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The purpose of the experience panels is to understand the direct personal experience and views of people with experience of the benefits being devolved, including families with disabled children. Experience panels research will inform policy development and how Winter Heating Allowance is delivered. Decisions about eligibility will continue to rest with the Scottish Government.

There are over 350 Experience Panel members with experience of Winter Fuel Payments. Experience Panels are already collecting information that will inform our design and delivery of the new Winter Heating Allowance. Some of these panel members reflected specifically on their experience of Winter Fuel Payments as part of our ‘About Your Benefits and You’ research in 2017.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-19448 on 6 November 2018. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx '

The proposals in the Human Tissue (Authorisation) (Scotland) Bill will contribute to the wider package of measures already in place or underway to increase donation and transplantation under the Donation and Transplantation Plan for Scotland.

The rationale and investment required for the healthcare infrastructure to meet an increase in the supply of organs for transplantation following the proposed change in legislation is set out in the Financial Memorandum http://www.parliament.scot/S5_Bills/Human%20Tissue%20(Authorisation)%20(Scotland)%20Bill/SPBILL32FMS052018.pdf and the Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment to the Human Tissue (Authorisation) (Scotland) Bill https://beta.gov.scot/publications/human-tissue-authorisation-scotland-bill-business-regulatory-impact-assessment/ .

These were £0.6m for September 2018 and estimated to be £0.7m for October 2018.

Social Security Scotland received 41 applications for positions on its Executive Advisory Body. The following tables reflect what candidates have declared in our Equalities Monitoring forms in relation to protected characteristics.

Please note that counts of less than 5 have been suppressed and shown as * to prevent the possible disclosure of information about individuals. Secondary data suppression has also been necessary to prevent the calculation of the suppressed values by differencing (also shown as *)
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Age Group:

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-19402 on 7 November 2018. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx .

The Scottish Government will publish national level spend detail on Fair Start Scotland in due course. The first release of statistics, reporting on the first six months of Fair Start Scotland, will be published on 28 November 2018. The Scottish Fiscal Commission will publish their next forecasts of Fair Start Scotland expenditure on 12 December to accompany the Scottish Budget.

The costs for Social Security Scotland to administer the Carer’s Allowance Supplement in 2019-20 are estimated to be in the region of £151,000. This does not include Social Security Scotland staffing costs. As per response to PQ S5W-19090, the £193,000 costs for 2018-19 include £43,000 one-off costs for the payment interface. Carer’s Allowance Supplement is an interim solution to deliver the Scottish Government commitment of increasing payment of Carer’s Allowance to the level of Job Seeker’s Allowance from 2018-19. The supplement will cease in due course, once regulations under section 28 of the Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018 have been made to provide a scheme for assistance to carers. That scheme will provide for payments at the increased rate.

It is not appropriate to compare cost per payment for delivery of Carer’s Allowance and Carer’s Allowance Supplement to eligible carers in Scotland, as these are not like for like.

DWP administer Carer’s Allowance on behalf of Scottish Ministers under an Agency Agreement, and Social Security Scotland make payments of the Carer’s Allowance Supplement to eligible carers. Questions on (a) should be directed to DWP as there is currently no separate delivery arrangement in Scotland. Cost per payment of (b) are estimated to be in the region of £1.

These sections will be commenced when it is appropriate to do so and in line with the timescales for delivery of the disability benefits.