement over the lifetime of the Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan.

Given the scale and ambition of that commitment it is right that we take the time to fully and properly appraise all options, including the pace at which they could be introduced, and ensure we focus efforts on delivering an income supplement that meets the two key tests set out in the Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan: that the additional income is targeted on those families who need it, and that it’s therefore helping to lift the maximum number of children out of poverty; and, that there is a robust and viable delivery route to get the additional income to those families, and that the delivery costs are reasonable.

Question reference: S5W-21285

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 January 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 8 February 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-20910 by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 23 January 2019, whether it will provide further details regarding for what reason it considers that this information cannot be made public, and what information it can provide regarding how many items listed in all Social Security Programme Director Progress Reports were given a red RAG status.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-20910 on 23 January 2019. The Programme Board Dashboards are part of routine reporting, and as such any RAG statuses are provided for internal discussion and not made public, on the grounds that doing so would inhibit substantially the free and frank exchange of views for the purposes of deliberation. The Programme Director’s Update is used to enable critical discussion that in turn supports the delivery of social security for Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-21289

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 January 2019
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 5 February 2019

To ask the Scottish Government on what date it plans to provide its first update on the Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan.

Question reference: S5W-21107

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 18 January 2019
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 4 February 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how it is communicating to local authorities the level of funding in the draft Budget for implementation of the Carers (Scotland) Act 2016; whether this will be provided to local authorities as a package of funding with other initiatives, and how the use of these allocations will be monitored.

The level of provision for the Carers Act for 2019-20 was confirmed by the Scottish Government as part of a package of overall support to local government of £11.1 billion in the Scottish Budget: 2019-20 published on 12 December 2018 and in the corresponding Local Government Finance Circular 8/2018 published on 17 December 2018. This overall package of support includes £40 million to extend free personal care to under 65s as set out in the Programme for Government and for the continued implementation of the Carers (Scotland) Act 2016, estimated at £10.5 million. Local authorities notify the Scottish Government of their expenditure on the various services they provide and this information is published in the annual Scottish Local Government Financial Statistics publication.

Working with COSLA, the Carers Scotland Act Finance Group is continuing to consider the financial implications of implementing the Carers Act, including developing and improving data collection in respect of Carers related activity and establishing a clear understanding of the key financial risks associated with implementing the Act.

Question reference: S5W-21105

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 18 January 2019
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 4 February 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how it monitored the use of funding for preparations for the Carers (Scotland) Act 2016 in 2017-18; how it is monitoring the use of funding for implementation of the Act in 2018-19, and what outcomes it is measuring.

We have funded a range of public and third sector bodies to deliver support and resources to build capacity for implementing the Carers Act during this period, including thirteen pilots across local authorities and health boards in 2017-18 to test implementation of different provisions in the Act. We have monitored this work through a combination of written reporting, management meetings, reporting to the Carers Act Implementation Steering Group and reviewing the resources delivered.

We also funded a programme of small grants in 2018-19 for local third sector carer support organisations, to improve their capacity to deliver carer support under the Act. The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations which delivered the grant programme will provide an evaluation report based on information from grant recipients.

The Scottish Government’s policy towards local authorities’ spending is to allow local authorities the financial freedom to operate independently. The vast majority of the revenue funding, including the funding to support the continued implementation of the Carers Act, is provided by means of a block grant. It is the responsibility of individual local authorities to manage their own budgets and to allocate their total financial resources available to them. Individual local authorities’ allocation of funding should be on the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations (including under the Carers Act) and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities. Local authorities notify the Scottish Government of their expenditure on the various services they provide and this information is published in the annual Scottish Local Government Financial Statistics publication.

The new ‘Carers Census’ is monitoring take-up of adult carer support plans, young carer statements and carer support under the Carers Act since it took effect last April. The first collection from April – September 2018 is currently running with the second collection, from October 2018 – March 2019 due to be submitted in May. The Carers Act Monitoring and Evaluation Group has identified a number of outcomes for monitoring progress and is considering which data sources and academic research will be necessary alongside the Carers Census in order to monitor progress towards these outcomes, as published in the evaluability assessment of the Act: https://www2.gov.scot/Resource/0052/00524798.pdf

Question reference: S5W-21106

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 18 January 2019
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 4 February 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has allocated to each local authority in its draft Budget for the second year of funding for implementation of the Carers (Scotland) Act 2016.

£40 million has been included directly in the 2019-20 Local Government budget settlement to support the continued implementation of the Carers (Scotland) Act 2016 and extending free personal care to under 65s, as set out in the Programme for Government. This is in addition to the £66m included in the 2018-19 Local Government budget settlement to be used for social care pressures including Carers Act implementation. The Scottish Government estimates that the additional cost of implementing the Carers Act for Local Authorities in 2019-20 will be £10.5 million – this is based on cost estimates set out in the Financial Memorandum to the Carers Bill. Given the aforementioned funding is part of the overall budget settlement for Local Authorities there are no separately identifiable budget allocations for Carers Act implementation at Local Authority level.

Question reference: S5W-21263

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 25 January 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 1 February 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what mechanism it will use to verify that a young carer is 18 and still at school in order to check their eligibility for a young carer grant, and how this mechanism will differ for young carers who attend independent schools.

Question reference: S5W-21104

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 18 January 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 31 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has allocated to each local authority in its draft Budget for implementation of the real living wage for social care.

The 2019-20 Scottish Government Budget includes £120 million to be transferred from the health portfolio to Local Authorities in-year for investment in integration, including delivery of the living wage and uprating free personal care, and school counselling services.

This is in addition to £66m which was included in the 2018-19 Local Government budget settlement to be used for social care pressures including the real living wage commitment for adult social care staff and extending the commitment to sleepovers.

The funding for implementation of the real living wage for adult social care workers is included as part of an overall Local Government settlement to cover health and social care integration and social care. There are no separately identifiable budget allocations for real living wage implementation at Local Authority level.

Question reference: S5O-02872

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 January 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 February 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports of the proposed closure of the Cumbernauld Village Surgery.