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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-19458

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 October 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 14 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Cold Weather Payments Ten Minute Rule Bill, which is due to have its second reading in the UK Parliament on 23 November 2018 and which re-examines the way that weather data that triggers cold weather payments is gathered.

Question reference: S5W-19501

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 19 October 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 14 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has asked the UK Government lay commencement regulations under section 23 of the Scotland Act 2016 for for the purposes of having executive competence for the delivery of (a) cold-spell heating assistance and (b) winter heating assistance by Social Security Scotland and, if so, what the outcome was.

We have not yet asked the UK government to lay commencement regulations in respect of Cold Spell Heating Assistance or Winter Heating Assistance. The timing of the introduction of these new benefits will depend upon implementation and successful testing of the new social security system’s operations. We are determined to get this right and will expect the UK Government to support this change in due course.

Question reference: S5W-19465

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 October 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 14 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-13171 by Jeane Freeman on 21 December 2017, for what reason the experience panels are required to consider precise eligibility of extending winter fuel payments to families with disabled children on the higher rate of Disability Living Allowance, in light of it having made this commitment in its Programme for Government 2016-17 and in its answer to question S5W-02679 by Jeane Freeman on 15 September 2016.

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.

Question reference: S5W-19716

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 14 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has made of any infrastructure and capacity implications for transplantation services arising from the implementation of an opt-out organ donation system, and what plans it has to address these.

Question reference: S5W-19715

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 14 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how it will ensure that there is sufficient investment in healthcare infrastructure to deliver the planned increased supply of organs for transplantation following any changes in organ donation legislation.

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/ .

Question reference: S5W-19404

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 October 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 13 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has instructed the DWP, under its agency agreement, not to recover, fine or prosecute a recipient of carer's allowance whose earnings have breached the earnings threshold.

Question reference: S5W-19666

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 October 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 13 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many people applied to be on Social Security Scotland's Executive Advisory Body, and how many had a protected characteristic, broken down by characteristic.

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 *)
‎

Age Group:

16-29	30-39	40-49	50-54	55-59	60+	Prefer not to Say
0	*	8	*	12	12	1

Disability Statistics:

Yes	No	Unknown
16	19	6

Ethnic Group:

White	Ethnic Minority	Prefer not to say
*	*	1

‘White’ group includes Scottish; Other British; Irish; Gypsy/Traveller; Polish; Other White.

‘Ethnic Minority’ group includes Mixed or Multiple Ethnic Groups; Asian, Asian Scottish or Asian British; African, Caribbean or Black; Other Ethnic Group.

Religion :

None	Christian	Other	Prefer not to say	Unknown
17	17	*	1	*

‘Christian’ includes Church of Scotland; Roman Catholic; Other Christian.

‘Other’ includes Muslim; Buddhist; Sikh; Jewish; Hindu; Another religion.

Gender Statistics:

Female	Male	Prefer not to say
20	20	1

Sexual Orientation:

LGBTI	Heterosexual	Prefer not to say	Unknown
*	36	*	*

Question reference: S5W-19086

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 September 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 13 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how much has been paid in service fees to Fair Start Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-19506

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 22 October 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 7 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-15184 by Jeane Freeman on 22 March 2018, whether it has asked the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to take wind-chill into account for the payment of cold weather payments, and whether it has modelled how wind-chill could alter eligibility as part of its policy development.

We are aware that more extreme weather can be a factor affecting the warmth of some people’s homes, not least for communities living on islands and in remote rural areas. This is an issue that has been raised with the UK government over many years by Scottish Ministers and others.

In developing the new Cold Spell Heating Assistance benefit, we are engaging with households who have claimed the existing benefit and a wide range of expert opinion. http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/report.aspx?r=9940&i=91199 .

Question reference: S5W-19460

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 October 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 7 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-19090 by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 17 October 2018, what the expected cost of delivery is of the carer's allowance supplement in future years, and whether the cost for 2018-19 includes one-off costs of delivery in the first year of payments being made.

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.